The Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a public meeting in Boise, Idaho, on Aug. 9 to hear from the public, elected officials and other stakeholders on the draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for the AREVA Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility under development near Idaho Falls. The NRC held this meeting in Boise at the behest of a Boise-based antinuclear group in addition to a previously scheduled public forum in Idaho Falls on Aug. 12.

AREVA welcomes these opportunities in Boise, Idaho Falls and elsewhere to allow people to learn more about the Eagle Rock project. We are developing a state-of-the-art uranium enrichment facility using proven, reliable and safe technology to produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants.

Representatives for several elected officials, including Idaho Gov. C. L. “Butch” Otter, members of the Idaho delegation and others expressed their support for the Eagle Rock project at the Boise meeting. Also many members of Idaho’s business community praised the positive economic impact the project would have, including the creation of thousands of jobs. Others expressed concerns about the potential environmental impact of the facility. While views ran the spectrum, this well-run meeting by the NRC offered a good opportunity for stakeholders to learn more about the project.

“AREVA is excited to be a part of Idaho’s business community, and we look forward to continuing our work with the state and the people of southeastern Idaho,” said Bob Poyser, vice president of regional affairs at AREVA. “We plan to build and operate a safe, environmentally sustainable, world class facility that is important to America’s energy security, important to our American utility customers and important to the advancement of Idaho’s continued leadership in nuclear programs.”

Click here for more information on the Eagle Rock project.

AREVA has accepted the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) offer of a conditional commitment to issue a $2 billion loan guarantee to support construction of the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility, AREVA’s $3 billion state-of-the-art gas centrifuge enrichment plant in Bonneville County, Idaho.

The plant will provide American energy security by helping to secure the supply of domestic uranium enrichment to the country’s 104 operating nuclear reactors.

The construction, licensing, and operation of this facility will generate about 5,000 direct and indirect jobs in the United States, while producing more than $5 billion in economic activity in the regional economy.

More information on this announcement here Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility and AREVA’s investment in American energy security here.



We would like to highlight some of the comments made by the leaders of Idaho in the wake of this important announcement for the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility which is planned for their communities.

“DOE’s decision is great news for AREVA and Idaho,” said Governor Otter. “The loan guarantee confirms that Idaho continues to lead the nuclear renaissance in America. The decision also paves the way for new careers and economic recovery across the state.”
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Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter (link)



”This loan guarantee from the Department of Energy is a crucial step in meeting the demand for a reliable, U.S.-based source of enriched uranium to fuel our nuclear power plants,” said Risch, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “It is also a great benefit to our local communities and the state for the positive economic impact the new construction and permanent operation jobs that will come about from this facility.”
– Idaho Senator Jim Risch (link)

“Developing new U.S.-based sources of uranium enrichment is critical to the country being able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, achieving energy independence, having a reliable supply for domestic power reactors and protecting our national security,” said Crapo. “If we are going to have a chance at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a robust expansion of nuclear power is the only way to do it without tanking the economy. The Eagle Rock plant will be one of Idaho’s contributions to this worthy and attainable goal.”
– Idaho Senator Mike Crapo

“I want to congratulate AREVA and the people of Eastern Idaho who have worked so hard to secure this loan guarantee and bring the Eagle Rock facility to our state,” said Simpson, a member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee which funds the Department of Energy and the Loan Guarantee program. “Nuclear energy must play a strong role in our nation’s energy future and the Eagle Rock facility’s contribution to that future will be enormous.”
– Idaho Congressmen Mike Simpson

“This project will have impact far beyond Idaho Falls,” said Minnick. “Alternative energy solutions such as nuclear power and woody biomass are a crucial part of our work toward an economic recovery. This project will help Idaho businesses and universities do just that, and will help meet our shared goal of Idaho becoming a national leader in the new energy future.”

– Idaho Congressmen Walt Minnick

“The Eagle Rock loan guarantee offer is an extremely positive development for the nation’s electric infrastructure, for the Idaho economy and for U.S. energy security.”

View full release here

The U.S. Department of Energy has offered a conditional commitment for a $2 billion conditional loan guarantee to facilitate financing of AREVA’ s Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility planned for development near Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Graphic representation of the proposed Eagle Rock facility

With this loan guarantee AREVA can secure the financing necessary for this large-scale, capital-intensive project and take the next steps forward with this major investment in the American economy.

