What provisions are there for storing low- and medium-level waste?
In the case of low- and medium-activity waste, the package is a metal can containing the waste immobilized in cement. This waste must only be confined for a maximum of 250-300 years, and the general tendency is to build storages in superficial or shallow geological formations. French technology has developed a final low- and medium-activity waste storage system in superficial formations, such as the case of the Channel Center near Cherbourg, where France has stored 500,000 m3 since it began operating in 1969. When the modules were full, they were covered with clay and then with topsoil, and bushes were planted to form artificial dunes that blend in with the areas dune landscape. This storage was closed in late 1991, and since then the Aube repository located 205 km. northeast of Paris has started operating, where 1,000,000 m3 are slated for storage over the next 30 years. The Aube system is also a surperficial design, but the operational design of the modules is simpler. In Spain, the
