nuclear-news

France and Russia co-operate on developing a plant in Russia for processing depleted uranium

The installation of equipment has begun at TVEL’s JSC Electrochemical Plant
(ECP) in Zelenogorsk in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk Region for W2-ECP, the
country’s second plant for the processing of depleted uranium hexafluoride.

The plant is part of a long-term project to manage and make use of depleted
uranium stocks in Russia. The plant, with a processing capacity of 10,000
tonnes per year, is being supplied by Orano Projets – the engineering arm
of France’s nuclear fuel cycle specialist Orano – under a EUR40 million
(USD44 million) contract signed in December 2019.

Under the terms of the contract, Orano will supply the equipment for the construction of the
deconversion facility, as well as providing technical assistance in its
installation and commissioning. The first equipment for the plant arrived
at the construction site in eastern Siberia from France in December 2021.
The project was originally expected to be completed in 2022. The W2-ECP
plant will accept deliveries of depleted uranium hexafluoride gas (DUF6 –
sometimes called DUHF) and deconvert these to uranium tetrafluoride, with
anhydrous hydrofluoric acid being produced as a by-product. Deconversion
transforms the toxic and somewhat corrosive gaseous DUF6 enrichment
tailings into a stable powdered oxide form fit for long-term storage,
transport or final disposal.

World Nuclear News 16th Aug 2023

https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Construction-of-second-Russian-deconversion-plant

August 22, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France, politics international, Russia