Weekly report : December 11th to December 17th, 2003

Press release

December 18, 2003

Treatment activity:

During this period, the Establishment treated 30 tons of spent fuel assemblies coming from EDF (France) and Stade (Germany) power plants .

From all treated assemblies, a total of 1036 tons have been processed to date this year. During this period, 21 canisters of vitrified fission products have been produced(1).
Since the beginning of the year, 579 canisters have been produced.
It should be noted that the facility of hulls compaction (ACC) produced 27 canisters of compacted residues.
Since the beginning of the year, 677 canisters have been produced.

Shipment activity :
A shipment containing 8 casks of spent fuel assemblies from Germany, arrived on December 11 at the Valognes railway terminal.

(1)The fission products (ultimate residues of spent fuel) are incorporated in heated glass to approximately 1100°C. The whole is poured in stainless steel containers. The fission products are an integral part of stable, compact and resistant glass. This process is called vitrification