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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS, PATENTS AND LICENSES
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11.1 Research and Development
11.1.4.
FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN TECHNOLOGY
The group’s research and development programs focus on developing competitive
and reliable power generation technologies with lowCO
2
emissions whichmeet our
customers’ requirements. The programs’ main goals are to continuously improve
nuclear safety, to reduce capital costs and operating costs, and to minimize
environmental impacts. They include means for responsible waste management,
natural resource conservation and the development of future generations of
technologies in the nuclear energy field.
A summary of 2016 research and development projects and results is presented
below.
R&D ACTIVITIES IN THE FUEL CYCLE
R&D activities in mining
R&D in the mining operations covers the four key areas of geological prospecting,
mining techniques, ore processing, and the post-mining period and the environment.
In ore processing, for example, R&D covers all of the techniques that AREVA uses
for dynamic ore processing, heap leaching and in-situ leaching. A significant share
of the research and innovation expenditure was also devoted to mining operations
using the in situ recovery method (ISR).
The mining business also carries out research in partnership with research
organizations and other companies to assess the technical feasibility of extracting
uranium from so-called “unconventional” resources, such as phosphates. The
economic recovery of metals and rare earths as byproducts of uranium ore is
another area for research.
Mineral exploration and outlook
AREVA continued its mineral exploration efforts in 2016. However, due to
deteriorating market conditions, AREVA will concentrate on targets with the most
potential over the next few years.
NEAR TERM
The first action items are to intensify development work for active mining sites,
conduct exploration for projects under development, and plan new exploration
campaigns in uranium-rich provinces identified by the group.
In addition to Canada, particularly the Athabasca basin, a historical uranium-
producing region that is still among the most promising, AREVA is pursuing
exploration programs in countries in which the group is a producer (Canada, Niger
and Kazakhstan) as well as in Mongolia and Gabon.
MEDIUM AND LONG TERMS
Joint teams of geologists, mining engineers, chemists and economists are working
on selecting, preparing and developing emerging and previously identified projects,
particularly in Africa, North America and Central Asia. These projects will be
launched when the technical, economic and regulatory conditions are right.
R&D activities in the front end
Research and development efforts in the front end of the fuel cycle concentrate in
particular on upgrading industrial tools in the conversion and enrichment operations
while improving safety and productivity and reducing the environmental impacts
of the processes.
Development and upgrading of production resources
Natural uranium conversion facilities around the world that have been operating for
several decades will probably see their maintenance costs increase over the short
term and experience availability problems.
To guarantee conversion services to its current and future customers under
strengthened regulatory conditions, AREVA invested in a new plant, Comurhex II.
At the Malvési site, following the startup of the new Isoflash denitration process
last year, startup of all of the new Comurhex II units was completed. In addition,
industrial-scale experiments on effluent volume reduction are in progress.
R&D in the field of conversion also concerns the development of a new process
that would eliminate the nitric dissolution and solvent purification stages. Such a
process would offer significant advantages in terms of environmental footprint.
In the field of fluorine gas production, development efforts are focusing on improving
electrolyzer productivity and on tools to better monitor their operation.
To meet the need to upgrade the cylinder maintenance facility, a new washing
process is under development.
In connection with the Enrichment Technology Company (ETC), the AREVA-Urenco
joint venture, new improvements to the centrifugation enrichment technology are
gradually being integrated into the plants.
R&D activities in the back end
R&D activities in recycling
DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR FUEL TREATMENT AND RECYCLING
Supporting and adapting production resources
The la Hague industrial platform consisting of the la Hague and MELOX plants
is the culmination of more than 30 years of industrial research and development.
It attains the highest levels of performance of treatment and recycling facilities
worldwide. Research and development programs are defined based on the design
and daily operating experience of these plants, with the goal of constantly improving
performance, such as the flexibility of this platform, and harvesting industrial
experience for international contracts.
R&D follows four major thrusts:
1) Support to the la Hague and MELOX plants to increase
operating flexibility
Programs are being conducted to anticipate plant aging (corrosion, plugging),
meet new post-Fukushima regulatory requirements, and optimize intervention
means for hostile environments in order to increase the effective production time
of the plants. The R&D programs have enabled new preventive rinsing procedures
for head-end equipment at the la Hague plant which are appreciably faster and
more efficient that previous procedures and are now routinely implemented at both
plants. Ongoing efforts seek to optimize rinsing operations in other facilities and
to increase availability.
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2016 AREVA
REFERENCE DOCUMENT