TC52

00’06

Since the start of the Industrial Revolution, we have gradually polluted our water, air and soil. One realm was long left untouched: the bowels of the earth. But today, more and more countries are turning our subsurface into a toxic dump, a ticking time bomb. 

The world’s factories produce great quantities of cyanide, dioxin, mercury and other types of toxic waste. What should we do with these dangerous poisons? Is burying them hundreds of metres under our feet a risk-free solution? 

ITW

Nussbaum 00’44

Je pense qu'on a vraiment des technologies aujourd'hui qui sont extrêmement pointues, voilà, quoi. Infaillible...Rien n'est infaillible, bien sûr, vous le savez, ça. 

00’53

These invisible landfill sites are on the rise because the world’s most polluting industries are building new types of waste repositories that would fit in a science fiction film. 

(01’03) This is the case in Norway, where this cement plant captures CO₂ in its new high-tech chimney. 

COM

01’18

The CO₂ is then transported to an offshore site and injected over 2 kilometres below the seabed.

01’26

And how can we protect ourselves from our nuclear waste?  By burying it in a multibillion-dollar tomb, like in Finland? 

ITW

Pasi Tuohimaa 01’33

You are the lucky ones because this will be the most magical, unique room in the in the nuclear world at the moment. There's no such s other room in the world nowhere.  

01’44

One solution might be to neutralize the radioactivity of this waste.  Could research into transmutation currently underway in Belgium revolutionize the future of the nuclear industry?  

ITW Belgium

01’57

The main purpose of the MYRRHA programme is to return nuclear waste to its natural radiotoxicity levels after 300 years, instead of 300,000.

Le but du projet MYRRHA, c'est avant toute chose la diminution de la radiotoxicité des déchets nucléaires de 300 000 ans à 300 ans. 

02’06

Little known to the public, these geological graveyards present major economic, environmental and democratic challenges.

ITW Johan Swahn

02’14

It is difficult to stop a project when there is so much prestige and so much money and effort and resources have you put into the project. 

COM 02’25

This is an investigation into these new underground graves.

02’43

Here, deep under the forest floor, in the bowels of the earth, lies one of the world’s largest landfill sites: Herfa Neurode, in the State of Hesse, Germany. 

(03’47 / 03’00)

Shrouded in darkness, this long tunnel descends to a depth of 800 meters, where the waste of our consumer society is stored.

COM

03’11

Thousands of barrels of toxic material are lined up in this vast warren. 

COM

03’18

For the past 50 years, Herfa Neurode has used a network of cavities dug in a salt bank, the legacy of a former potash mine. The facility spans 18 square kilometres, an area larger than the city of Geneva. Nearly 4 million tonnes of final waste are stored here. More than anywhere else in the world. Barrels mostly from Germany but also from Western Europe.  

COM

03’45

Dioxins, cyanide, mercury, arsenic...  

03 53 Meticulously archived poisons. 

COM

03’58

Numerous safety procedures are strictly followed. When a storage chamber is full, it is sealed with a wall to prevent the spread of a potential fire. 

To date, there have been no serious incidents or major pollution issues in this underground grave. 

This site appears to be exemplary, but is burying our most toxic waste really a risk-free solution? 

COM

04’30

To find out, we crossed the border into France, and went to the town of Wittelsheim in Alsace.

COM

04’42

Here, under this pithead frame, lies StocaMine, France’s equivalent to Herfa Neurode. But unlike the German waste repository, StocaMine represents a monumental failure. An environmental time bomb.

StocaMine opened in 1999. As the first trucks loaded with toxic substances pulled up outside, French and German protestors staged a demonstration. Their fear was this underground landfill site would pollute one of their most precious resources.

COM

05’15

The harmful waste was to be buried directly beneath the Rhine Basin’s groundwater system, Western Europe’s largest underground source of fresh water used by 6 million people across Alsace, Germany and Switzerland. It was vital that StocaMine did not contaminate this invaluable shared resource.

COM

05’40

Strict precautions were adopted. 

Archive 2

Stockamine

05’46

Dès l'arrivée du poids lourd, un processus de contrôle rigoureux est mis en place, vérification des documents, pesée, et contrôle du contenu des fûts.

Voix mineur : Ce sont des produits bien sûrs qui ne sont ni liquides ni gazeux, qui ne sont pas combustibles, donc des produits ultimes inertes. 

Ils sont parfaitement stockés dans une atmosphère ou dans une enceinte solide, sèche.

Journaliste : Il ne peut rien leur arriver en théorie ? 

Mineur : Il ne peut rien leur arriver. Il ne leur arrivera rien

COM

06’19

How did the authorities convince local elected officials to agree to this hazardous landfill site under their feet?

