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Orano Cycle, formerly COGEMA (''Compagnie générale des matières nucléaires'') and Areva NC, is a French nuclear company. It is the main subsidiary of
Orano S.A. Orano SA is a multinational nuclear fuel cycle company headquartered in Châtillon, Hauts-de-Seine, France. The company is engaged in uranium mining, conversion-enrichment, spent fuel recycling, nuclear logistics, dismantling, and nuclear cyc ...
It is an industrial group active in all stages of the uranium fuel cycle, including
uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
mining, conversion, enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing, and recycling. The company was originally created in 1976. In 2001, it became part of
Areva Areva S.A. is a French multinational group specializing in nuclear power headquartered in Courbevoie, France. Before its 2016 corporate restructuring, Areva was majority-owned by the French state through the French Alternative Energies and Atom ...
; its name was changed to ''Areva NC'' in March 2006. As a result of restructuring of Areva, Areva NC became part of Orano and changed its name to Orano Cycle.


History

In 1976, ''Compagnie générale des mines'' was created based on the uranium production activities of ''
Commissariat à l'énergie atomique The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission or CEA ( French: Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), is a French public government-funded research organisation in the areas of energy, defense and securit ...
'' (CEA). Later it was renamed ''Compagnie Générale des Matières Nucléaire'' (COGEMA). As of 1999, COGEMA was majority owned by CEA (81.5%) with minority owned by
Total S.A. TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and ...
(15%) and
Technip Technip S.A. was a company that carried out project management, engineering and construction for the energy industry; in 2017 it completed a merger with FMC Technologies to form TechnipFMC. Its headquarters were in the 16th arrondissement of Pa ...
(3.5%). It also owned stakes in
Framatome Framatome () is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%), and Assystem (5%). The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water reacto ...
and
Eramet Eramet is a French multinational mining and metallurgy company, listed on the Euronext Paris exchange under the symbol ERA. The company was founded with the funding of the Rothschild family (although they were careful to avoid being listed as fou ...
. In June 2001, Cogema became a part of the Topco group which was renamed Areva in September 2001. In 2006, Cogema became Areva NC and began the construction of a new uranium enrichment plant at the Tricastin nuclear site. In 2008, Areva NC launched the Comurhex II projects for new uranium conversion plants at
Malvési The Malvési uranium processing plant, a uranium refinery and conversion facility, is located in the Malvezy industrial area in the city of Narbonne in the south of France. The plant has an average capacity of about 14,000 tU as uranium tetraflu ...
and [Tricastin sites in France. In 2018, Areva NC changed its name to Orano Cycle to reflect the restructuring of Areva.


Operations

Areva NC is based in France and with its subsidiaries has a presence in more than 30 countries. It employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide. In France, it operates the reprocessing plant at La Hague, the Marcoule nuclear site, the Pierrelatte nuclear site (Tricastin nuclear site) and the Cadarache center. Orano Cycle has uranium reserves in Niger, Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. The last mine operation in France, ''La Société des Mines de Jouac'', closed in 2001 when its reserves ran out.


Niger


Concessions

Areva NC's Niger operations consist of three concessions near the town of
Arlit Arlit is an industrial town and capital of the Arlit Department of the Agadez Region of northern-central Niger, built between the Sahara Desert and the eastern edge of the Aïr Mountains. It is 200 km south by road from the border with A ...
, runs as joint ventures with (minority) stakeholders from the Nigerien government and smaller foreign investors. Arlit was in fact built in the midst of the
Sahara , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...
to support these operations, and has a large expatriate population employed by Areva and its subcontractors. These ventures are
Somair SOMAIR (Société des Mines de l'Air) is a national mining company of Niger in the mining area of its northern zone. Established in 1968, it started uranium mining at the Arlit deposit in 1971, mining 0.30 - 0.35% ore down to depth of depth. By ...
(''Société des Mines de l'Aïr'') which operates an open pit uranium mine, and
COMINAK COMINAK (Compagnie minière d'Akokan) is a national uranium mining company of Niger. It is a joint venture between the French company Areva NC and the state of Niger, which operates in the field of mining. COMINAK was established in 1974, followin ...
(''Compagnie Minière d'Akouta''). These two mines accounted for 3,093 metric tonnes of uranium in 2005, almost 10 percent of annual global production and 30% of French consumption and 32% of Niger's exports, but less than 5% of Niger's
GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...
."Atomes pas très crochus au Niger" in ''
Le Canard enchaîné (; English: "The Chained Duck" or "The Chained Paper", as is French slang meaning "newspaper") is a satirical weekly newspaper in France. Its headquarters is in Paris. Founded in 1915 during World War I, it features investigative journalism a ...
'', 22 August 2007, p.4
The increase in the cost of uranium on world markets in 2006 (more than 46%) will enable Niger to triple its revenues sourced from Areva.