This conditional loan guarantee is not a hand-out, but is part of a program designed to provide a federal backstop for companies working to invest and provide important clean energy projects for the United States.

The DOE loan guarantee program was developed to provide a last level of support so that companies can invest in clean energy projects—including smart grids, renewable, and nuclear energy—to spur vital U.S. economic and energy development. According to the DOE, the “loan guarantee program is not intended for technologies in research and development. DOE believes that accelerated commercial use of new or improved technologies will help to sustain economic growth, yield environmental benefits, and produce a more stable and secure energy supply.”

As part of the extensive loan guarantee review process, the DOE performed a comprehensive and stringent analysis which determined that the Eagle Rock project meets the highest standards for its innovative yet proven technology and the project’s creditworthiness.

Designed to meet the current enrichment needs of the nation’s nuclear power plants, this facility will be an essential part of America’s energy infrastructure and support the nation’s energy security. The construction and operation of the facility will also create an enormous economic impact including 4,800 direct and indirect jobs and billions of dollars of investments for the local economy.

However, this only represents part of the total investment AREVA is making in the United States. As the largest American employer in our sector, AREVA is investing today in new facilities, capabilities and employees to help meet our energy needs tomorrow. This includes significant investments for the construction of our heavy component manufacturing facility in Newport News, Virginia, and some $250 million in research and development for the US EPR™ reactor.

For more information see the press release.

A recent piece on the New York Time Green Blog, by Matthew L. Wald, explains the health science behind Tritium. “Tritium is a radioactive form of hydrogen that occurs naturally yet is also created in reactors. It is almost always incorporated into a water molecule like an ordinary hydrogen atom and is therefore impossible to filter out, and readily absorbed by the body. But it is also quickly excreted from the body, as ordinary water is, which limits the dose.”

So why do public concerns remain? As radiation expert, Dr. John E. Till noted during a recent Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel of experts meeting, “I’m surprised to be here based on what we know about the science of the material. But on the other hand, the perception of tritium as a potential rise in the environment to the public is huge; it is absolutely huge.”

For the nuclear energy industry, managing and removing the potential for threats is a way of life. Safety is the number one priority for the most regulated industry in the world with every aspect analyzed and measured to ensure the highest measure of quality.

But this high level of regulation is not the reason or motivation behind nuclear industry’s record as the safest energy industry in the United States. It has everything to do with trust.

Because of the inherent risk (sometimes incorrect assumptions about the effects of radiation) and potentially unseen dangers, everyone involved in the nuclear energy industry knows that trust of the community is an utmost priority. Providing 20 percent of the nation’s energy (and 72 percent of its carbon free energy) means nothing if there is a fear that the industry is not doing everything possible to operate safely.

That is why, in addition to further education on what tritium is and its potential effects on the environment, AREVA is reaching out to let you know that the industry is working to do more.

AREVA, for its part, has designed several tools to minimize the possible risk associated with tritium making its way into the environment. AREVA has developed and successfully employed a process that reinforces the layer of protection to the reactor liner in more than 40 plants worldwide. In addition, AREVA has improved its nuclear fuel design by integrating materials that reduce the potential production of tritium.

Because we know every effort must be taken to prevent potential risk.

We’d like to bring your attention to this article from KIDK.com (the local Idaho Falls television station), which talks about how Idaho Falls is weathering the current economic storm. The article, which is mostly about businesses in the Idaho Falls region, points out at the very end that AREVA’s planned Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility is bringing new hope to the region:

The biggest change our area will see will be the arrival of Areva and their multi-billion dollar uranium enrichment facility.

Not only will the company hire locals or bring in new jobs that will stimulate our local economy, a very hurting construction industry will be major benefactors of the company. [. . .]

Areva is likely to bring between 800 and 1,000 construction jobs alone. And once the facility is running, more than 300 jobs will be created.

That’s the kind of thing that can really help a local economy… because the money paid to the people who work those 800-1,000 construction jobs, and the 300+ permanent jobs, will keep circulating around the Idaho Falls region as the employees patronize local businesses and services. Idaho Falls is just one community that’s finding new vitality in the green jobs of the nuclear renaissance.

