Orano stories
Orano Projects: unique know-how in conducting large-scale nuclear projects
Three new evaporators for concentrating fission product (NCPFs) in the T2 unit of the UP3 plant at la Hague were commissioned in summer 2023. The success of this collective project will ensure the continuity of this unit, which is vital to Orano la Hague’s processing-recycling activities, for decades to come. This major project, which took 8 years to complete, mobilized up to 800 people. It saw the installation of 150 kmof piping and 350 km of wiring! New step in summer 2024 with the commissioning of NCPF R2 in the UP2-800 plant.
TN Eagle Factory: a 4.0 plant for a new generation of casks
Based in Cherbourg, this entirely automated digital manufacturing plant is designed to assemble the TN Eagle, a new cask for the transport and dry storage of used fuels.
This new 6,000 m2 facility features a very innovative, seamless manufacturing process, for greater robustness and a record seamless manufacturing process, for greater robustness and a record manufacturing time of 15 months.
SABRE: a high-performance mining method
This new, patented approach, developed for the past 10 years by Orano engineers, make it possible to extract uranium ore from the surface and selectively, without human intervention. Access boreholes are drilled, the ore is then extracted by means of a high-pressure water jet, and finally, it is brought to surface as sludge. This promising solution, which will take the place of conventional open-pit or underground methods where these are not cost-efficient, opens up new prospects for uranium mining, notably in Canada in the Athabasca Basin.