Orano and the National Atomic Energy Generating Company Energoatom have announced the signing of a major long-term commercial agreement for the provision of nuclear fuel enrichment services until 2040. This was confirmed today by the signing of a joint statement by Acting Chairman of the Board of Energoatom, Petro Kotin, and the CEO of Orano, Nicolas Maes, in the presence of the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Energoatom, Jarek Neverowicz.
The contract guarantees Energoatom a reliable and diversified supply of enrichment services to ensure fuel for Ukraine's nuclear power plants.
"We are proud to support Energoatom in its development to strengthen Ukraine's energy independence. This agreement reflects our commitment to providing support to our client and thus contributing to the energy security of Europe," said Nicolas Maes.
"Energoatom continues to strengthen Ukraine's energy security. Uranium enrichment is one of the key stages in the nuclear fuel production process. The signed agreement allows our country to confidently plan a stable and bright future, relying on the work of nuclear power plants," said Petro Kotin, adding that given Ukraine's plans to expand nuclear capacity, Energoatom's demand for uranium enrichment services will only grow.
To meet the growing demand from customers, in 2023, Orano launched a large-scale project to expand the production capacity at the Georges Besse 2 uranium enrichment plant in France by 30%. These changes will increase the plant's maximum annual capacity to 11 million separative work units (SWU) from now until the beginning of the next decade. As a result, Orano's position as a key player in providing nuclear fuel enrichment services worldwide will be strengthened.
[1] Separative Work Unit (SWU) is a unit of measurement used as an international standard for quantitatively assessing the output of enrichment activities.
