• The incident occurred at a low-level waste facility, called CENTRACO, owned by SOCODEI, an EDF subsidiary. Geographically, this facility is located at the Marcoule site in southeastern France. This site is quite large and hosts multiple other industries, including a separate AREVA facility.
• This event had no impact on the AREVA facility or its operations.
• The CENTRACO facility reduces and packages low-level materials, such as clothing and scrap metal from nuclear sites.
• The explosion occurred near a furnace processing these materials.
• Unfortunately, one person was killed and four injured.
• Monitors outside the facility measure no radiological or chemical waste released into the outside environment.
• The site is secured and a resulting fire was extinguished
• There is no nuclear fuel processing at this facility.
• Inspectors are onsite examining the site and monitoring the environment.

Additional source information:

• Decommissioning facility – CENTRACO

Our visit began with a tour of the used nuclear fuel recycling AVEVA facilities in La Hague in the Normandy Region of France, followed by a tour EDF Flamanville 3 site to see the construction of the third and newest EPR™ reactor slated for completion in a couple of years. The dominant themes in my mind were recollection, marvel, harmony, and consternation.

AREVA's Community Advisory Council during their tour of Flamanville 3

Marvel – No one can visit either the Flamanville or La Hague site and not be amazed at the enormity of these capital intensive projects. So much concrete is being poured at Flamanville that it moves through pressurized pipelines.

Harmony – Both of these projects are situated at or near some of the most beautiful, natural coastal scenery in the world. The French Normandy Region has natural beauty as well as historic significance. Make no bones about it, these are industrialized, heavy industry sites. No one tries to paint them green or drape them in foliage to mask their physical appearance. Yet they do manage to coexist in harmony with the natural topography. In Flamanville‘s case, it is situated on the coastline atop a former site of a subsea iron mine, and can be seen from land only when physically at or near to the site.

Consternation – At La Hague, I had the same sense of consternation I experienced 15 years ago upon viewing the success of used fuel recycling: Why did the United States choose to abandon this technology pathway in the 1970’s as a way of managing its used fuel obligation, and how much have we paid in monetary and political capital by virtue of gridlock during the last two decades in managing our country’s used nuclear fuel? While I was excited to see the enormous technological advances offered by AREVA’s technology, I was left with a feeling of disappointment at the political incapability of the United States to choose a durable waste disposal strategy.

Postscript for the day: I took notice of the considerable security in the form of GGG (guns, gates, and guards) during the visit, something I didn’t do in my pre-9/11 visit years ago. Perhaps it’s because I was paying attention this time, but there seemed to be a lot more security infrastructure (concertina wire, etc.) than I recalled.

AREVA Tricastin/Visit to Georges Besse Unit 2

This was a highly informative visit to the AREVA’s fuel enrichment facility. I finally saw the differences between gaseous diffusion and centrifuge technologies for fuel enrichment. Although I knew that the latter was the more modern and less costly technology, this was my first opportunity to see it firsthand, and the infrastructure required, such as a concrete foundation capable of buffering seismic activity.

www.geestrategies.com

Last week France’s TF1 television network featured AREVA’s innovative work under way in partnership with the U.S. National Cancer Institute and the University of Alabama for the development of a treatment to fight cancer.

The news team got to take a look inside AREVA’s La Hague Facility, in Normandy, where the idea of using AREVA’s expertise in nuclear engineering first came into being. The piece from TF1 also shows the important research and clinical testing underway with partners in the United States.

The clip is a great overview of this project, but unfortunately it’s in French. For those of you who are not fluent, there’s a cheat-sheet with a translation of the video right here (PDF).

AREVA Med, an AREVA subsidiary, is developing innovative methods for the production of the Lead-212 radio-isotope. This isotope has shown to be very promising in tests when used in the targeting therapy called Alpha radio-immunotherapy (Alpha-RIT). Alpha-RIT is a very powerful anti-cancer therapy that works by binding an isotope, like Lead-212, to a monoclonal antibody. Using the body’s own antigens, this treatment targets only cancer cells and destroys them using the high energy of Lead-212. While Alpha-RIT has potential to treat numerous types of cancers, including those that don’t respond well to chemotherapy or radiation, these radio-isotopes have traditionally existed in very limited quantities, hindering the development of new scientific treatments. This is why AREVA has focused on an isotope production method, to make sure Lead-212 is available for cancer research and future treatments.

• More about the AREVA Med project

This constant dialog between operators, constructors and nuclear safety authorities is an integral part of the certification and construction processes for new reactors. AREVA is currently working with the regulators in each country to make the necessary adaptations, if any, to meet local standards.

The EPR™ reactor is currently the most powerful reactor in the world and meets the highest safety standards. EPR™ reactors are currently being built in Finland, France and China and the certification process is underway in the United States. AREVA is working closely with the authorities in each country to determine how its model can respond to various local issues.

AREVA guarantees the safety of its reactor and welcomes the approach made by the safety authorities to introduce a global standardization for its I&C model.

Now what is true about nuclear energy is that it’s a growing as a source for clean, viable, and economic energy all over the world. Look at the cases of India and China, two booming countries for which access to energy is not a question of prestige, but a matter of social stability and sustainable development. Do you think these countries would have chosen nuclear energy if it weren’t a cost-effective solution? Major European states, such as the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Sweden, are taking progressive steps or are already launching new nuclear energy programs. In the U.S., there are already approximately 30 new nuclear power plants proposed. It’s unlikely that these utilities’ consideration of building new nuclear power plants was guided by philanthropic concerns.

Facts are stubborn things. Nuclear energy produces electricity at a competitive and predictable price—especially if we add in carbon pricing. Once construction costs are amortized, the operating costs of a nuclear facility are among the lowest of any generating source. This includes the fact that nuclear energy is the only major source of electricity that incorporates the cost of managing its own waste materials, unlike fossil-fuel plants that just allow their smoke and other byproducts to escape into the air.

Worker at MELOX Facility

by Jarret Adams

Today, some 35 reactors around the world are using mixed-oxide fuel produced by AREVA, and fuel for more is under development. Our customers are found throughout Western Europe and Japan. Some German nuclear power plants have been using MOX fuel successfully in their reactors for 35 years.

MOX has many benefits, but among the most important are that it allows utilities to use recycled nuclear fuel and reduces the amount of material that must be disposed in a final repository. In fact, the use of recycling together with MOX fuel allow for countries to reduce the volume of material for disposal in a repository by a factor of five.

For some utilities, MOX fuel is more than just a good way to manage used fuel. MOX fuel can also help customers hedge against volatility in the uranium market. Because most MOX fuel comes from recycled fuel, no fresh uranium and enrichment are needed.

AREVA announced last month a new agreement with Japan’s Ohma nuclear power plant. This follows on agreements signed between AREVA and several Japanese utilities to supply MOX fuel for 16 to 18 reactors in the country beginning in 2010.

In the United States, AREVA is partnering with the Shaw Group construct the MOX Fuel Fabrication Facility in South Carolina. This facility will convert former weapons-grade material into MOX fuel for U.S. electric utilities. Construction began in August 2007 and the facility is now approximately 17 percent complete.