8 Jun (NucNet): Eurodif’s Georges Besse uranium enrichment plant, located at the Tricastin nuclear site in France’s Drôme department and operated by Areva, has permanently ceased production at the end of a shutdown process that began in May 2011.
The Eurodif plant was commissioned in 1979 and used gaseous diffusion process, the most efficient enrichment technology at the time, Areva said. The site met demand from nearly 100 nuclear reactors around the world, the equivalent of one quarter of world demand.
Areva said it had invested more than 3 billion euro ($3.7 billion) in recent years in the new Georges Besse II uranium enrichment plant.
The new plant has been in production since April 2011 using the centrifugation enrichment technology, which consumes 50 times less electricity than gaseous diffusion technology and considerably reduces cooling water requirements. Already deployed in other European plants, this technology is both proven and efficient, the statement said.
Areva said the Georges Besse II plant has already reached an installed capacity of more than 1.5 million seperative work units (SWU) per year. It will achieve its full production capacity of 7.5 million SWU per year in 2016.