2007 conflict with Niger

On 25 July 2007, the CEO of Areva-Niger, Dominique Pin, was expelled from Niger (although he was in Paris at the time) on charges of supporting the
Second Tuareg Rebellion The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...
. According to ''Le Canard enchaîné'', this move from
Seyni Oumarou Seyni Oumarou (born 9 August 1951
's government was motivated by negotiations concerning the uranium trade agreement, which was finally renewed on 1 August 2007. Furthermore, Laouel Kader Mahamadou, who had resigned from his functions as secretary general of the Nigerien government to take a consulting job with Areva-Niger, was asked by the Nigerian
DGSE The General Directorate for External Security (french: link=no, Direction générale de la Sécurité extérieure, DGSE) is France's foreign intelligence agency, equivalent to the British MI6 and the American CIA, established on 2 April 1982. ...
to remain in Niger instead of flying to France for an integration workshop until a "clarification of the situation" could be obtained. The sporadic fighting in the uranium-producing north halted Areva's Niger mining operations in late 2007, and expansion plans were only beginning to resume in February 2008, while the insecurity and uncertainty remained. Prior to this, Areva also gained a concession in nearby
Imouraren The Imouraren mine is a large mine located in the northern part of Niger in Agadez Region. Imouraren represents one of the largest uranium reserves in Niger having estimated reserves of 109.1 million tonnes of ore grading 0.06% uranium. It is the ...
, which is hoped to double or triple their production in Niger. In January 2008, Areva signed a deal to invest over 1 billion euros into its three operations in Niger, increasing the share of revenues going to the government of Niger by 50 percent. Areva is also being pressured by the opening for the first time of over 100 concessions for uranium mining in Niger, most notably to Canadian and Chinese firms. In July 2008, four French workers were kidnapped from Areva operations near Arlit, but quickly released. Nigerien rebels of the
Movement Nigerien for Justice The Nigerien's Movement for Justice (in French ''Mouvement des Nigériens pour la justice'', MNJ) is a largely Tuareg people, Tuareg ethnic, northern Niger based militant group. But the MNJ also includes other nomadic ethnicities, within this are ...
(MNJ) operations in early and mid-2008 affected transport of ore from Arlit. Despite the violence in the Aïr Massif, Areva NC and the Nigerien government were by later 2008 unhindered in their exploitation of the Arlit uranium mines and in the transport of its product by highway to ports in
Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...
.


Imouraren mine

At the beginning of 2009, Niger and the French state mining company agreed a deal to build near Arlit the
Imouraren mine The Imouraren mine is a large mine located in the northern part of Niger in Agadez Region. Imouraren represents one of the largest uranium reserves in Niger having estimated reserves of 109.1 million tonnes of ore grading 0.06% uranium. It is the ...
. Areva would hold a 66% stake to the Nigerien mining office's 33%. At a projected output of five thousand tonnes of ore a year, it would be largest uranium mine in the world by 2012, as the SOMAIR and COMINAK mines are phased out. The deal would make Niger the second largest uranium producer in the world, and included plans to construct a civil nuclear power station for Niger. While Areva officials earlier in the year admitted the security situation makes it impossible to prospect at night, the operations of the mines were by December unaffected by the Tuareg rebellion. Despite the 2007 awarding of nearly 100 prospecting contracts to firms other than Areva, the high-profile Chinese and Canadian projects were in 2009 not yet formalised.


Long term relations

Areva has been criticised both in Niger and the west for a
neocolonial Neocolonialism is the continuation or reimposition of imperialist rule by a state (usually, a former colonial power) over another nominally independent state (usually, a former colony). Neocolonialism takes the form of economic imperialism, gl ...
relationship with the former French colony, having obtained monopoly rights to mine uranium for nearly forty years, while Niger remains (as of 2006) the least developed country in the world. There has been speculation that Areva was the primary vehicle (and motivation) for French government involvement in the Nigerien government's poor history of democracy and human rights since the late 1960s. Areva argues that it is a good steward of the environment and a partner in development with the Nigerien people. The company stresses that most workers it directly employs in Niger are locals, and that the revenue generated by these mines is the single largest foreign exchange source for Niger. When the population of Niger was exposed to a serious
famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...
in 2005, Areva donated 130,000 euros in June 2005 to the food crisis coordination group of Niger, and 120,000 euros in July in the form of two planes loaded with food and organized by
Bernard Kouchner Bernard Kouchner KBE (born 1 November 1939) is a French politician and doctor. He is the co-founder of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Médecins du Monde. From 2007 until 2010, he was the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs ...
's ''Réussir'' NGO. Nigerien critics point out that this aid amounted to 0.05% of Areva's annual profits of 428 million euros. In January 2008, a Swiss human rights group awarded Areva's Niger operations their "2008 Public Eye Global Award" for the "worst company in the world", citing charges of radioactive pollution, poor working conditions, and the deaths of a number of workers. The
Tuareg The Tuareg people (; also spelled Twareg or Touareg; endonym: ''Imuhaɣ/Imušaɣ/Imašeɣăn/Imajeɣăn'') are a large Berber ethnic group that principally inhabit the Sahara in a vast area stretching from far southwestern Libya to southern A ...
based rebel group fighting in the Arlit area has echoed these charges.MNJ press site
br
Tuaregs slow, but don't halt, Niger uranium boom
. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', London, 11-12-2007.


