Areva - Reference Document 2016

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS, PATENTS AND LICENSES

11.1 Research and Development

Focus on the use of digital technologies

AREVA continues to introduce digital technologies in its fuel cycle operations and

reactor design andmaintenance activities. The group’s use of 3Dmetal printing, the

Industrial Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality and augmented reality has unfolded

and grown over the past several years.

Virtual reality is one of the pillars of AREVA’s digital transformation. It is used by

AREVA NP for example to support the design of Astrid Generation IV reactors

with the CEA. It is also used to simulate plant operations, to train its operators

and to inform its partners. To put operators in full-scale, realistic and interactive

environments, the company has already acquired various fixed and mobile virtual

reality tools, such as the Cave automatic virtual environment in Equeurdreville

and Lyon, the mini-Cave in Saint Quentin, head-mounted displays and immersive

“serious games”. Used in a multidisciplined co-development approach, these tools

make training and instruction more effective and engineering even more nimble.

AREVAwants tomake virtual reality a group-wide project and amplify its deployment

in its different operations.

In this regard, NewCo and AREVA NP received the “Vitrine Industrie du Future”

label (industry of the future showcase) on December 6, 2016 from the Secretary

of State for Industry Christophe Sirugue.

AREVA is also developing new wireless communication technologies with

high penetration (concrete, metal) to connect miniature sensors with collection

systems based on the potential of an IoT solution. Using a lightweight, non-intrusive

installation infrastructure, this technology enables the development of predictive

maintenance and project follow-up applications, for example by locating objects

and operators or reading valve condition, all in real time.

This digital transformation is leading to an evolution of relations with customers,

suppliers, partners and employees towards a more participatory approach. The

digital acceleration will also enable in-depth improvement of the operation of our

plants, the conduct of our projects and the daily work of our operators.

EXPERTISE

AREVA views technical expertise as a strategic asset and follows a rigorous process

to appoint its experts. The group has given them the real mission of helping to

control and manage risk, to organize the harvesting, sharing and transmission

of knowledge, and to promote technology innovation. AREVA’s community of

experts, which organizes the group’s technical and scientific knowledge and

whose importance for the future is growing, now represents more than a thousand

experts serving the entire company and its subsidiaries. More than 250 experts

were appointed or promoted to a higher level during the previous appointment

campaign in 2015.

The experts are divided into 3 levels, depending on the influence they have within

their operating entity all the way up to the international scientific community, and

into some 15 areas of expertise covering most of the engineering sciences and

techniques (materials, engineering calculations, biology, facility operations, etc.).

11.1.3.

PARTNERSHIPS

AREVA is an international group with a solid base of operations on three major

continents. Scientific and technical partnerships reflecting the group’s international

dimension are a cornerstone of its continued growth.

The group works closely with regional research and development centers in France,

Germany and the United States on the following main missions:

developing partnerships with major research organizations (finding the best

external partners for the group’s research and development projects, and drawing

up cooperative programs), and securing them for the long term;

providing support to the group’s internal research and development initiatives

by identifying additional appropriate external partners;

reviewing external research and development proposals and the possibilities for

participating in externally funded cooperative projects (government agencies,

European Commission, etc.).

AREVA already has a broad network of partnerships with international recognized

research laboratories, in particular:

in France, the CEA’s research centers at Saclay, Cadarache, Grenoble and

Marcoule; EDF’s research and development laboratories; the French national

scientific research center CNRS; the institute for radiological protection and

nuclear safety IRSN; and engineering schools and universities (Chimie Paris,

Mines ParisTech, the Ecoles Centrales, the University of Montpellier, the French

national institute of applied sciences INSA Lyon, the joint laboratory between the

University of Lille, the CNRS and the Ecole de chimie of Lille, etc.);

in Germany, the universities of Erlangen, Magdeburg and Stuttgart; the Karlsruhe

and Rossendorf research centers; and two chairs at Karlsruhe (KIT) and Dresden

(HZDR);

in England, the University of Manchester;

in Poland, the Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) together with EDF, the

CEA and Andra;

in the United States, the universities of Berkeley, Idaho (Center for Advanced

Engineering and Research, CAER), Texas and Virginia; the DOE’s national

laboratories Sandia, INL and others; and the NRC;

in China, the Franco-Chinese Institute of Nuclear Energy at Sun Yat-sen University

(IFCEN);

in India, the Jadavpur University in Calcutta.

AREVA supports the CEA, which represents the French parties in the Generation

IV International Forum (GIF), a US initiative. The multilateral agreement signed by

several countries in 2005 provides a framework for international collaboration on

research and development dedicated to Generation IV nuclear reactor concepts.

In particular, AREVA is participating in the Senior Industry Advisory Panel (SIAP)

and is interested in particular in fast spectrum reactor concepts that will ultimately

yield major savings in uranium resources. Consistent with that objective, AREVA is

working with the CEA through its subsidiary AREVA NP on the design of the Astrid

reactor, and as such is a stakeholder in the agreement signed inMay 2014 between

France and Japan concerning R&D and studies for the Astrid fast neutron reactor.

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