Framatome inaugurates new workshop in Romans-sur-Isère for nuclear medicine and research reactors

On April 18, 2025, Framatome inaugurated a new workshop at its Romans-sur-Isère site to expand its portfolio in the medical and nuclear research sectors. A new facility meeting the latest standards has been built to produce compacted powder used in research reactor fuels and medical targets.

This new workshop, part of the CERCA unit, is dedicated to manufacturing fuel elements for research reactors and producing targets used to generate medical isotopes. In the medical field, CERCA supplies targets for 75% of all technetium-99m-based scintigraphies (nuclear medical imaging) performed worldwide. In addition, the unit develops, designs, and delivers nuclear fuels for nearly all European research reactors, as well as many others across the globe. To date, over 20,000 fuel elements have been manufactured on site.

All these activities are centered around the so-called “uranium zone”, where compacted uranium powder is produced — the starting material for both fuel elements and medical targets. This zone has recently been upgraded with brand-new equipment, meeting the latest standards for nuclear safety and security.

“In this new area, we’ve leveraged over 65 years of experience to improve our processes. Safety, security, environmental protection, and facility reliability were our top priorities,” said Lionel Gaiffe, Senior Executive Vice President of the Fuel Business Unit at Framatome.■