12th shipment of vitrified nuclear waste from France to Germany (in french)
24 hours in La Hague
Compacting structural and technological waste processing active liquid effluents
MOX for peace
Environmental protection in La Hague (France)
"The keys to nuclear energy" ad-information
Eleventh shipment of vitrified nuclear waste from France to Germany (in french)
Clip AREVA in MARCOULE
Vitrification - Technical sheet
La Hague Plant brochure
Monitoring structure
Monitoring is carried out by specialist teams from the plant, who have high technology equipment for monitoring environmental variables and the analysis of samples taken in the natural environment. This activity is carried out under supervision of the ASN (French Nuclear Safety Authority).
Environment monitoring section
The results of ongoing checks are pooled in order to give a comprehensive, instantaneous view of the radiological situation of the site and its environment.
The Environment Monitoring Section is fitted with a central calculator which receives information from all the various measuring points in real time for processing.
Aside from gaseous waste measurements, different variables are subject to permanent monitoring by the Environment Monitoring Section: rainwater, industrial and domestic waste water, seismic activity, meteorological variables (ambient temperature, air humidity, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, etc).
Environment laboratory
As part of the statutory and systematic monitoring of the environment around the La Hague site, the Environment laboratory has the crucial task of researching the metering of radionuclides in the natural environment.
Made up of a team of around ten analysts, including one engineer, this laboratory has a lot of measuring equipment at its disposal to monitor the radionuclides contained in a sample.
The techniques used are many and varied:
- Atomic absorption spectrometry,
- Liquid chromatography,
- Alpha, X and gamma spectrometry,
- liquid scintillation analysis.
The laboratory monitors over 20,000 samples per year and carries out over 70,000 analyses under the supervision of the ASN (French Nuclear Safety Authority).
The laboratory's technical expertise is based around:
- The physico-chemical analysis of elements present as trace elements (tritium, carbon 14, iodine 129, strontium 90, etc).
- Physical analyses carried out by metering and spectrometry on environmental samples (water, milk, vegetables, fish, molluscs, crustaceans, algae, etc).
The Environment Laboratory is accredited by COFRAC (the French Accreditation Committee - an accreditation body basing its work on international standards). This accreditation has been regularly renewed since it was first obtained in 1996, and relates to a certain number of measurements taken on samples taken from the surrounding environment. Following changes made to the COFRAC standard, the laboratory had to demonstrate its compliance with the ISO 17025 standard, which stresses personnel skills and attention to customer satisfaction.
The laboratory takes part in the development of AFNOR standards and hires trainees from various educational backgrounds and establishments.
