Oak Ridge is Orano’s preferred site for enrichment, with no commitments yet

It would be Orano’s second attempt to bring French enrichment technology to the United States, and Orano and other fuel cycle players are awaiting the Department of Energy’s announcement of winning bidders on separate requests for proposals for high-assay low-enriched uranium enrichment and deconversion, with a third RFP for low-enriched uranium enrichment (which is open to proposals through September 9 after its original August 26 deadline was extended).

Enriched in Tennessee: Orano’s Oak Ridge uranium enrichment center would be a multistructure commercial production site covering approximately 750,000 square feet, according to Gov. Lee’s office. Facility operations would create more than 300 new direct jobs for Roane County, which sits just west of Oak Ridge.

“Our administration created the Nuclear Energy Fund in partnership with the Tennessee General Assembly to support and expand the state’s nuclear ecosystem, and in the last six months, we’ve announced four projects that will further strengthen Tennessee’s position as a leader in safe, clean, and reliable energy for the future,” said Lee, adding, “We are proud to partner with Orano to lead America’s energy independence and drive continued economic growth and greater opportunity for Tennesseans.”

Orano would rely on local utility TVA for electricity.

“East Tennessee’s status as a nuclear technologies incubator is made possible through partnerships between TVA, the Department of Energy, state and local economic development agencies, elected officials, and innovative companies like Orano,” said TVA president and chief executive Jeff Lyash. “Working together, we will advance nuclear technologies that are crucial to supporting not only energy security but also national security.”

Orano’s approach: With global headquarters in France, Orano (previously Areva) specializes in uranium mining, conversion, and enrichment used nuclear fuel management and recycling. In the United States, Orano currently offers decommissioning and waste management services and transportation casks, and is developing radiopharmaceuticals for targeted alpha therapy through its Orano Med subsidiary.

Jean-Luc Palayer, CEO and president of Orano USA, praised the “warm welcome, responsive engagement, and established nuclear energy community in Oak Ridge, as well as access to continuous and stable power” as key factors in the selection of Oak Ridge for a potential enrichment facility. “We’re already preparing for our next required steps,” Palayer said, “including securing available federal support and customer commitments, obtaining an NRC license, and Orano’s board approval, but today we celebrate this major milestone toward bringing a new enrichment facility on line to help meet our country’s need for an increased, secure domestic nuclear fuel supply.”

From Eagle Rock to Oak Ridge: Orano, then operating as Areva, applied to the NRC in December 2008 for a license to construct and operate a gas centrifuge enrichment facility called Eagle Rock near Idaho Falls, Idaho. The NRC gave that project a license in October 2011—just months after the Fukushima Daiichi accident.

Palayer was part of the project management team for Eagle Rock. Speaking in August at the American Nuclear Society’s Utility Working Conference, he explained that he came to the U.S. 17 years ago “with this dream to build this large enrichment facility. So we worked very hard to get the license, to get commitments from the customers . . . And also we got the loan guarantee; however, in 2011, Fukushima happened, the market collapsed, and there was no more business case to develop Eagle Rock.”

Orano asked the NRC to terminate its license for Eagle Rock in 2018. Meanwhile, back in France, the company had ramped up its new Georges Besse II centrifuge enrichment plant to full production between 2010 and 2016 and brought a new conversion plant, known as Philippe Coste, on line in 2018.

The only commercial-scale enrichment plant currently operating in the United States is Urenco USA’s centrifuge plant in Eunice, N.M., which produces about 5 million separative work units (SWUs) per year, meeting about one-third of the annual U.S. demand for enrichment services. Urenco, owned jointly by the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Germany, selected a site for its enrichment facility in September 2003 and by December of that year had submitted a license application. The NRC issued a license to construct and operate the facility in 2006, and production began in 2010.

Condition report: After Palayer delivered a presentation at the UWC in August, he was asked what it would take for Orano to invest in an enrichment plant in the United States, to which he said, “The conditions are not there yet.”

Palayer named three conditions that Orano must consider, the first in connection with the Russian uranium ban made law in May. That law will prohibit imports of Russian uranium after select waivers expire at the end of 2027, and it unlocked $2.72 billion that Congress conditionally appropriated in March to increase production of LEU and HALEU.

The Russian uranium ban has bipartisan congressional support, Palayer noted, saying “There's no debate whether you talk to both sides of the aisle in Congress.” However, he explained, “We don't know what could happen in the coming years. . . . Let’s say there would be a new administration [. . .] For us it’s a big uncertainty. If the Russian uranium ban . . . is removed, why would we invest in the United States if the market is open for Russian LEU to come back to this country?”

The second and third conditions Palayer named were for Orano to obtain a license and a “commitment from our customers again.”