Areva - Reference Document 2016

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RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS, PATENTS AND LICENSES

11.1 Research and Development

11.1.4. FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN TECHNOLOGY

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. 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. R&D activities in the back end R&D activities in recycling

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 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. R&D ACTIVITIES IN THE FUEL CYCLE

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2016 AREVA REFERENCE DOCUMENT