Areva - Reference Document 2016

SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIETAL RESPONSIBILITY

2. Environmental information

by AREVA is considered remarkable from an ecological point of view by its ranking

as a Natura 2000 area or other (e.g. natural area of ecological interest, ZNIEFF).

Use of raw materials

Controlling the consumption of raw materials is one of our objectives in waste

recovery, which includes materials recovery and energy recovery. Some of the

Group’s waste is recovered internally or externally and is then recycled into the

process, limiting raw materials consumption. For example:

96% of the content of used nuclear fuel is recoverable. These materials are

extracted at the AREVA NC la Hague site and used in the MOX fabrication

process (mixed oxide fuel) at the MELOX plant site to resupply reactors. Such

recycling limits our consumption of natural uranium;

the chips produced by the manufacturing of large forgings and castings at the

AREVA NP Creusot site are recycled externally to foundries and recycled into

the process;

the potassium diuranate generated by the AREVA NC Pierrelatte site from the

conversion of uranium ore is recycled at the AREVA NC Malvési site.

2.3.2.

ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The group’s total energy consumption came to 2,682 GWh in 2016, compared

with 2,828 GWh in 2015, a decrease of 5.2%.

All of the group’s sites continued their efforts to improve energy efficiency through

targeted audits, particularly as concerns the production and distribution of

compressed air, and through the systematic valuation of energy savings investments

by drawing on the regulatory system of Energy Savings Certificates (ESC).

AREVA had four sites with ISO 50001 certification in 2016: AREVA NP Ugine;

AREVA Advanced Nuclear Fuels in Lingen and Karlstein, Germany; and the Katco

site of AREVA Mines.

All of the group’s legal entities in France carried out an energy audit in 2015 as

provided in the European directive no. 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency and

defined in French law no. 2013-629.

2.3.3.

WATER USAGE

The group used a total of 13 million m

of water in 2016, compared with

12.5 million m

in 2015.

2.3.4.

WASTE

Conventional waste

The gross production of conventional waste totaled 40,544 metric tons in 2016,

as follows:

14,001 metric tons of hazardous waste, including 2,882 metric tons from

exceptional operations;

26,543 metric tons of non-hazardous waste, including 9,213 metric tons from

exceptional operations.

Programs are being implemented in all of the Group’s facilities to reduce final waste

quantities, and specifically to:

minimize and control waste generation at the source;

promote sorting by providing bins for selective waste collection or by creating

in-house sorting centers;

select suitable methods for materials recycling and waste reuse; and

improve the processing and packaging of non-reusable waste.

PCBs and PCTs

In accordance with the European Council Directive 96/59/EC of September 16,

1966, AREVA’s sites in France have eliminated equipment containingmore than 500

ppm of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polychlorinated terphenyls (PCTs). A

second elimination plan was established under decree no. 2013-301 of April 10,

2013. That plan now concerns equipment containing 50 to 500 ppm of PCBs or

PCTs. The sites must gradually phase out this equipment according to a schedule

set by regulation based on the manufacturing date of the equipment. The new plan

concerns approximately 80 equipment items.

Radioactive waste

Radioactive waste is produced mainly during operations, dismantling and cleanup

of nuclear facilities. It is characterized based on its radiological activity (very low-

level, low-level, medium-level or high-level) and by the half-life of the radioelements

it contains (very short-lived, short-lived or long-lived waste). Each type of waste

requires a specific management method, as shown in the table below:

Very short-lived (half-life < 100 days)

Short-lived (half-life ≤ 31 years) Long-lived (half-life > 31 years)

Very low-level waste (VLLW)

Management through radioactive decay

at the production site

Centre de l’Aube near-surface disposal facility for VLLW

Low-level waste (LLW)

Centre de l’Aube near-surface

disposal facility for LLW and

MLW

Research carried out under French law

of June 28, 2006 (near-surface disposal

at 15-200 meters)

Medium-level waste (MLW)

followed by conventional disposal

Research carried out under French

law of June 28, 2006 (deep disposal,

500 meters)

High-level waste (HLW)

Research carried out under the French law of June 28, 2006

(disposal in a deep geological repository, 500 meters)

2016 AREVA

REFERENCE DOCUMENT

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