Wyhat is happening in Bure ?

CIGÉO / Bure, a huge nuclear waste dump 500 meters underground, is ongoing since 1994, following a law passed in 1991 regarding nuclear waste management. A geological research lab was installed in 1999 in BURE in Meuse, close to the border with Haute-Marne, to study its clay. The ANDRA (National Radioactive Waste Management Agency) is waiting for the approval, in 2027, of the start of the project, which would initiate a so-called pilot-phase, the tremendous and irreversible construction of the Cigeo industrial site.

This project, developed by the Andra and the main nuclear waste prdoucers (EDF, CEA, Areva) is still, well, a project. There is no nuclear waste in Bure !

The arrival of the first nuclear wast is announced for 2050, and even 2080 for the most dangerous ones (HAVL, High Activity Long Life). Until then, the waste will remain stored in La Hague or on the nuclear power plants that produce them. The Andra plans to dig the tunnels right next to the nuclear waste they would be storing at the same time, for a duration of 150 years. Before this they still need to build an electrical transformer, roads, bridges, water facilities, drillings, a railway…
This project is very unique, pretending to be able, technically and financially, to welcome one site 99,96 % of radioactivity produced by 58 reactors (for now…) and to store it for hundreds of millennia.

Cigéo : plan of the nuclear trash

Cigéo would be spread over five villages in Meuse and Haute-Marne departments : Bure, Saudron, Ribeaucourt, Bonnet and Mandres. It would be 270 ha if surface nuclear installations and 300 km of underground tunnels, which would provide storage for the most radioactive products of the nuclear industry. All that for at least 40 billion euros.

A future no man’s land? Who would want to live next to that?

However, ANDRA continues to buy land (already 3000 ha in the Meuse and Haute-Marne departments), and to build infrastructure (railway, roads, electricity lines, etc) and their propaganda keeps spreading…

The Maison de Résistance (house of resistance)

In 2004, some people against the nuclear state from France and Germany created an association called BZL (Bure Zone Libre / Bure Free Area). The year after, they bought an old farmhouse to renovate in the Meuse region in the heart of the small village of Bure, in the form of a non-trading property company (SCI) with the Sortir Du Nucléaire network. This ruined farm will become the “House of resistance to nuclear waste” (“Maison de résistance à la poubelle nucléaire”).

At this point in time, this house is a living place open to everybody throughout the year. It has a meeting/concert space, insulated space for many people to sleep, a kitchen, a workshop, a computer room and a garden. It is a place to :

  • provide critical information about the nuclear industry and nuclear waste
  • have a place to organize actions against the nuclear industry
  • experiment way of organizing and living without hierarchy

The house is always open.

You can send an email to burezonelibre[at]riseup.net or call (+33) 9 54 10 57 11 : if nobody answers the phone, please try to call back because the messages are not checked. (This number is wiretapped by police, we don’t like to say too many names on the phone.)

The closest shop is 10 km away, the nearest train station (Joinville) and supermarket are 20 km away.

The food purchases are made with the free participation of everyone. You can also bring food to share! (please prefer vegan food)

The good functioning and the maintenance of the place are managed by all, regulars as well as newcomers (don’t hesitate to ask what to do and how to participate, and to propose your initiatives!)

The house welcomes people with different sensibilities, opinions and practices. These encounters are very enriching, and require kindness and openness!

The fight against the burial of nuclear waste is carried by many individuals, groups and associations, and joins multiple social and environmental struggles. The house of resistance belongs to the fight against nuclear waste as a whole with all these components.

The association Bure Zone Libre takes care of the administrative management and a long term follow-up of the house of resistance. It is autonomous and independent. It relies only on the donations from its members and sympathizers as well as from friendly associations and partners.

La Maison de Résistance
2 rue de l’église
55290 BURE
(+33) 9 54 10 57 11

Other friendly places

Other people live around Bure, whether in collective places or not. A collective house, l’Affranchie, exists since 2018 in Mandres-en-Barrois (2 km from Bure). More information on this page : Come to live in Bure

CARTOGRAPHY

For more informations, see the page Cartography.

Green : ANDRA lab
Purple : project of renovating 40km of old railway to bring the nuclear waste
Blue : future surface nuclear installations
Orange : area with the installation to carry the waste underground
Yellow : ZIRA area under which they plan to build the underground tunnels
Red : Bois Lejuc, where they plan to put the ventilation pipes. This forest was occupied until february 2018.
Black : Some of the collective places of resistance.