Like all basic French nuclear facilities, Centraco meets the strict standards and monitoring requirements imposed by the Nuclear Safety Authorities.
Two containment barriers separate radioactive material from the environment.


Building design provisions ensure that even in the event of a malfunction, exposure would never exceed 1 millliSievert (the annual exposure limit for people living within the vicinity of nuclear facilities).

Releases from Centraco are regulated by a permit from the Ministries of Industry, of the Environment and of Public Health.
Performance in terms of radiological filtration and chemical decontamination insure compliance with very stringent limits.

Filters are continuously monitored and stack releases are analyzed to verify required performance levels.

The only liquid waste released by Centraco arises from the flue-gas treatment.
Level of radioactivity is low: it can be compared to that of background radiation.

This liquid waste is treated by chemical neutralization and filtration before it is transferred to the Marcoule liquid waste treatment plant and released into Rhône River.

SOCODEI is responsible for these releases and for environmental monitoring.
It has contracted these surveillance tasks to the relevant CEA departments responsible for the entire Marcoule site. Environmental monitoring ensures immediate detection of any abnormal radioactivity in the site vicinity.

All this data is transmitted to the French Ministry of Health, local authorities, and the Local Information Commission for the Gard.

Low-level radioactive waste under close monitoring

From collection to final disposal by ANDRA, the waste processed by SOCODEI is continuously monitored.
Before acceptance for processing, waste must comply with specific requirements concerning radioactivity, physical and chemical composition, and prior conditioning.