One of 🇫🇷's most strategic projects has just begun in the Rhône valley: Orano is investing €1.7 billion to expand its uranium enrichment plant. Once extended, the plant will produce enough uranium to supply 120 million homes with electricity. The aim: to produce more enriched uranium to supply nuclear power plants 🇫🇷, 🇪🇺 & 🇺🇸 and no longer rely on external supplies, particularly from 🇷🇺. Enrichment is a crucial stage in the nuclear fuel cycle: it increases the proportion of fissile isotopes in uranium, making it suitable for use in nuclear power plants. Currently, 4 major producers share the global enrichment market: - 2 Western enrichers (Urenco and Orano), - 1 Russian enricher (Rosatom) - and 1 Chinese enricher (CNNC). The Russian and Chinese markets are closed to Western suppliers. Worldwide, Urenco has 31% of production capacity, Orano 12% and Rosatom 43%. The planned investment will increase the capacity of Orano's Tricastin enrichment plant (which already produces 12% of the world's enriched uranium) by a third. The plant not only supplies EDF, but also foreign markets such as the nuclear power plants of 🇰🇷. In all, the plant will cover an area of 100,000 m2. Commissioning is scheduled for 2028. With its recent investments in uranium mining, enrichment and spent fuel recycling, Orano is a crucial player in the revival of the nuclear industry 🇫🇷. Feel free to follow me on 𝕏 and to subscribe to my newsletter Why the West (link in my 𝕏 bio), I publish on the economy and the identity of civilizations (the West, 🇯🇵, China etc.) Sources : - Dossier de concertation - Projet d’extension de l’usine d’enrichissement d’uranium Georges Besse 2 - RGN - Vinci construction en charge du chantier de l’extension de l’usine Georges Besse II d’Orano