The nuclear energy industry has not always been the most popular kid on the block—thanks in part to some gross misinformation that gets passed around. However, a recent piece by Corey Taule in the Idaho Falls Post Register factually addressed some inaccurate claims made by the Snake River Alliance about AREVA’s planned Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility. Taule argues that Alliance claims like “Uranium Enrichment—It’s About the Bomb!” and “Tell Your Neighbors—Uranium Enrichment is ‘an open road to a nuclear weapon,” will not be persuasive because, as Taule points out, “Eastern Idaho is pro-nuclear and educated about the issue.”

He points out that “America’s nuclear plants need enriched uranium to produce power. The concentration of U-235, the fissionable isotope in uranium, need to be increased from .07 percent to between 3 percent and 5 percent for use as a nuclear fuel. That’s where AREVA’s centrifuge process comes in,” and that Eagle Rock will not have the capacity to generate “weapons-grade fuel [that] generally comes in at about 85 percent.”

Answering the Alliance’s claims about depleted uranium disposal, he refers to the fact that “AREVA has said repeatedly it will not store depleted uranium on site. We live here. This is our backyard…So where will it go? Depleted uranium has commercial applications as tank armor and counterweights. As to the leftover, federal law requires the government accept depleted uranium with no commercial value.”

The Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility will have an estimated multi-billon dollar economic impact and create hundreds of jobs. It also will meet 25 percent of the nation’s critical enrichment needs, especially considering “that if the U.S. is serious about reducing carbon emissions, nuclear must become a greater part of the nation’s power portfolio. That means building more nuclear power plants. Some estimate that even after AREVA’s Eagle Rock facility comes online, America will still import 25 percent of its enriched uranium from Russia.”

The whole piece from Sunday October 25, “Watching the Watchdog,” is worth a read.

For more information about the planned Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility, the potential economic impact, U.S. enrichment needs, and AREVA’s commitments to sustainable development, safety and the environment, check here.

The concrete foundation is completed at the MOX facility. (Photo courtesy NNSA)

by Jarret Adams

With the second anniversary of construction work at MOX project in South Carolina, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) issued a press release announcing that it has launched some new media tools for keeping people up to speed on the project. The MOX project also has a new website.

The MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility will play an essential role in the nation’s nonproliferation efforts by converting surplus weapons-grade material into mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. In effect, the MOX project will permanently eliminate this material while providing a reliable source of fuel to produce CO2-free electricity for Americans.

“The progress made on the construction of the facility over the past two years brings us one step closer to eliminating surplus plutonium in a transparent and irreversible manner,” NNSA Administrator Thomas D’Agostino said in a press release.

It’s also great to see NNSA using new social media; click here to follow NNSA news on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.

As a reminder, you can also follow AREVA Inc. on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

By Laura Clise

On June 3, the U.S. State Department Global Partnerships Initiative, the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator and TED hosted TED@State, New Ideas for a Better world. TED is a non-profit organization dedicated to the spread of attitude-changing, life-changing, and world-changing ideas. TED@State brought together a diverse and dynamic group of speakers, but better than any notes I could provide, you can check out the actual footage from each speaker’s presentation on the TED website (available soon) and or and read a summary of the presented material on the TED Blog.

While the event was personally of interest to me (I have a passion for international development and my best friend from business school is currently working as an Acumen Fellow for TED@State speaker, Jacqueline Novogratz), my professional reason for attending TED@State was directly linked to the ongoing global dialogue regarding development, energy, and climate change.

Social media analyst Clay Shirky talked about the impact of the shifting media landscape, something with which AREVA is already familiar through the AREVA Blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin pages. Futurist and environmentalist Stewart Brand discussed the implications of increased urbanization and also the critical role that base-load nuclear energy must contribute to our low-carbon energy future. Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz talked about facilitating bottom up entrepreneurial solutions to poverty alleviation and noted that effective solutions start from the perspective of those her organization is trying to help. This mentality is akin to the way we develop the products and services that we offer. Economist Paul Collier talked about the importance of sustainable job creation, health, and clean government in post-conflict recovery. AREVA also believes that job creation is critical to economic vitality and will be hiring more than 700 people in North America this year. Finally, data visionary Hans Rosling provided a statistical argument for global convergence and talked as well about the importance of information and data transparency. AREVA has been committed to open communication and transparency since its inception in order to lift the veil of secrecy that used to shroud the nuclear energy industry.

The TED@State speakers articulated the complex geopolitical, social, cultural, and environmental contexts in which companies like AREVA are innovating solutions that meet the energy needs of development while at the same time taking into account implications for social and environmental impact.