To understand, we need to go back to the early 1990s in Wittelsheim.

(08’49)

The local potash mining industry was in crisis. 6,000 miners had been laid off in the space of 20 years. So, the management of the state-owned Alsace Potash Mining Company, or MDPA, saw this project as a solution to the decline in its business. 

COM

06’52

 Pierre Vogt was mayor of Wittelsheim at the time.

ITW 

Pierre

06’59

Look at this leaflet. “A new face for the mine. StocaMine serving the environment.” It was the mining company, the MPDA, that gave out these leaflets. They handed them out everywhere, at the meetings and to residents who asked for them. They really stressed the environmental benefits, and said that this special, very hazardous, final waste couldn’t just be discarded. It was better to do something with it.

That’s what they said. The scientists told us it was possible. Families needed jobs. So, obviously, we chose to trust them.  

Mayors and municipal councillors aren’t scientists. When scientists deliver these ‘truths’, and say the mines will last 10,000 years, you can’t prove the contrary. Even if you have doubts, you’re unable to prove the contrary. They’re scientists, and you’re not.

Par exemple, vous voyez, le tract, “un nouveau visage de la mine. Stocamine au service de l'environnement”. C'étaient les mines de potasse qui distribuaient ce tract et qui l'ont distribué partout lors des réunions mais aussi à des habitants qui en demandaient. Ils ont mis beaucoup le point sur l'environnement, qu'on ne pouvait pas laisser ces déchets spéciaux, très dangereux, ultimes dans la nature, il vaut mieux s’en servir.

Déjà, ils vous disent ça, les scientifiques vous disent que c'est possible, les familles attendent du travail, voilà, forcément, nous, on essaie de faire confiance.

Les maires et les élus des communes ne sont pas des scientifiques. Quand on leur assène des vérités en disant que ces mines-là peuvent tenir 10 000 ans, vous ne pouvez pas dire le contraire. Vous pouvez avoir des doutes, mais vous ne pouvez pas dire le contraire. C'est des scientifiques , vous n'êtes pas scientifique. C'est ça le problème.

COM

07’59

The researchers Pierre Vogt is referring to, worked for France’s prestigious engineering school, the École des Mines. Their study on the safety of storing waste underground was reassuring. 

COM

08’09

“It can therefore be concluded that the containment conditions will be favourable for a minimum of 10,000 years.”

COM

08’18

The scientific conclusions were optimistic. But Wittelsheim municipal council was still sceptical.  

ITW 

Pierre

08’26

Pierre: We decided to oppose the project because we were given no guarantee of reversibility.  

Ghislaine (11’46) What is reversibility? 

Pierre: The guarantee that, if something happens, it will be possible to remove the waste.

On avait décidé de s'opposer parce qu'on n'avait aucune garantie de réversibilité. 

Ghislaine (11’46) C'est quoi la réversibilité ?

C'est d'être certain que, s'il arrive quelque chose, qu'on puisse ressortir ces déchets.

COM

08’38

To convince the local officials, a new law was passed.  It introduced the requirement of reversibility. In the event of an accident, the waste would be removed to protect the environment. 

Archive JT

08’50

Stocamine est un stockage provisoire, nécessairement provisoire. La loi qui a été passée en juillet 1992 interdit d’autoriser de manière, sans limite dans le temps, un quelconque stockage géologique de produits dangereux. Stocamine est un stockage de produits dangereux. Il nous est interdit, l’arrêté le reprend, d’autoriser de manière illimitée. En pratique, Stockamine est autorisé que pour 30 ans. C’est la notion de réversibilité.

ITW Pierre Vogt

09’15

And without this promise of reversibility, we would never ever have agreed to the storage of this final waste. 

Et sans promesse de réversibilité, nous n'aurions jamais accepté ce stockage de déchets ultimes, jamais. 

COM

09’24

But on September the 9th, 2002, just three years after StocaMine opened, what was not meant tohappen… happened.

COM

09’54

It took firefighters two months to extinguish the blaze. 

Block 15 was destroyed. And the bags of waste were crushed and trapped beneath the collapsed walls. How could a fire have broken out? 

ITW Mineur Jean-Pierre Hecht

10’16

I watched a truck being unloaded, and when the forklift operator lifted the big bags, a foul-smelling substance poured out of them. It was a corrosive product that attacked the concrete slab floor. And the chemist obtained some samples of it, which I have kept to this day. It’s this liquid here that poured out of the big bags. They were products that were not in conformity with the specifications. Only dry products were supposed to be stored. 

