“Learning expedition” at La Hague
Seventy future engineers visited the Areva La Hague and EDF Flamanville facilities to learn more about the recycling activity and the UP2 400 decommissioning project.
To make the nuclear industry more attractive to students at engineering schools
and universities who are majoring in nuclear-related subjects and thus will have
the knowledge and skills to renew our competencies and develop our activities,
the Plateforme France Nucléaire (see inset), an initiative of New AREVA, EDF and
the CEA, has created a program called “Learning Expedition.” On December 6 and
7, 2017, seventy students from four French engineering schools (ENSI Caen, IMT
Atlantique (formerly Mines de Nantes), the Mastère Nucléaire Energie, and CFA
Ingénieurs 2000) made such an “expedition” to Areva La Hague.
The students were divided into two groups, with each then spending a day at each of two nuclear facilities on the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy: AREVA La Hague and EDF Flamanville (specifically FA3).
At La Hague, they were able to observe the complete recycling process, with visits to the unloading, shearing, and vitrification areas, the pool, the control room, and the UP2 400 dismantling facility. They thus had the opportunity to appreciate not only the variety of work done there, but also the technical challenges involved.
During a dinner-discussion held at the end of the first day, Pascal Aubret, Executive Vice President of the Recycling Business Unit, Ségolène Gourion, deputy director of EDF Flamanville 1&2, and Benoît Arrivé, mayor of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, encouraged the students to take up careers in the nuclear industry, pointing out its promising future and the job prospects offered. The students took advantage of the dinner to ask many frank questions about the industry.
Two other Learning Expeditions are planned: one on January 30, with visits to the CEA and EDF laboratories in the Paris region, and the other on March 8 and 9, with visits to the CNPE at Tricastin, the Société d’Enrichissement du Tricastin (SET), MELOX, and the CEA Marcoule, all in the Rhône Valley.
What's the Plateforme France Nucléaire?
Founded in 2016 by AREVA, EDF and the CEA, the Plateforme France Nucléaire (PFN) develops coherent positions on major issues facing the French nuclear industry. The body’s three members address key subjects of industry-wide importance in France and abroad, in particular with regard to competencies.
The PFN’s aim is to enhance the three entities’ combined effectiveness through the joint development of common views on issues that will affect the industry over the medium and long term, thereby contributing to the preparation and implementation of decisions of the Nuclear Policy Council, which is chaired by the French President.
The students were divided into two groups, with each then spending a day at each of two nuclear facilities on the Cotentin peninsula in Normandy: AREVA La Hague and EDF Flamanville (specifically FA3).
At La Hague, they were able to observe the complete recycling process, with visits to the unloading, shearing, and vitrification areas, the pool, the control room, and the UP2 400 dismantling facility. They thus had the opportunity to appreciate not only the variety of work done there, but also the technical challenges involved.
During a dinner-discussion held at the end of the first day, Pascal Aubret, Executive Vice President of the Recycling Business Unit, Ségolène Gourion, deputy director of EDF Flamanville 1&2, and Benoît Arrivé, mayor of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, encouraged the students to take up careers in the nuclear industry, pointing out its promising future and the job prospects offered. The students took advantage of the dinner to ask many frank questions about the industry.
Two other Learning Expeditions are planned: one on January 30, with visits to the CEA and EDF laboratories in the Paris region, and the other on March 8 and 9, with visits to the CNPE at Tricastin, the Société d’Enrichissement du Tricastin (SET), MELOX, and the CEA Marcoule, all in the Rhône Valley.
What's the Plateforme France Nucléaire?
Founded in 2016 by AREVA, EDF and the CEA, the Plateforme France Nucléaire (PFN) develops coherent positions on major issues facing the French nuclear industry. The body’s three members address key subjects of industry-wide importance in France and abroad, in particular with regard to competencies.
The PFN’s aim is to enhance the three entities’ combined effectiveness through the joint development of common views on issues that will affect the industry over the medium and long term, thereby contributing to the preparation and implementation of decisions of the Nuclear Policy Council, which is chaired by the French President.