Inauguration of the Research and Development Center of MELOX

Luc Oursel, the President and CEO of our Group, inaugurated on July 9 the Research and Development Center of the MELOX plant (Gard, France), in the presence of institutional stakeholders. It is an essential resource serving the industrial performance of the MELOX plant and projects relating to the fabrication of the MOX.

This infrastructure will enable AREVA to develop future tools and skills linked to its recycling activities and meet future market needs. Benefitting from 30 millions of euros in investment, and bringing together forty specialists, the Research and Development Center will consolidate our position as leader in a number of market segments:

• advances in the MOX product and optimization of the performance of the MELOX process;
• deployment of international projects and associated technological assistance, such as the qualification of MOX production plants and equipments worldwide;
• support for the production of fuel for new generations of reactors.

In particular, the center comprises a testing hall, a tool which is unique in the world and will enable AREVA to conduct industrial-scale tests on MOX production lines before they are implemented in plants. This hall could also house full-scale models of production equipment in order to prepare for significant maintenance operations. This operating method will guarantee the optimum preparation of teams while strengthening the safety of operations.

During the visit to the new facilities, Luc Oursel declared that: “these investments of more than 30 million euros demonstrate our complete trust in the future of recycling and MOX, one of the major assets of the nuclear industry for current reactors and essential for the move to fourth-generation reactors. MOX has already been used in more than 40 reactors for the last 40 years, and has therefore demonstrated its safety, reliability and economic benefits. At AREVA MELOX, our teams will develop made-to-measure, innovative solutions to meet the varied current and future needs of our customers and consolidate our leadership on the recycling market. In the very short term, this R&D platform will enable the operators of the MOX plant under construction in the US to be trained in realistic conditions.”