France seeks strategy as nuclear waste site risks saturation point

Used nuclear fuel is seen in a storage pool at the Orano nuclear waste reprocessing plant in La Hague, near Cherbourg, France, January 17, 2023. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe

LA HAGUE, France (Reuters) - At a nuclear waste site in Normandy, robotic arms guided by technicians behind a protective shield manoeuvre a pipe that will turn radioactive chemicals into glass as France seeks to make safe the byproducts of its growing reliance on atomic power.

The fuel-cooling pools in La Hague, on the country's northwestern tip, could be full by the end of the decade and state-owned Orano, which runs them, says the government needs to outline a long-term strategy to modernise its ageing facilities no later than 2025.