For 59% of the French public, non-recyclable waste production is the main drawback of nuclear energy

• We use the term waste when someting has no possible further uses. This contrasts with recoverable material, which can be recycled and reused.
• There are some 1,200 producers of radioactive waste in France, from the nuclear power industry, from other industries, research, defense, medecine and so on.

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• The French National Agency for Radioactive Waste Management (ANDRA) keeps a national inventory of radioactive materials and waste.

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• 90% of radioactive waste produced in France has a low or very low level of radioactivity, and most of it is short-lived. It is conditioned, stored and monitored by ANDRA in dedicated centers while its activity decays.
• The 10% represented by long-lived waste is in safe interim storage pending the availability of a long-term disposal facility, in accordance with the French laws of 1991 and 2006.

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• 96% of the materials contained in used fuel are recyclable.
• High-level radiactive waste represents less than 200 m³ per an.
• High-level and long-lived waste only represents 0.2% of the radiactive waste produced in France.

The treatment-recycling of used nuclear fuels makes it possible to recover the reusable nuclear material to manufacture a new fuel (MOX), which will then in turn generate more electricity.

• Recycling also reduces the consumption of raw materials. 
• Recycling enables a reduction in the radiotoxicity of the waste by a factor of 10 in the long term.
• Recycling can reduce the volume of the most radioactive waste by a factor of 5.

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Thanks to recycling, nuclear power preserves energy reserves.

• In France, 10% of nuclear electricity is produced with recycled nuclear fuel (MOX).
• Ultimately, with the recycling of uranium and used MOX fuel, 25 to 30% of the electricity produced would be derived from recycling.
• 100g of produces as much energy as 1 metric ton of oil.