(Boursier.com) — Bruno Le Maire (Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty) and Roland Lescure (Delegate Minister for Industry and Energy) visited on March 7 , on the Hague site. This historic visit follows the announcements of the Nuclear Policy Council (CPN) held by the President of the Republic on February 26, which confirmed the main orientations of French policy on the downstream of the cycle combining the treatment, reuse of spent fuels and the prospects for complete recycling of materials. He thus laid the foundations of an industrial vision until the end of this century.
Following on from the CPN, Bruno Le Maire announced, in front of Nicolas Maes (General Manager of Orano), Stéphanie Gaiffe (director of the La Hague site), site employees and local elected officials, the decision to pursue the strategy treatment-recycling beyond 2040 with:
– a sustainability/resilience program extending the La Hague (Manche) and Melox (Gard) factories beyond 2040,
– the launch of studies for a new MOX fuel manufacturing plant on the La Hague site,
– the launch of studies for a new spent fuel processing plant, also on the La Hague site by 2045/2050.
Bruno Le Maire recalled on the site “the strength of French nuclear power with the control of the entire cycle”. The minister indicated: “A new page in French nuclear history will open. The time for major national projects has now returned. Nuclear power will occupy a central page.” Nicolas Maes adds: “I am delighted with these announcements which confirm the main directions of French policy on the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and which provide for significant investments for the Orano la Hague site. Treatment-recycling is a a center of excellence in French industry, know-how mastered for nearly 50 years in our factories, of which all the group’s employees can be proud.”
Remember that in France, 10% of nuclear electricity is produced through the recycling of recoverable materials in the form of MOX (Mixed Oxide) fuels. This rate can reach 20% with the use of reprocessed uranium and nearly 40% with the multi-recycling of spent MOX fuels. In the French model which applies the treatment-recycling strategy, the reusable materials contained in spent fuels (uranium and plutonium, or 96% of the total) are separated at La Hague, then reused in recycled fuels. Plutonium is reused in MOX fuels manufactured by Orano in its Melox plant.
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