J’ai assisté au déchargement d'un camion, où le cariste quand il soulevait les big bags... c'était une cascade qui coulait de produits malodorants, d'un produit corrosif qui avait attaqué la dalle de béton. Et dont la chimiste m'a procuré des échantillons que j'ai conservés jusqu'à aujourd'hui. Donc c'est ce qu'on voit, ce liquide-là, qui s'écoulait des big bags. 

Donc c'était vraiment des produits qui n'étaient déjà pas conformes aux cahiers des charges puisqu'ils devaient être secs à l'origine.

COM

10’56

The offending big bags came from Solupack, a phytosanitary company based near the French city of Tours. They contained fertilizer residue. This residue fermented in the mine and self-ignited.

11’17

The fire took a heavy toll: the charred waste can never be removed and poses a threat to the environment.  

COM

11’27

StocaMine was brought to trial in 2007 following a formal complaint by a miners’ collective.

COM

11’31

StocaMine’s manager, Patrice Dadaux, was fined 5,000 euros.

COM

11’40

The fire is only part of the StocaMine scandal.

COM

11’47

A few years later, another disaster occurred: one after the other, the galleries started to collapse, even though the scientific assessment of the site had concluded it was remarkably stable. 

COM

12’06

Marcos Buser is an expert geologist. He was part of the steering group tasked with assessing StocaMine’s situation for the French ministry of ecology.  

ITW Marco

12’21

In 2008-2010, it was obvious to everyone that the mine was caving in far more quickly than predicted, and that there were serious stability issues. 

En 2008-2010, c'était clair pour tout le monde que la mine se refermait beaucoup plus rapidement que prévu et qu'il y avait des problèmes de stabilité sérieuse.

ITW Marco

12’34

The error made - and the author of the École des Mines study admitted this - was that samples were only taken of the rock salt, and not of the entire geological series as should have been the case. It’s the kind of a mistake a first-year student would make. If you look at the geological profile, you know exactly which types of rocks there are. You don’t just take a sample of one rock; you study the entire series. That was not done, and that’s the reason why the models were wrong. 

Alors, l'erreur qui a été faite, et l'auteur de l'étude de l'École des mines l'a reconnue, c'est qu'il avait fait des prélèvements d'échantillons seulement sur le sel gemme et pas sur toute la série géologique qu'il devrait prendre en compte. Alors il a fait une gaffe, disons, d'un étudiant de première année, c'est-à-dire quand vous regardez le profil géologique, vous savez exactement les différentes roches qui affleurent. Alors on ne prend pas un échantillon d'une seule roche, mais on étudie toute la série, ce qui n'a pas été fait et ce qui a finalement été la raison pour laquelle les modèles ont été faux. 

COM

13’26

An error with serious consequences. Because this study was one of the reasons why authorization was granted for the construction of StocaMine. 

COM

13’35

Very quickly, in 2010, an alternative to reversibility was raised. The question was whether the 42,000 tonnes of waste should be retrieved before it was too late. 

Archive

13’46

Assez vite derrière, on voit qu'ils sont en contact avec la couronne, et ça va être, je pense, plus délicat ici de sortir des big bags comme ceci, et ils vont se déchirer.

COM

13’59

The first person to act was French environment minister Delphine Batho. On the advice of an expert committee, she decided to bring only a tiny fraction of the waste to the surface: the mercury and the ziram. These are among the most harmful substances to water. Started  in 2014, the operation took three years. 

Archive

14’22

C’est parti pour le grand nettoyage. Depuis la fin du mois d'août, ces grandes boîtes bleues s'entassent aux quatre coins des galeries de Stocamine. À l'intérieur les premiers fûts de déchets contenant des dérivées de mercure reconditionnées au fond en atmosphère confinée. 

Les rangées de fûts sont traitées une par une et entre chaque rangée , le sol doit être recreusé pour permettre l'avancée des engin, le conduit d'extraction d'air allongé et surtout la décontamination des sols doit être contrôlé.

COM 14’49

The operation cost 42 million euros.  

COM

14’57

In 2023, despite widespread opposition, the French government decided to leave the remaining waste down there permanently. The local officials felt betrayed. 

ITW Maire Vogt

15’10

We were promised reversibility, and then the opposite happens!  It makes you want to shout, to cry: “Where’s the State? Who’s the State?” The State is civil servants who change every two years, and you don’t see anymore, who make decisions that do not serve the common good! The State should serve the common good, the public good. How can we trust the State after this?

