French nuclear group opens new facility in the US

7th October 2020

By: Rebecca Campbell

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

     

Font size: - +

French nuclear group Framatome has announced that it has opened its new uranium recovery facility at its nuclear fuel manufacturing site at Richland in the US state of Washington. The new facility cost $20-million, took three years to build and covers 11 000 ft2 (nearly 1 022 m2).

The new facility is equipped with the latest technologies and processes to recover uranium from the fuel manufacturing process. ‘Scrapped’ uranium is recovered from the fuel fabrication feed streams and then converted into uranium dioxide powder. This uranium dioxide is then re-used in the manufacture of nuclear fuel.

“This new facility, along with capital investments at our fuel facilities in Romans, France, and Lingen, Germany, demonstrates our commitment to continually enhance and expand our capabilities to better serve our customers around the world,” highlighted Framatome Fuel Business Unit senior executive VP Lionel Gaiffe. “Our new and upgraded equipment allows our team to recover and process scrapped uranium more efficiently, adding value for our customers.”

The Richland site fabricates nuclear fuel and related products, and employs almost 550 people. The new facility has further improved safety and ergonomics, increasing protection for the operators.

The site celebrated its fiftieth anniversary last year. Over that period, it produced more than 66 000 nuclear fuel assemblies. “The longevity of the Richland facility illustrates our employees’ commitment to innovation and excellence, year after year,” said Gaiffe last year, marking the anniversary.

The safety record for the entire site is industry-leading and has been recognised by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). For 12 years in a row the Richland facility has been declared by the NRC as having “no area needing improvement”. In 2009, the NRC granted Framatome Richland the first ever 40-year nuclear fuel fabrication licence extension in the US.

 

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

The functionality you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION