Growing with China

Over 30 years of collaboration

The long-standing nuclear energy cooperation between France and China began in 1980s focusing on the fields of nuclear reactor and fuel manufacturing. Since then, this partnership with Chinese government and key Chinese nuclear industry players has been constantly strengthened and deepened.

2007: A key turning point

Since 2007, Orano has worked closely with China General Nuclear Power Cooperation (CGN) to develop two EPR™ reactors (Taishan 1 & 2), fuel supply and technology transfer on nuclear island and nuclear fuel. In the same year, a Sino-French cooperation agreement on the back-end of the fuel cycle was signed, as well as a cooperation agreement between Orano and China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) to design, construct and operate a large-scale commercial reprocessing-recycling plant in China. This strategic project will help China achieve the objective of creating a closed fuel cycle and meet the challenge of processing growing quantities of used fuel.

Multi-faced partnership

From 2007, the close collaboration with CNNC deepen as discussions moved forward on the Chinese commercial recycling-reprocessing plant project, drawing on the tried-and-tested methods and technologies used at la Hague and Melox plants in France. This collaboration was further extended in 2017 to cover the entire fuel cycle with the signature of a Framework Agreement for an Industrial & Commercial Cooperation covering all nuclear fuel cycle activities including:

• Mining / Supply of Uranium
• Uranium Conversion & Enrichment
• Used Fuel Recycling
• Logistics Solutions & Services
• Dismantling, Decommissioning & Waste Management