Enriched uranium: Orano approves the Georges Besse 2 expansion project

On 19 October 2023, Orano’s Board of Directors approved the project to extend enrichment capacity at the Georges Besse 2 plant. This project will enable Orano to increase its production capacity by more than 30%, progressively from 2028.

With an investment of €1.7 billion, Orano will increase its enriched uranium production capacity at its Georges Besse 2 plant on the Tricastin site in the Drôme (south-east France). This industrial project, approved by the Board of Directors, is intended to benefit French and Western sovereignty. “Orano’s decision is in response to requests from our customers to strengthen their security of supply, with a first production scheduled for 2028,” says Claude Imauven, Chairman of Orano’s Board of Directors.

✅ Projet d’extension des capacités d’enrichissement de Georges Besse II : le Conseil d’Administration d’#Orano donne son feu vert !
🟡 Près de 1,7 milliards d’euros d’investissement
🟡 Projet 100 % européen
Pour en savoir plus 👉https://t.co/sVi9HCZTGY pic.twitter.com/oteTT4Bgy2

— Orano Group (@Oranogroup) October 19, 2023

Following the invasion of Ukraine, many players want to do without Russian supplies, both in Europe and in the United States, where 25% of the nuclear fleet depends on enriched uranium from Moscow. This investment is being made with Japanese shareholders Japan France Enrichment Investing (JFEI) and Korean shareholders Société d’Enrichissement du Tricastin Holding SETH.

Focus on the extension project

The project involves constructing four additional modules identical to the existing fourteen, using the same centrifuge technology owned by Enrichment Technology Company (ETC). All of these will be extensions of one of the two production units at the Georges Besse 2 plant. The project “will mobilize up to 1,000 people during the construction phase, with a significant proportion of regional companies involved,” Orano emphasized.

François Lurin, Director of the Chemicals and Enrichment business, pointed out that “with this capacity extension, the uranium produced on the Orano Tricastin site will be able to supply the equivalent of 120 million homes a year with low-carbon energy”.

To learn more about Georges Besse 2 and enrichment, Sfen carried out a report (in French) on the Tricastin site in the latest Revue générale nucléaire (RGN).■