Areva - Reference Document 2016

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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. 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: p 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; p providing support to the group’s internal research and development initiatives by identifying additional appropriate external partners; p 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: p 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.); 11.1.3. PARTNERSHIPS

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.).

p in Germany, the universities of Erlangen, Magdeburg and Stuttgart; the Karlsruhe and Rossendorf research centers; and two chairs at Karlsruhe (KIT) and Dresden (HZDR);

p in England, the University of Manchester;

p in Poland, the Warsaw University of Technology (WUT) together with EDF, the CEA and Andra; p 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; p in China, the Franco-Chinese Institute of Nuclear Energy at Sun Yat-sen University (IFCEN); 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. p in India, the Jadavpur University in Calcutta.

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2016 AREVA REFERENCE DOCUMENT