Exchanges on a European scale

The GMF and the ENWD met at the Centre Meuse - Haute-Marne (CMHM) in Bure on June 12th; these associations brought together some thirty participants from Hungary, Sweden, Spain, Slovakia and the United Kingdom.

On the agenda: several exchanges between the delegations and the local elected officials of Meuse and Haute-Marne on the management of radioactive waste and, more generally, on the links between the nuclear installations present on a territory and the surrounding population.

After a presentation by the mayor of Fessenheim, Claude Brender, on the decommissioning of nuclear power plants and its local consequences, several presentations followed with topics such as: the management of radioactive waste in France and the Cigeo project, the projects of the community of communes Portes de Meuse and the role and missions of the Local Information Committee (Clis).

Intense exchanges concluded that all stakeholders need to participate together in the management of highly radioactive waste and the associated socio-economic development of the territory. Several representatives of the Community of Municipalities of the Portes de Meuse, including Stéphane Martin, its president, reaffirmed the importance of good dialogue between nuclear-related establishments and the local representatives and population. "This meeting with Andra and the elected representatives of the territory makes it possible to see how each local community communicates on the subject of nuclear waste," explains Teresa Duràn, municipal councilor in the Spanish delegation. Agnès Hegyi, municipal councilor of Kisnemedy, Hungary, adds: "It is also interesting to see how, in France, the municipalities and the population see the nuclear activity on their land.

The day ended with a visit of the surface facilities.