ASN Report 2015

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Once they have been used in the nuclear reactors, MOX
fuels are not reprocessed in the current fleet of nuclear
facilities. They would only be reprocessed if future
fast neutron reactors were to be commissioned. Since
the shutdown of the Superphenix reactor in 1996,
no company has as yet initiated the official process to
build such a reactor (see chapter 12). CEA is studying
a prototype called Astrid (see chapter 14). Pending
reprocessing or disposal, the spent MOX fuels are stored
at the La Hague plant.
The main material flows are presented in table 1.
The existence of nuclear facilities which are necessary
for the operation of the BNIs mentioned above must
also be noted, in particular Socatri, which handles the
maintenance and decommissioning of nuclear equipment
and the processing of nuclear and industrial effluents
from the Areva Group’s companies in Tricastin, or from
Somanu inMaubeuge, which provides off-site servicing
and repairs for certain nuclear components.
1.1 The front-end fuel cycle
Toproduce fuels that canbeused in the reactors, theuranium
oremust undergo a number of chemical transformations,
from the preparation of the “yellow cake” through to
conversion into uranium hexafluoride (UF6), the form
required for enrichment. These operations take place
primarily on the Tricastin site, in theDrôme andVaucluse
départements, also known as the Pierrelatte site.
1.1.1 The facilities on the Tricastin site
In order to simplify the legal organisation of Areva’s
Tricastin platform, a process was initiated by Areva NC
in 2012 to merge the Areva subsidiaries on the Tricastin
site. This process was completed for the Comurhex
BNI in 2013. The change in licensee at Socatri initiated
in 2013 was suspended at the request of Areva NC in
2014. On the Romans-sur-Isère site, Areva NP took over
responsibility for operating FBFC in 2014.
THE FUEL CYCLE
Depleted
uranium
Extraction
of ore Waste
Depleted
uranium
Plutonium
Manufacturing
rejects
Manufacturing
rejects
Spent MOX fuels Spent UO2 fuels
Enriched
uranium
Interim storage
Enrichment
Conversion
Concentration
Fuel fabrication
Reprocessing
plant
Electricity generating
reactors
416 CHAPTER 13: NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE INSTALLATIONS
ASN report on the state of nuclear safety and radiation protection in France in 2015