On nous a promis la réversibilité, maintenant, voilà ce qui se passe, c'est le contraire ! ». On a envie de crier, de dire : « c'est où, c'est qui l'État ? » C'est des fonctionnaires qui changent tous les deux ans, puis qu'après on ne retrouve plus, qui prennent des décisions qui vont à l'encontre des décisions d'intérêt général ? L'État, c'est l'intérêt général, l'intérêt commun. Et là, comment après faire confiance en l'État? “

COM

15’38

To seal the site, concrete plugs have been positioned at each of StocaMine’s entrances. The objective is to prevent pollutants seeping into the groundwater. Will Alsace one day be deprived of its drinking water supply? Wasburying   the waste for good inevitable?  

COM

15’57

Another underground landfill site in Europe, this time for nuclear waste, also poses a risk to the groundwater supply. Here too, the waste retrieval option is extremely complicated. And yet politicians have taken an opposite tack. Billions of euros are to be spent on removing all the waste.

COM

16’14

This graveyard is in Asse, in Germany’s Lower Saxony. The story began in the 1960s. With a cast very similar to StocaMine’s.

(Attention la suite n’est pas dans le texte de Ghislaine mais dans l’audio de référence, vérifier avec elle si c’est à enregistrer)

First, in the role of scientist, Klaus Kuhn, who stated that Asse’s former salt mine was the ideal tomb for German nuclear waste. 

Archive Klaus Kuhn 16’38

Die Einlagerung von radioaktiven Abfällen in ein Salzbergwerk oder ganz allgemein in Salzformationen garantiert den besten Abschluss dieser radioaktiven Abfälle aus dem Biozyklus. Das bedeutet, es kann zu keinem Kontakt zwischen dem Grundwasser und den radioaktiven Abfällen kommen, da in Salzbergwerken kein Grundwasser vorkommt. 

COM

17’18

As the rock salt graveyard had been declared dry, and therefore safe, radioactive barrels arrived from all over Germany from 1967 onwards. They were stored 700 metres underground. 

COM

17’48

But in 1988, what was not meant to happen… happened: water began to leak into the mine. The operator had to pump it out because it threatened the tomb’s stability. But the nightmare did not end there.

COM

18’02

On June 11th, 2008, a German newspaper revealed that the water leaking into Asse was extremely toxic. “The water in the Asse repository is contaminated by radioactivity.” 

18’11

COM

18’16

Germany had an emergency on its hands. The Cesium-137 contaminated water had to be prevented from reaching the groundwater supply at all costs.

COM

18’24

Political inertia made reversibility impossible at StocaMine.  Things were different for Asse. In 2013, the Bundestag voted in favour of retrieval.

COM

18’35

However, recovering the radioactive barrels is a hazardous challenge. New robot prototypes are currently being developed. To protect workers, they will be remote-controlled.

COM

18’52

How much will retrieval cost?  For the time being, no figure has been given for the overall cost, but the preparatory phase alone has already been estimated at 5 billion euros. One thing is certain: Asse will cost the German taxpayer a fortune. 

COM

19’13

So, should we continue to view underground storage as the best type of tomb? Including for our nuclear waste?

COM

19’23

With over 400 active reactors worldwide, nuclear waste is piling up on our planet. 

COM

19’30

Radioactive for several hundred thousand years, the most dangerous type is SNF, or spent nuclear fuel, that is, uranium-bearing fuel elements used at nuclear reactors.

COM

19’43

These used fuel rods are stored in cooling pools, or ponds, for several decades. But how and where can this waste be safely stored afterwards? 

COM

19’58

A solution has been found in northern Europe, in Onkalo, Finland.

COM

20’09

On the Baltic coast, close to the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant, a new type of underground disposal facility is located beneath these buildings. 

COM

20’24

Onkalo is unique in that it is not an abandoned mine but a purpose-built repository, which will eventually boast 50 kilometres of tunnels. 

COM

20’41

The spent nuclear fuel will be transferred here by truck. 

20 50 Scheduled to open by 2030, Onkalo will be the world’s first repository of this type.

Tuohimaa Pasi 

20’59

So this is where the the trip begins. The spent fuel will come in with with the transfer truck from that door, and it's, it's still in a tank. And that's where like I said, all the magic happens. Then the tank will be moved, the lid of the tank will be opened, and the fuel will be taken out from the from the water for the first time in about 40-45 years.

COM

21’38

The second stage is the encapsulation plant. A chamber lined with stainless steel, a material from which radioactive dust can easily be removed.

Tuohimaa Pasi 

21’49  

You are the lucky ones because this will be the most magical, unique room in the, in the nuclear world at the moment. There's no such sort other room in the world nowhere. This is where the encapsulation happens. The walls are I think one metre, ten centimetres thick. 

