Unit 2 of the Cruas-Meysse nuclear power plant in south-eastern France was recently restarted after being fueled with its first full core of recycled uranium fuel. The action marks a major milestone in France's efforts to revive its domestic uranium reprocessing industry.
Reprocessed uranium (RepU) is extracted from spent fuel from nuclear reactors that has been processed at Orano's La Hague reprocessing plant. Once enriched by this process, this uranium can be used again to fuel nuclear power reactors. In France, only the four reactors at the Cruas-Meysse plant in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes are certified to use RepU.
Historically, the enrichment process required centrifuges solely dedicated to RepU. It was carried out for industrial and economic reasons by Russia's Rosatom at its Seversk site. However, the new geopolitical situation between Russia and Europe since the onset of the war in Ukraine may lead to a reevaluation of these contracts.
For many years, EDF's Fuel Division has been developing a strategy for the management, recycling and reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel assemblies. It is also working on the diversification of sources of supply, to ensure energy independence and the preservation of natural resources.
On 5 February, Cruas Unit 2 was restarted with its first completely recycled uranium fuel load.