Used Australian fuel: the French Supreme Court of Appeal dismisses the appeal lodged by COGEMA but does not call the reprocessing itself into question

News brief

ACTIVITIES / NUCLEAR POWER

December 07, 2005

Today, the French Supreme Court of Appeal (Cour de Cassation) dismissed the appeal lodged by COGEMA following the ruling made by the Caen Court of Appeal on April 12, 2005.

COGEMA complied with the ruling of the Court of Appeal and presented the authorization required to reprocess the fuel in question. Nonetheless, it appealed against the substance of the ruling and the legal reasoning behind it.

The ruling of the French Supreme Court of Appeal does not call into question the reprocessing of used Australian fuel which began on June 9, 2005; authorization for the reprocessing was granted on March 29, 2005.

Under the provisions of the law, any waste resulting from the reprocessing will be returned to Australia. The uranium will be recycled.