COM

22’11

Thick walls because this will be the most radioactive of Onkalo’s rooms. Encapsulation operations will be conducted remotely by technicians, from behind these shielded windows. 

The spent fuel is placed inside a copper canister, its coffin for eternity, which is then sealed thanks to an automated welding system.

The next stage is like something out of a science fiction film. The spent fuel moves on its own. 

COM

22’51

It takes a lift down to a depth of 450 metres. From here, a robotic transfer vehicle transports it to a tunnel in which holes have been bored. An underground passage like this is currently under construction.

Tuohimaa Pasi 

23’12

We are now entering the first real final disposal tunnel. This is 350 metres long. 

Johanna Hansen

23’23

And and here are some measurements ongoing. These are the so-called pilot holes. So always before you make this deposition hole, so you make first a tiny cord pilot hole and from that pilot hole you you will get more information to the site site model and and and based on this conditions in the hole so you you may skip the hole or or add it. So in approximately in each tunnel there will be around thirty to forty deposition holes. 

COM

24’06

Once the tests are completed, the deposition holes will be bored. What is the final resting place for spent fuel like? To find out, we must go to another tunnel. 

Tuohimaa Pasi 

24’22

[10:44:55] So please come. So we are now in a demonstration tunnel number two. These are built exactly like the real final disposal tunnels, except this is shorter. [10:45:08]

 [10:45:10] There is only Four holes. Here is the construction of the whole tunnel system. We are here. This is just a demonstration area. We now on a demonstration tunnel number two. [10:45:22]

 [10:45:23] If you wanna see inside a hole here. Oh, sorry. This is eight metres deep. Don't drop anything there, so it cannot be taken out. [10:45:38]

COM

25’07

The robotic transfer vehicle will deposit the spent fuel in a hole like this… forever.

Ghislaine

25’18

What will be the temperature inside with the fuel. 

Tuohimaa Pasi 

25’23

At least in the beginning it will will be something like ninety degrees. But then later it of course goes down. 

COM

25’37

Inside these holes, the canisters will be swaddled in bentonite, a natural clay which swells in contact with water, forming a relatively impervious barrier. The aim being to limit contact between water and the canisters’ copper casing, to inhibit corrosion. Because if cracks appear in the canisters, the radioactivity could leak out.  

COM

26’02

Will all these measures make Onkalo a foolproof safe?

COM

26’14

Some scientists at KTF, Sweden’s prestigious Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, do not believe so.  

COM

26’25

Christopher Leygraf, a professor of corrosion science, tested the resistance of the spent fuel’s canister.

COM

26’36

He immersed the copper in water like that found in the tunnels.

COM

26’40

In the first experiment, the water is at ambient temperature. 

COM

26’44

In the second, it is at 60 degrees Celsius, to simulate the heat produced by radioactivity. The result of this second test proved surprising.

Christopher Leygraf

26’55

Something very unexpected happened. We saw that some of the elements from the groundwater, oxygen, sulphur, hydrogen, enters into the copper canister to an extent that we did not expect at all. The perfect structure of the copper is broken, causing later on other corrosion processes. 

COM

27’26

And yet the canisters are five centimetres’ thick. A significant thickness. 

Christopher Leygraf

27’35

It's hard to estimate when the radioactivity would leak out, but we would say that within ten years different corrosion events have already started at the inside of the copper canister as a result of these small cracks on the inside. And definitely within one hundred years the radioactivity would leak out. 

COM

28’05

Are Professor Leygraf’s predictions alarmist? Back to Onkalo. The representatives of Posiva, the private company managing Onkalo, refute his conclusions. 

Jyrki Liimatainen

28’20

Those tests were done in in like an open system where the there was an exchange of of water and different gases so here there is no exchange of material and that that was the main thing that was different in those tests when we fill the tunnel and we fill the hole then the pendonite clay will expand and there was no there will be no exchange of water between the canister and the surroundings or there will be really slow those those chemical processes in in that environment. 

COM

29’09

According to Posiva, KTH’s experiment is flawed because it was conducted in an open environment. Whereas the copper canisters will be stored in a closed environment, which means no gas exchange will occur. An argument refuted by Professor Leygraf, who replied via email.

COM

29’29

“The bentonite layer takes considerable time to fully swell and become tight, creating a “closed” system. 

However, we can observe inner corrosion after a few months of exposure at 60 degrees Celsius.

To conclude, we see this corrosion form before the bentonite layer is tight, i.e. in open conditions.”  

COM

29’53

Who is right? We will have to wait and see.  For the time being, everyone at Onkalo is extremely confident.

