Ministerial visit at the Aube and Meuse facilities
Olaf Lies, German Minister for the Environment in Lower Saxony, visited the Andra facilities in Meuse / Haute-Marne and in the Aube on 15 and 16 January.
These visits were organized as part of a global reflection on the management of radioactive waste where in Germany, until now, disposal in salt was the only option studied. Olaf Lies therefore wanted to discover the other disposal solutions being studied or implemented in Europe. With a German delegation, he went to Finland before coming to France, the two countries where projects for the disposal of high-level waste are the most advanced.
During the visit of the Uderground Research Laboratory (URL) and Technological Exhibition Center, the German delegation witnessed that the Cigeo project had already entered an advanced maturity phase (process phase optimization of architectures, means, costs, etc.). The Minister was also very interested in the various communication operations carried out by Andra, in particular the program of dialogue with society and the process of consultation with themes addressing citizens' concerns (living environment, health, occupation of the 'space…).
The next day, the Minister visited the Aube disposal facility. It was an opportunity for him to discover disposal operations. There too, he showed great interest in the issue of acceptance of these facilities by the local population. He particularly appreciated the exchanges he had with the elected officials present at the lunch during which Andra's relations with the territory were at the heart of the discussions.
