In the Channel, the Orano plant in La Hague is increasing its used fuel reprocessing projects

With the construction of new nuclear reactors, the plant located north of Flamanville must accelerate its various treatment and recycling projects. Two new plants must also see the light of day by 2050.

Nuclear power under construction. The Flamanville EPR is due to start up soon, in the Channel, EDF is waiting for the green light from the Nuclear Safety Authority. The ASN which must decide “in the next few days”, to initiate the “divergence” of the new generation reactor, that is to say the first nuclear reaction.

With the major EPR project in Flamanville now complete, another project is already looming concerning the treatment of nuclear waste by the Orano plant in La Hague, 20 kilometers north of Flamanville. Because at a time when nuclear power is being revived by Emmanuel Macron, with the announced construction of new EPR 2 reactors and the extension of current plants, Orano must anticipate new circuits for the treatment and recycling of used fuel.

On the Normandy site of Orano, major projects are therefore to come, in addition to the construction sites in progress. The French giant is in permanent transformation and one of the current construction sites concerns its radioactive core, under the clear blue water. “Here we are in front of one of the storage pools,” describes Jean-Christophe Varin. The deputy director of Orano in La Hague points to the long baskets immersed in the pool. They contain the radioactive fuel and will be replaced in a year.

“We have a project to densify these swimming pools, he explains. It consists of having designed smaller baskets. Obviously, they take up less space. Today, we have around 10 400 tonnes of fuel stored in the pools. The storage capacity of the Hague plant is 14 000 tonnes, and thanks to this densification project, we are able to increase capacity by more than 30%.”

Other, much bigger changes are under consideration. To support the start-up of new reactors in France, planned in about fifteen years, Orano is preparing to build two additional plants at La Hague. The first to process more used fuel, the second to manufacture a new fuel, MOX, with recycled uranium and plutonium.

Orano’s deputy director hopes to see the first groundbreaking in 2030 “for the commissioning of the MOX fuel plant around 2040, and the processing and recycling plant between 2045 and 2050. So that our future plants are able to process the fuels used in the EPR 2 reactors, but also other small reactors.”

This is part of the French strategy for energy independence, underlines Jean-Christophe Varin. “It saves natural uranium resources,” he advances.

“The recycling of uranium and plutonium allows us to save 25% of natural uranium resources. And it is a very important strategy for the entire French nuclear cycle.”

Jean-Christophe Varin, deputy director of Orano in La Hague

to franceinfo

And these projects will bring jobs. Currently, Orano is recruiting 600 people per year, on permanent and fixed-term contracts, in the Cotentin. The pace will accelerate: management is now looking for engineers to design these new factories.