Jyrki Liimatainen

30’02

 [10:50:34] There will not be any contamination from these canisters for several thousand years. [10:50:40]

Ghislaine

30’08

[10:50:41] So citizens mustn't be afraid. [10:50:43]

Jyrki Liimatainen

30’10

[10:50:43] They shouldn't be afraid of this. They should be afraid if we are not doing anything of of the nuclear waste and and just leaving it lying around. [10:50:52]

COM

30’27

Johan Swahn heads MKG, a Swedish NGO specializing in nuclear waste management. In 2022, he wrote to Finland’s minister for industry to warn him of the risk of Posiva’s copper canisters cracking. A possibility that did not worry the Finns.

Johan Swahn

30’49

It is certain I mean the Finnish newspapers have been having discussions about the copper canister and so on, but it has not been taken seriously because the the the also it's because the these companies are quite strong, they they have quite high power in society, and it is difficult to stop a project when there is so much prestige and so much money and effort and resources have you put into the project. Both the Swedish and the Finnish culture is much more trustful of of let's say let's say the government or or municipalities and that is different from Germany or France where something like this I think would cause more outrage in in in in your public debate. 

COM

31’47

If science managed to reduce the danger of nuclear waste, underground storage sites would cause less concern to the public. Is this a pipe dream?

COM

31’57

In Mol ,Belgium, at this nuclear research centre, a group of scientists have high hopes. MYRHHA represents a way forward. A new kind of reactor is currently in development.  Heading the programme is Hamid Aït Abderrahim, a scientist with a revolutionary goal.

Hamid Aït Abderrahim32’19

My dream is to return nuclear waste to its natural radiotoxicity levels after 300 years, instead of 300,000.

What you can see here, behind that building there, is the location of the future accelerator. It will be 300 to 350 meters long, and adjoining it, there’ll be a large building housing the reactor. Roughly 100 metres by 100 metres. 

32’58

There’s the excitement and above all, the dream of seeing a totally new development for the benefit of society.  And that, I’d say, is what fuels our engine!

Mon rêve, c'est de diminuer la radiotoxicité des déchets nucléaires de 300 000 ans à 300 ans. 

Alors ce que vous voyez ici, je dirais là derrière le bâtiment qui est là, commencera l'accélérateur et il va parcourir une distance de 300-350 mètres, toujours dans cette direction, qui sera suivie après d'un gros bâtiment qui est celui du réacteur. Donc à peu près 100 mètres sur 100. 

32’58

Il y a l'enthousiasme et surtout le rêve de voir un développement complètement nouveau au service de la société. Et ça, ça vous donne, je dirais, de l'essence dans votre moteur. 

COM

33’12

His goal is to reduce the longevity of nuclear waste by 1,000 thanks to the process of transmutation. This entails altering atomic nuclei to reduce their toxicity.

This is the purpose of the MYRRHA reactor. Its particularity is that it’s driven by a linear accelerator that propels protons at the speed of an Olympic sprinter.

Hamid Aït Abderrahim

33’35

The protons are injected at this end of our accelerator. It’s in this small black box that the protons are created. And we gradually accelerate them in the 300-metre-long linear accelerator. In fact, this accelerator is like an Olympic ski jump. You start at the top, you’re stationary, and then you go down the take-off ramp to reach extraordinary speeds. It’s the same idea. At the end of our accelerator, our protons have attained dizzying speeds of several million kilometres per hour, and then they enter the reactor.

Alors, les protons sont injectés tout au début de notre accélérateur. C'est dans cette petite boîte noire au début où on fait naître les protons. Et on va progressivement les accélérer dans l'accélérateur linéaire qui fait 300 mètres de longueur. Cet accélérateur, finalement, c'est comme un tremplin de saut à ski aux Jeux olympiques. Donc on démarre en haut, on est à l'arrêt et on glisse sur cette rampe de lancement pour atteindre une vitesse extraordinaire. C'est exactement le même principe. 

Au bout de notre accélérateur, nos protons ont atteint des vitesses vertigineuses de plusieurs millions de kilomètres par heure et vont rentrer dans le réacteur. 

COM

34’20

This is where a game of pinball begins. The protons collide in the core of the reactor, producing neutrons which break the nuclei of the most toxic residue, so reducing the danger of the spent fuel to just 300 years.  (01’03’35)

COM

34’40

If the MYRRHA prototype achieves its transmutation objective, it would resolve one of the thorniest problems posed by nuclear energy. 

(01’03’50)/(34’51)

But the cost is colossal. Estimated at 3.5 billion euros in 2018, the MYRRHA programme lacks the funding needed for its completion. 

COM

35’03

In the meantime, geological storage is an increasingly common solution around the world. And not only for nuclear and industrial waste either.

