In Narbonne, less than a kilometer from the city, stands a nuclear colossus. On its gigantic area of one hundred hectares, Orano Chimie Enrichissement processes a quarter of the world’s natural uranium ore. But the site is awash in trash. Since its commissioning in 1959, it has produced large quantities of liquid, nitrated, radioactive waste, the only way out of which is on-site storage, in evaporation basins open so that the sun and the winds can reduce the volume. But, beyond a certain concentration of nitrates, the water can no longer evaporate and the basins are saturated.
A nitrate treatment project (TDN) is supposed to solve this problem. This kind of incinerator, which incorporates the Thermal Organic Reduction (THOR) process, must burn 350,000 cubic meters of liquid effluent stored on the site at a place called Malvési in a very high temperature furnace. The process should therefore make it possible to absorb certain tailings storage basins and transform part of the liquid discharges into solid waste in the form of big bags sent to the Industrial Center for Regrouping, Warehousing and Disposal (Cires) located in Morvilliers in Aube, operated by the National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management.
It was counting without three associations (Rubresus, TCNA and Anger), all fiercely opposed to the project, and who seized the courts. “Even if it did not respond to all of our requests, justice recognizes our fight. From now on, it is up to the population to speak out against the TDN project”, urges Fabrice Hurtado. The president of the association Transparence des canals de la Narbonnaise (TCNA) refers to the judgment rendered on October 21, 2022 by the Administrative Court of Appeal of Marseille.
“Sloppy initial investigation”
The court pointed out several defects relating to the creation of this installation authorized by prefectural decree in November 2017. Irregularities relating to the impact study of the project dating from March 2016 and the state of pollution of the floors of the factory led the administrative court to grant a period of twelve months to the prefecture to provide new information made available to the inhabitants within the framework of the additional public inquiry.
“The judgment clearly shows that the initial investigation [du 5 septembre au 5 octobre 2016] has been sloppy, ignoring elements such as the temporary storage of very low-level solid waste and its transport”deplores André Bories, president of Rubresus, an association for the protection of the environment and the living environment of the lower Aude valley.
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