By Jarret Adams

About a dozen members of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future yesterday toured the Department of Energy’s Hanford site near Richland, Wash. This panel, which is charged with developing a recommendation on managing the nation’s nuclear waste, heard testimony from local government officials and American Indian tribes during the course of its third public meeting.

The message to the panel from the local speakers was that the government must develop a plan for moving waste from the Hanford site now that Yucca Mountain has been “off the table.” Others called for reviewing the decision to stop the Yucca Mountain project.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire echoed that sentiment in her testimony today and encouraged the panel “to base any recommendations on science and technology, not politics.”

Whether or not the government restarts the Yucca project, the nation ultimately will need a repository. However, if we recycle our nation’s used nuclear fuel we could divide by at least four the volume of waste bound for repository. We also would avoid the need to develop additional repositories, perhaps indefinitely. For more on the potential for recycling, click here.

AREVA is active in several projects related to the remediation of the Hanford site, employing its state-of-the-art technologies for chemical clean-up and vitrification of the radioactive waste.

In addition, we manufacture high-quality fuel for nuclear plants at our facility in Richland, adjacent to the site.

We would like to highlight the “Energy on Trial” project. This is a documentary that “tackles a subject as dear and essential to us as the air we breathe and the nourishment we require. Without energy, we are doomed. But the way much of it is produced is terminally damaging to our environment, and to our health.” We are going to highlight some interesting segments from the documentary over the next few days.
– from energyontrial.com

By Jarret Adams

In an effort to green up the debate on recycling nuclear fuel, several anti-nuclear activists have decided recycle some old misinformation about the topic. In fact, recycling nuclear fuel has some distinct advantages to the once-through approach proposed in the U.S. and deserves consideration as a solid option for our country.

AREVA's La Hague Recycling Facility

As AREVA Executive V.P. Alan Hanson wrote in an op-ed last year, “Recycling nuclear fuel is a proven solution that makes waste management easier, conserves natural resources, is cost competitive and reduces proliferation concerns.”

So let’s hit a few of the largest myths being spread about recycling:

Myth: The volume of waste to be disposed in a deep geological repository is increased by recycling.

Reality: False. The volume of high-level waste for disposal would decrease by a factor of at least four. The toxicity of this waste would decrease by a factor of 10.

Myth: Recycling nuclear fuel is uneconomical.

Reality: Management of used nuclear fuel – whether you recycle or not – represents only 1 – 2% of the retail price of electricity generated by nuclear energy.  In addition , recycling offers other benefits in much the same way as recycling paper or glass costs provide other benefits.

Myth: The use of recycling would eliminate the need for a repository.

Reality: True. AREVA does not claim that recycling would eliminate the need for a repository. One would be required regardless of the used fuel management approach. But with recycling, the U.S. would avoid having to build more than one, perhaps forever.

Myth: Recycling has not been made commercial after decades of research and development.

Reality: AREVA has decades of experience recycling nuclear fuel safely, efficiently and economically for customers around the globe. Today, MOX fuel manufactured by AREVA is in use in 38 reactors in Europe and Japan. AREVA’s Back End business group, which includes recycling, last year posted revenue of about $2.2 billion.

Click here to take a virtual tour of AREVA recycling facility.

By Jarret Adams

As a group of 16 utilities and the Nuclear Energy Institute filed suit to stop payment of Nuclear Waste Fund fees, questions and opportunities again are emerging as to how the U.S. manages used nuclear fuel. The companies argue that, after taking the Yucca Mountain repository off the table, the U.S. no longer has a viable plan according to an article in the New York Times.

The utilities, which filed the lawsuit in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, jointly pay about $750 million a year — amounting to a tenth of a cent per kilowatt hour — into the fund. It now stands at about $24 billion and earns about $1 billion annually in interest.

The money was supposed to pay for the development of the Yucca Mountain repository, about 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, but the Energy Department said last month that it was formally seeking to withdraw its application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate the site.

However, this reexamination of the fee collection for nuclear waste management also offers the opportunity to consider recycling as part of a comprehensive approach.

AREVA offered a presentation in late March of its proven recycling business along with a virtual tour of its La Hague recycling facility. This presentation coincided with the first meeting of a federal Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future to study options for managing the nation’s nuclear waste.

In addition, the NYT also published an article April 6 entitled “A Town Says ‘Yes, in Our Backyard’ to Nuclear Site,” which focuses on the strong public support in Osthammer, Sweden as a site for the nation’s proposed repository. This piece offers a compelling example for siting a similar U.S. facility in the future.

As an additional note: NEI’s latest public opinion survey shows a new record level of support for nuclear energy at 74 percent, which is excellent news. But this is not the most interesting part. The same survey found that 79 percent support the option of recycling nuclear fuel in the U.S. Definitely something to consider.

