Advanced Nuclear Power - AREVA

Cover Story
Interview with
Hans Lensink,
Nuclear Fuel
Procurement
Manager, Eskom
“Our key issues are quality of the
fuel and price. The market price, the
volatility of price, exchange rates,
and the longer term unpredictability
of the price of uranium are important
decision factors. Management issues
relating to the resulting spent nuclear
fuel are also considered in deciding
on a nuclear fuel procurement strategy,”
said Hans Lensink, Nuclear Fuel
Procurement Manager for Eskom,
the South African utility that operates
the Koeberg nuclear station. Koeberg,
with two 900 MW reactors, is
Africa’s only nuclear power facility.
“We are geographically far removed
from the rest of the world’s nuclear
industry and that makes it especially
important that we have a very
good partnership with our suppliers –
especially our fuel fabricators. We
expect products to be of the highest
quality and we look for quality
service and professionalism which
includes prompt reaction to concerns
and an understanding of each others
limitations and business drivers.”
Lensink continued, “We have a
special relationship with Framatome
ANP, due to our long experience
with the company. They understand
that our station operates at maximum
capacity and that therefore, fuel
failure or the non-availability of fuel
cannot be tolerated. Services from
Framatome and, now Framatome ANP,
over the last 20 years were of the
highest standard and their customer
focus approach is highly regarded.”
“In the mid-1970s, a ton of nuclear
fuel was producing an average 30
to 33 gigawatt days of electrical power.
Long-term development programs,
including our M5 TM cladding and
structural materials, have now raised
that performance to the current
high level of more than 60 gigawatt
days per ton of fuel.”
“We are producing twice the energy now,
under more severe conditions, with
superior fuel reliability and burnup
rates,” he continued, “and no company
is more highly focused than ours on
meeting our customers’ existing needs,
while at the same time anticipating and
addressing long-term industry needs.”
Adding Value is Key
to Nuclear Fuel Design
and Fabrication
Nuclear fuel is not a commodity.
Unlike coal, oil or natural gas, the
other major electricity generation fuels
worldwide, nuclear fuel is precisely
fabricated, engineered and configured
to fit each customer’s specific
requirements. An important part of a
nuclear fuel vendor’s business is
determining those needs and
specifications, and meeting them.
“There is no question that our
customers demand, and deserve,
utmost quality and reliability in their
nuclear fuel supply,” says Philippe
Clergue, Senior Vice President of the
As the world leader in uranium conversion, the Comurhex
conversion plant in Tricastin, France has converted over 300,000
metric tons of uranium since its start-up.
16 Advanced Nuclear Power N O 11 October 2004
COGEMA/Lesage (Philippe)