France


Cezus

Cezus or CEZUS is a subsidiary of Areva NC. It is the company's front-end operation for
zirconium Zirconium is a chemical element with the symbol Zr and atomic number 40. The name ''zirconium'' is taken from the name of the mineral zircon, the most important source of zirconium. The word is related to Persian '' zargun'' (zircon; ''zar-gun'', ...
. It supplies the company's Reactors and Services operational unit with the materials needed for the
nuclear industry Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced ...
. It produces "zirconium alloy tubes, bars, and sheets for
pressurized water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water reactor, light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary ...
s and
boiling water reactor A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of light water nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is a design different from a Soviet graphite-moderated RBMK. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nu ...
s". It forms Areva's Fuel Zirconium Division with the ANF plant in
Duisburg Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...
, Germany. It operates five sites in France. The commune of
Ugine Ugine (; frp, Ugena) is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. Geography Climate Ugine has a oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in ...
says Cezus is the worldwide number one in zirconium.


=Jarrie

=
Isère Isère ( , ; frp, Isera; oc, Isèra, ) is a landlocked department in the southeastern French region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Named after the river Isère, it had a population of 1,271,166 in 2019.Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indre-e ...
. Plant transforms extruded billets into an extruded tube, the trex.


=Painboeuf

=
Loire-Atlantique Loire-Atlantique (; br, Liger-Atlantel; before 1957: ''Loire-Inférieure'', br, Liger-Izelañ, link=no) is a department in Pays de la Loire on the west coast of France, named after the river Loire and the Atlantic Ocean. It had a population o ...
. This and Duisburg plants pilder mills the Trex as a fuel rod (claddings and guide tubes). Paimboeuf plant also makes zirconium bars for end caps.


=Rugles

=
Eure Eure () is a department in Normandy in Northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2019, Eure had a population of 599,507.Ugine Ugine (; frp, Ugena) is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France. Geography Climate Ugine has a oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfb''). The average annual temperature in ...
,
Savoie Savoie (; Arpitan: ''Savouè'' or ''Savouè-d'Avâl''; English: ''Savoy'' ) is a department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Southeastern France. Located in the French Alps, its prefecture is Chambéry. In 2019, Savoie had a population of ...
. Also a service center, it employs 25 engineers and technicians in zirconium-based alloys metallurgy and processes. It has partnerships with the
French National Centre for Scientific Research The French National Centre for Scientific Research (french: link=no, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, CNRS) is the French state research organisation and is the largest fundamental science agency in Europe. In 2016, it employed 31,637 ...
(CNRS) and universities. It conducts research and development of new alloys for fuel assemblies. It develops software for fabrication of zirconium sponge, shaping of zirconium alloys, and conversion processes. *Plant established in 1971 with a workforce of 360. Metalworking (melting, forging) and transformation of reactive metals such as zirconium, hafnium, titanium for critical nuclear and aeronautical applications. Plant turns zirconium
sponge Sponges, the members of the phylum Porifera (; meaning 'pore bearer'), are a basal animal clade as a sister of the diploblasts. They are multicellular organisms that have bodies full of pores and channels allowing water to circulate through t ...
into an
alloy An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which at least one is a metal. Unlike chemical compounds with metallic bases, an alloy will retain all the properties of a metal in the resulting material, such as electrical conductivity, ductility, ...
semifinished product. Main operations: melt, forge, extrude and recycle. Outputs extruded billets, slabs and bars. Subsidiary: Société Timet Savoie (titanium). It is the site where Sylvain Mollier, one of the Annecy shootings victims, worked when he died.
"Il travaillait dans un atelier de production chez Cezus, une usine du groupe nucléaire français Areva .."


See also

*
Eurodif Eurodif, which means ''European Gaseous Diffusion Uranium Enrichment Consortium'', is a subsidiary of the French company Orano, which operates a uranium enrichment plant established at the Tricastin Nuclear Power Center in Pierrelatte in Drô ...
program *
Marcoule Marcoule Nuclear Site (french: Site nucléaire de Marcoule) is a nuclear facility in the Chusclan and Codolet communes, near Bagnols-sur-Cèze in the Gard department of France, which is in the tourist, wine and agricultural Côtes-du-Rhône r ...
, a site shared by Areva NC and the
Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique A commissariat is a department or organization commanded by a commissary or by a corps of commissaries. In many countries, commissary is a police rank. In those countries, a commissariat is a police station commanded by a commissary. In some ...
(CEA) nuclear organization. *
Nuclear power in France Since the mid 1980s, the largest source of electricity in France is Nuclear power, with a generation of 379.5 TWh in 2019 and a total electricity production of . In 2018, the nuclear share was 71.67%, the highest percentage in the world. Since ...


References


(Commune of Ugine, 19/09/2012)
br



External links


Areva NC
official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Orano Cycle Areva Energy companies established in 1976 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1976 Manufacturing companies of France Nuclear fuel companies Nuclear technology companies of France Uranium mining companies of France