EDF Says Radioactive Waste Does NOT Get Sent to Siberia

EDF cleared the air in the media, saying that it was not sending its nuclear waste to a dump in Siberia, as reported by a French media outlet.

The company has clarified that the spent nuclear fuel was being sent to a facility in Russia. The French utility giant said Monday, that all radioactive waste had remained in France where it is processed, packaged, and then stored at a designated site in La Hague near the northwest coast at Normandy.

EDF energy released the statement after a report in a French daily newspaper had quoted a spokeswoman as saying the company shipped nuclear waste to Siberia. The spokeswoman has since clarified saying that the company sends spent nuclear fuel to Russia, not radioactive waste.

Liberation, a French daily newspaper, had previously reported that the company sent 13 per cent of its radioactive waste to open-air spaces in Siberia, but that this area was prohibited to journalists for investigation. EDF has claimed that the report is false and that nuclear waste is not shipped outside of the country.

Currently, French nuclear officials have been debating a new form of storage which would hide the nuclear waste 500 metres underground in Bure in eastern France. France has 58 nuclear reactors which are responsible for almost 80 per cent of the country’s energy needs.

Liberation has stated that it based the information on the article on an investigative report which will be airing on TV in France on Tuesday. The documentary will focus on France’s issue with having so much nuclear waste, and no where suitable to dispose of it.