Advanced Nuclear Power - AREVA

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Cover Story AREVA, a World Leader in Uranium Supply AREVA is a world leader, controlling about 20 percent of worldwide uranium production with a diversified mining portfolio, distributed in three of the four main uranium provinces worldwide. It has extensive mining interests in Canada and Niger with four mining sites. AREVA is now developing the Muyunkum mining site in Kazakstan, with potential access to a reserve of more than 40,000 metric tons of uranium. Exploration is also under way in Mongolia, Russia, Niger and Canada. AREVA also is anticipating a major investment in the Cigar Lake mining operation in Canada. Last but not least, AREVA has firm access to secondary resources (highenriched uranium feed, HEU) for the next 10 years. reserves in a glutted uranium market. More than two dozen mining companies and dozens more electric utilities worldwide have exited the uranium exploration and production business in the last 25 years. Today production from AREVA (through COGEMA), Cameco and Rio Tinto, represents more than 50 percent of all uranium produced worldwide. Only AREVA and Cameco currently are actively exploring for uranium. “Our diversification policy is designed to minimize risk and ensure the reliability of our commitments to our customers,” said Rémy Autebert, Executive Vice President of COGEMA’s Mining-Chemistry-Enrichment Sector. “We also are actively engaged in identifying future resources, and expect to be in a good position to meet future demand increases once excess inventories have been used up.” Conversion Capacity Will Be An Issue Once milled as “yellow cake,” the uranium concentrate must be converted into uranium hexafluoride (UF6) before enrichment takes place. As a result of declining prices due to the massive sales of secondary supplies, worldwide conversion capacity has decreased. It is now insufficient to meet demand, particularly in Europe. The deficit will worsen over the next few years as BNFL shuts down its UK operations in 2006, leaving a market shortfall of some 4,000 tons. Today, AREVA’s McClean uranium mill in Canada AREVA (through COGEMA and Comurhex facilities with 20 percent market share) is the leader among the four companies supplying uranium conversion services worldwide. AREVA is working hard to maintain high operating levels at its facilities to assist customers through this period of market tightness. In addition, the company offers conversion services that allow utilities to maximize benefits from materials recovered, thanks to reprocessing, and to reduce requirements for natural uranium. As indicated by Pierre Durante, COGEMA’s Director of Sales for uranium conversion, during the World Nuclear Fuel Cycle Seminar at the end of March, 2004, AREVA is studying the viability of a new investment in this activity. 14 Advanced Nuclear Power N O 11 November 2004
Enrichment Technology Migrating to More Energy-Efficient Centrifuge Technology Light water reactors need uranium enriched in its U235 isotope to sustain nuclear fission. The U235 percentage must be raised to between 3 and 5 percent from its natural 0.7 percent content. “The uranium enrichment marketplace worldwide is in the midst of change spurred by new technology,” says Guy Lamorlette, COGEMA’s Director of Sales for enrichment. Today, several technologies are used to enrich uranium. The first-generation commercial technology is gaseous diffusion, a process that “filters” the lighter U235 through a membrane to increase its proportion. The other technology, a much more energy-efficient process, is the gas centrifuge process. Modular Centrifuge Plant Provides Market Flexibility AREVA, number two in the enrichment market with a 25 percent market share, performs enrichment in its GBI plant and will start GBII construction in 2005, with start-up in 2007. The GBII plant, to be built in modules to allow flexibility to react to market conditions, is based on URENCO’s centrifuge design. AREVA bought 50 percent of Enrichment Technology Company comprising all URENCO’s centrifuge design and manufacturing activities in centrifuge equipment and installation. However, URENCO’s and AREVA will continue to compete in the production and marketing of uranium enrichment services. After converting raw ore to “yellow cake” at the mining site, AREVA will ship the concentrate to conversion facilities. AREVA’s Georges Besse I (GBI) plant in France uses the gaseous diffusion technology. Started in 1979, it continues to operate well and is expected to run smoothly for another 10 years. However, to prepare for the future, AREVA has recently decided to use the centrifuge technology for its new plant (Georges Besse II: GBII) which it is planning to build on the same site. Today, about 13 percent of worldwide demand is met by materials derived from downblending weapons-grade HEU of Russian origin (USEC, the US enricher, has the exclusive rights to market the enrichment of this Russian material). After a long period with an overcapacity, which led to a drop in price, current capacity levels are now fully used. Fuel Design and Fabrication Tailored to Each Customer’s Need The next step in the cycle is fuel fabrication, where the enriched UF6 is converted to powdered uranium oxide and then pressed into pellets to be loaded into long tubes made of non-corrosive material, usually a zirconium alloy. The fabrication plant then bundles the tubes together into fuel assemblies. AREVA is the only entity in the world marketplace that offers complete fuel design, zirconium alloy tube manufacturing and fabrication services. The company, through its subsidiary Framatome ANP, has complete expertise in every aspect of chemistry, metallurgy and manufacturing of its zirconium fuel cladding and operates 13 fabrication plants in Germany, Belgium, France and the US. It supplies 39 percent of the world’s light water reactors (LWR) (not including VVERs) with their fuel, and holds the world record for fuel assembly burnup – the amount of energy produced from fuel. Yves Fanjas, Vice President for Research and Development for the Fuel Sector at Framatome ANP commented, Advanced Nuclear Power N O 11 November 2004 15
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