COM

35’24

The latest trend is carbon dioxide burial. The planet is overheating because of our carbon dioxide emissions… So why not store CO₂ under the seabed? It may sound weird, but it’s a reality. 

COM

35’44

We have come to southern Norway, where yesterday’s science fiction has become today’s science. 

COM

35’54

This is a green cement plant. An oxymoron given that this type of industry is among the most polluting in the world. But here, a new technology means it is possible to significantly reduce its carbon footprint. 

Anders Petersen

36’09

So here in Brewig we produce around 1 million tonnes of cement every year. So we produce cement by taking raw materials such as limestone, sand and clay, we grind it into a fine powder, then we heat this material up to 1450 degrees centigrade. 

Anders Petersen

36’29

Cement manufacturing is one of the most CO2 emitting industries simply because we have chemically bound CO2 in the limestone. So we need to, I mean, the reason why we're heating the limestone up is actually to get rid of the CO2, to basically, let's say burn off the CO2, to release the CO2.

COM

36’48

400, 000 tonnes is equivalent to the emissions generated by all cars in France over 50 hours. It’s also the amount of pollution Brevik’s new high-tech chimney will capture. 

Anders Petersen

37’08

So here we have the carbon capture facility. The big tower is 100 metres high and that's the absorber. That's where we inject the air-mine in the flue gas. 

COM

37’21

This high-tech chimney began operating in 2025. Inside it, a solvent, amine, captures the CO₂ in the flue gas. 

Anders Petersen

37’34

This pure stream of CO2 then goes into our CO2 compressor, which is inside our big concrete building over there. And there we compress it down to a liquid and then we're pumping it all the way out to the harbour. We have six big CO2 storage tanks out there where the CO2 will be stored until the ship comes every four days and picks it up and transport it to the west coast of Norway. 

COM

38’01

Such facilities are still a rarity. Just 0.1% of global annual emissions are captured in this way. With good reason: the financial cost is astronomical.

Anders Petersen

38’15

The cost of this carbon capture facility is a bit below half a billion euros.Basically, for the amount of money we're using here to build the carbon capture facility, we could build a completely new cement plant in many countries. So it is like building another cement plant at the cement plant. So it’sextremely expensive..

COM

38’39

The CO₂’s adventure continues at sea. After being liquefied, it is taken by tanker to western Norway, the location of Northern Lights, the new CO₂ storage platform owned by three oil giants: France’s Total, Britain’s Shell and Norway’s Equinor.

Geir Grøttveit

39’16

This is where the ship will berth and you can imagine the landing arm that will be to the ship.

40’05

So, we are now looking at the onshore tanks. It’s the intermediate storage where we will receive from the ship.. It’s the intermediate storage. The tank is approximately 35 meters. 

So I think it will be one of the largest CO2 storage for the moment.

COM

40’25

The CO₂ is pumped out of the tanks to a 100-km long offshore pipeline then injected in a deep saline aquifer, composed of sand and water, 2,600 meters below the seabed, in the earth’s crust. 

ITW Mathieu Vinchon

40’39

I have a sample here. As you can see, it’s very granular. And, in fact, in these grains, there’s water, saltwater, seawater.  The CO₂ enters the reservoir, pushes out the water and takes its place.   It’s a very porous rock, which is why we can inject carbon dioxide into it. It’s like the compacted sand you get on the beach. 

J’ai un échantillon par ici, on voit que c'est très granuleux et en fait dans ces grains, il y a de l'eau salée, de l'eau marine. Et donc le CO2 va rentrer dans ce réservoir et va pousser l'eau et prendre sa place. C'est une roche très poreuse, c'est grâce à ça qu'on arrive à injecter le CO2 dedans. C'est vraiment comme du sable compacté quand vous êtes à la plage. 

COM

41’06

There is a risk the CO₂ will migrate to the surface. But overlying the reservoir is a cap rock that acts as a seal.

ITW Mathieu Vinchon

41’16

Above it, we have a much harder rock that is non-porous, which enables us to keep the CO₂ in place in the sand reservoir. This type of rock is called sea clay. As you can see, it’s highly laminated, with a very low porosity, and is completely impermeable. 

Et donc par-dessus ça, nous avons une roche qui est beaucoup plus dure et avec sans pore en l'occurrence, qui va nous permettre de garder le CO2 dans le réservoir sableux. Alors au-dessus, on a ce qu'on appelle des argiles marins. Donc c'est vraiment, vous voyez, c'était très laminé et très peu poreux et c'est imperméable complètement.

COM

41’38

Does CO₂ injection present risks?

We head to Saint Ursanne in Switzerland.