By Jarret Adams

AREVA announced today its contract to supply recycled mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel to the Japanese utility Hokkaido Electric Power Company for use at its Tomari 3 nuclear plant. According to the agreement, AREVA will manufacture MOX fuel assemblies using recycled material at its MELOX facility near Avignon, France.

This is the eighth Japanese utility to sign on for MOX fuel produced by AREVA.

Jean-Pierre Gros, Executive Vice President of AREVA’s Recycling business, said this contract “strengthens AREVA’s world leadership in MOX fuel fabrication and attests Japanese utilities’ confidence in our technology and know-how.”

Last week, AREVA hosted a virtual tour of its La Hague recycling facility in Normandy to show our decades of experience recycling used nuclear fuel. After the material is obtained at La Hague, it is sent to MELOX where AREVA manufactures MOX fuel.

Click here to learn more about AREVA’s recycling business.

Today, AREVA hosted live a virtual tour of the La Hague Recycling facility in Normandy, France. The tour provided a closer look at AREVA’s decades of experience in safely and economically recycling used nuclear fuel. The discussion described how nuclear fuel recycling simplifies nuclear waste management, conserves precious resources and increases energy security. In addition to showing the audience first-hand through the activities involved in recycling, the tour highlighted that recycling is a proven practical option as part of America’s strategy for managing used fuel.

AREVA Recycling Facility in La Hague

The entire tour is available for viewing in the link below. We encourage you to send us your questions on this topic as this tour is just a beginning for open dialogue and discussion on recycling as an option for the United States.

Access to the video available here, please note that you will be asked to register.

We want to congratulate Shaw AREVA MOX Services for its achievement of a record 3 million consecutive safe work hours. The MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina has already completed the construction of two buildings totaling almost 95,000 square feet and are working on the 500,000 square foot MOX Processing Building.

As we mentioned yesterday, AREVA is a partner with the Shaw Group for the construction of the Department of Energy’s MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility. This project, which is a major component of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s non-proliferation efforts, converts former weapons material for later use as fuel in nuclear reactors, utilizing AREVA’s recycling technology and experience.

For more information on this major achievement for nuclear facility construction, check out the press release.

By Jarret Adams

As the new Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future begins its work this week, it is faced with an interesting situation. Companies have filed applications to build 26 new reactors in the United States and many more are under consideration. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy filed to pull its application earlier this month for the Yucca Mountain repository for used nuclear fuel.

With Yucca Mountain “off the table,” many wonder what America’s long-term strategy for managing used fuel will be. Since this decision will no doubt take time to address, it is good that the commission has begun its work now as this piece in the Christian Science Monitor points out.

While we cannot predict what the Commission will decide, we are familiar with the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. At AREVA, providing solutions for managing used fuel and nuclear waste is a key part of what we do in the United States and internationally.

AREVA manufactures transportation and storage containers for used nuclear fuel. In fact, AREVA subsidiary Transnuclear Inc. is the leading supplier of dry storage systems in the United States.

We recycle used fuel and manufacture mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for customers around the globe. Earlier this month, we announced the second Japanese nuclear plant to produce electricity using MOX fuel supplied by AREVA. Today, some 38 reactors at 11 different utilities in Western Europe and Japan use MOX fuel from AREVA.

MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility under construction

We are involved in the clean up of sites, such as the DOE’s Hanford and Savannah River, which were the focus of defense activities.

AREVA also supports U.S. nonproliferation efforts through its partnership with The Shaw Group to construct the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility at Savannah River for the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration. This facility will convert former weapons material into MOX fuel for U.S. electric utilities. Construction of this facility, which employs some 1,800 workers today, is proceeding well.

Following-up on Gallup’s results that support for nuclear power is at an all-time high, a recent study from market research firm TNS Sofres looks at opinions on the topic of recycling used nuclear fuel. Presented as part of AREVA’s International Recycling Day in February, the study “Nuclear energy and recycling opportunities: the perceptions in Europe and the United States,” surveyed the ‘informed public’ and opinion leaders from seven different countries for their perspectives.

The study looked at public perceptions of nuclear energy, the role that used nuclear fuel plays in opinions, and how this topic is shaping potential for expansion of the nuclear industry across the globe. The clear messages from this survey are that management of used nuclear fuel remains a significant issue with regard to industry growth and that the “well-informed” group is more in favor of recycling. Additionally, opinion-leaders felt that the authorities had not fully grasped the challenges posed by used fuel management, demanding immediate action and placing greater trust in the industry itself.

For the United States, the driver for acceptance is also a matter of information and education. When asked “In fact, 96% of the materials contained in used nuclear fuel can be recovered and recycled immediately or later inside nuclear reactors. Would you say that…this supports the idea that nuclear energy is a solution for the future,” an overwhelming majority (87%) of American respondents agreed.

Read the entire study and watch for more information on recycling.