AREVA today signed a contract* to supply 32 MOX fuel assemblies for units 3 and 4 of Japan’s Takahama power plant, located in the Fukui prefecture and operated by electrical utility Kansai.
Under the terms of the contract, the fuel will be fabricated at AREVA’s MELOX plant in southern France, using materials recovered from the treatment operations performed at AREVA’s La Hague plant, thereby recycling it to be used in Japan as MOX fuel.
For Jean–Pierre Gros, Executive Vice President of AREVA’s Recycling Business Unit, “This commercial success strengthens our group’s world leadership in MOX fuel fabrication, and attests to Japanese utilities’ confidence in our technology and know-how.”
The contract comes as part of Japan’s nuclear program to recycle used fuel, and follows contracts signed in 2006 and 2008 with Japanese utilities CHUBU, KYUSHU, SHIKOKU and KANSAI.
Since 1995, MELOX has been fabricating MOX fuel assemblies for nuclear power plants in several countries, including France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan and the United States. Made with uranium and plutonium oxides, MOX fuel is a solution for recycling the plutonium recovered from used nuclear fuel. With more than 1,300 tons of heavy metal produced to date, MELOX is the world’s leading producer of MOX fuel.
*Contract signed between MELOX SA, to fabricate the MOX fuel, and Nuclear Fuel Industries (NFI), in charge of designing the fuel with the utility.
**Four MOX fuel assemblies generate enough electricity to meet the needs of 250,000 people over an entire year.
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