Overlooking the village is Mont Terri, a laboratory funded by an international consortium, where scientists are conducting all sorts of experiments. 

ITW Christophe Nussbaum

42’09

This here is a drilling machine. They’re drilling through the clay. Once the hole is made, we insert a fibre optic cable to measure, for instance, any deformation, elongation or contraction caused by excess water pressure. So, we’re already looking at what would happen if the CO₂ and saltwater were to migrate upwards into the clay.

Ici, vous avez une foreuse, ils forent à travers l'argile. Une fois que le trou sera fait, on va installer de la fibre optique qui va mesurer en fait, par exemple, la déformation, l'élongation ou bien la contraction qui pourrait être liée à la   surpression d'eau. Donc nous, on regarde déjà qu'est-ce qui se passerait si le CO2 et l'eau salée remontaient dans l'argile.

COM

42’35

Whether it’s offshore or on land, the goal is to inject CO₂ beneath impermeable rock barriers. But do the experts have any control over geology several kilometres underground?

ITW Christophe Nussbaum

42’48

We will identify the major faults. But this fault here, for instance, which isn’t that big, will be hard to detect with traditional methods. This here, is the base of the fault. It’s looks as if it’s been cut with a knife. 

Les grandes failles, on va les identifier. Mais comme ici, vous voyez, cette faille ici, qui n'est pas si grande que ça, finalement, elle sera difficilement visible par les mesures, par les méthodes traditionnelles.

Voilà donc, vous voyez, ici, ça, c'est la base de la faille, 

on voit que c'était vraiment coupé au couteau.

COM

43’06

In clays, there are faults, like this one, which are sealed and therefore impermeable. But if the injection of CO₂ is too forceful, they could open.

ITW Christophe Nussbaum

43’17

If we increase the pressure, and we increase it too forcefully, for instance, we could potentially create an opening, a shift in the fault and, as a result, increase its permeability and cause water to seep in.  But if you control the pressure, you can avoid such a situation. And that’s the main purpose of our research.  

Ghislaine: 01’13’2 / 43’40: Are you sure the CO₂ will not be able to escape? Are the reservoirs infallible? 

Christophe: The issue isn’t really whether it’s infallible or not. Our aim is to characterize the environment as best we can. 

I don’t really like that sort of question because… Infallible… it’s difficult, you know. We have the very latest technology at our disposal. Quite simply. Infallible… Nothing is infallible, obviously. And you know that.

With CO₂ injection, what you have to understand is that if we control the way in which it is injected, we can avoid all of that.  That’s really important. 

Si on augmente la pression et on l'augmente d'une manière on va dire trop forte, par exemple, on peut potentiellement créer une ouverture, un glissement de cette faille et donc augmenter ce qu'on appelle sa perméabilité́ et on pourrait laisser passer de l'eau.

Mais si vous contrôlez cette pression-là, vous pouvez l'éviter et c' est tout le but de ces recherches.

Ghislaine 01’13’2 / 43’40 : est-ce qu’on est sûr que le C02  ne pourra pas s’échapper ? Les réservoirs d'injection sont infaillibles ?

Ce n'est pas tellement une question d'infaillible ou pas. C'est finalement de caractériser au mieux le milieu. J'aime pas trop ce genre de question parce qu'infaillible, c'est difficile, vous voyez. Je pense qu'on a vraiment des technologies aujourd'hui qui sont extrêmement pointues, voilà, quoi. Infaillible...Rien n'est infaillible, bien sûr, vous le savez, ça.      

Ce qu'il faut bien comprendre avec ces histoires d'injection, c'est que si on contrôle la manière dont on injecte, on peut éviter tout ça. Ça, c'est vraiment important ça, 

ITW Mathieu Vinchon

44’22

With new technology and the resolution of our seismic sensor, our 4-D tool, we’re pretty much able to map all the faults that could pose a problem for our CO₂. That’s why we drilled a well at a great distance from these faults, to avoid that, so there’d be no risk of carbon dioxide leakage. It’s important to note that, at present, 100% of CO₂ is released into the atmosphere. Can we afford to have 1% escape and keep 99% in the ground? I’ll let you answer that question!

Avec les nouvelles technologies et la résolution de notre sismique, de notre 4D, de notre temps zéro, on est à peu près capable de mapper toutes les failles qui peuvent être un problème pour notre CO2. C'est pour ça qu'on a foré un puits très loin de ces failles pour éviter, pour qu'il n'y ait aucun risque de fuite de CO2. Il faut se rappeler aussi que pour l'instant, 100 % du CO2 est émis dans l'air.

Est-ce qu'on peut se permettre d'avoir un pourcent qui s'échappe et garder 99