Created in 1979 within the CEA, ANDRA was established by the December 1991 Waste Act as a public body in charge of the long-term management of all radioactive waste, under the supervision of the Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea (formerly the Ministry of Industry and the Ministry of Environment), and the Ministry of Research. Its 3 basic missions were extended and their funding secured through the 2006 Planning Act:
- a R&D mission to propose safe long-term solution for radioactive waste without current disposal system; this mission includes long-term storage, since the 2006 Planning Act, in order to propose interim solutions while final ones are being studied (the long-term storage issue was initially entrusted to the CEA according to the December 1991 Waste Act),
- an industrial mission concerning, on one hand, waste acceptance criteria and control and, on the other hand, siting, construction, operation, closure and monitoring of repositories. This mission includes as well a public service mission in terms of i) collection of waste of the “small-scale nuclear activities” producers or owners (including the so-called “household” radioactive waste, ie waste owned by private individuals) and ii) clean-up and rehabilitation of orphan polluted sites,
- an information mission, notably through the regular publication of the National Inventory of radioactive materials and waste. This mission includes as well an active policy of dialogue with stakeholders both at national and local level (for instance through the activities of the various local information and oversight committees established for every INB or the underground research laboratory).
[Source: ANDRA]
