OSaRiB, a baseline health assessment of communities living near the proposed storage facility

The Industrial Center for Geological Storage (Cigéo) is France’s deep geological repository project for radioactive waste, designed to store long-lived high- and intermediate-level waste produced by nuclear facilities.

The Observatory on the Health of Residents Near the Bure Storage Facility Project (OSaRiB) is a first-of-its-kind initiative in France that addresses the health concerns of the local population and provides a solid knowledge base for all decisions made by local stakeholders regarding prevention and care. Its objective is to conduct, at a given point in time, a comprehensive health assessment—encompassing both physical and psychological dimensions—of the population living in areas adjacent to and away from the proposed storage center.

Born out of a participatory and multi-stakeholder approach, it is based on the recommendations made by the Working Group comprising CLIS, the Grand Est Regional Health Agency (ARS), Public Health France, the Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), and the Cigéo mission of the Meuse Prefecture. This working group concluded that it is necessary to establish a long-term monitoring system for the health status of the population living near the site selected
for the proposed storage facility.

The baseline health profile established by OSaRiB is based on four complementary components: an analysis of the local context to identify concerns; a perceived health survey of the general population to describe levels of stress and anxiety; a health study to record health events leading to healthcare utilization; and finally, a description of the sociodemographic context and health determinants.

The results will be regularly communicated to the public by the Local Information and Monitoring Committee of the Bure Underground Laboratory.

An agreement to clarify the commitment and scope of each stakeholder

The purpose of this agreement is to define each party’s contributions to OSaRiB as well as the terms of collaboration among the four parties involved in this assessment. Each party commits to providing the skills, knowledge, and expertise, as well as the human, material, financial, and technical resources necessary for the implementation of the program.

Furthermore, this agreement defines OSaRiB’s governing bodies: the steering committee, the scientific council, and the interface committee. Members of the first two bodies are subject, as with all work conducted by Santé publique France, to a public declaration of interest. These bodies reflect, for the steering committee and the interface committee, the commitment to involve stakeholders in defining the scope of the observatory, in its implementation, and in the sharing of results.