Fissile materials management
Services for managing recyclable materials following reprocessing of nuclear used fuel
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After the reprocessing of the nuclear used fuel at the la Hague plant, the recyclable materials (Uranium & Plutonium) extracted from the used fuel and representing 96% of nuclear materials remain the operator’s property and shall be shipped back to its country of origin. In some cases, the operator has not yet identified and defined an immediate need or an outlet for those recyclable materials.
Orano offers to the operators services for the management of those recyclable materials (Uranium & Plutonium):
- Transportation services
- Recycling services for the operator
- Recycling services with Orano finding options for the reuse of the recyclable materials by other operators of civil nuclear reactors
- Cleaning services of the Plutonium by removal of the Americium
Transportation services: Recyclable materials (Uranium & Plutonium) can be returned under Orano’s responsibility in specific casks to the country of origin of the operator
Recycling services for the operator through manufacturing of recycled fuel: MOX (Mixed Oxyde) fuel being manufactured by Orano with the Plutonium extracted and ERU (Enriched Reprocessed Uranium) fuel being manufactured by third parties with the Uranium extracted. (See solution “Used fuel reprocessing and recycling”)
Recycling services with Orano finding options for the reuse of the recyclable materials by other operators of civil nuclear reactors. (See solution “Top MOX : MOX fuel to feed your power plant”)
Cleaning services of the Plutonium by removal of the Americium
Recyclable materials transportation has been managed by Orano since decades for several operators in Europe and in the rest of the world
Recycling services are performed since decades within Orano facilities at La Hague and Melox plant, for UOX and MOX fuels with more than 36 000 thM reprocessed for several PWR and BWR operators: EDF (France), SOGIN (Italy), EPZ (Netherlands), Synatom (Belgium), and other utilities in Switzerland, Japan, Germany etc…
Recycling services with Orano finding options for the reuse of recyclable materials from used fuel reprocessing operators which didn’t opt for recycling such as SOGIN, ANSTO, BR2 (materials used for TOPMOX, TOPERU)
Plutonium cleaned from Americium for several operators
The fissile materials management services offered by Orano are sustainable management solutions proposed to the operators for simplifying their back-end management strategy
