Japan
Orano is a long-standing partner of the Japanese nuclear industry, with the first commercial contract signed in 1970.
Japan is the only country, along with France, where Orano is involved in all of the group’s business activities, as the Japanese and French governments have both chosen to implement a closed fuel cycle policy (reprocessing of spent fuel and recycling).
Twenty-five employees work at Orano Japan, whose main missions are:
• Supporting the development of Orano Group’s business in Japan in cooperation with the Business Units
• Assisting Orano Group entities in managing their joint ventures and partnerships with Japanese stakeholders
• Promoting the development of nuclear energy and the closed fuel cycle policy in Japan
• Representing the Orano Group in Japan
Orano’s Activities in Japan
Orano provides its Japanese customers (utilities, research centers, and fuel cycle stakeholders) with:
• Natural uranium
• Uranium conversion and enrichment services
• Spent fuel reprocessing services
• MOX fuel
• Transport packages for nuclear materials and containers for the storage of spent nuclear fuel (dry storage)
• Transport services for both the front end and back end of the fuel cycle
• Expertise for the decommissioning of the Fukushima site
• Technical and engineering support services for JNFL.
JNFL and MHI Shareholders of Orano
Orano has been a partner of the Japanese nuclear industry since the 1970s. For more than 55 years, the group has been a major supplier to all Japanese electric utilities. Given this long-standing partnership, Japan Nuclear Fuel Limited (JNFL) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) became shareholders of Orano in February 2018, each currently holding 4.83% of the company.
KANSAI EPCO, KYUSHU EPCO, TOHOKU EPCO, and SOJITZ hold a stake in the Georges Besse II enrichment plant in France.
TN Tokyo (TNT), which employs nearly 45 people, is a 50/50 joint venture with Kobe Steel that provides nuclear transport packaging and logistics services for nuclear power operators, research institutes, and transport companies in Japan and the Asia-Pacific region.
RECO, a 50/50 joint venture between Orano and MHI, was established in 1991 to supply the equipment required for JNFL’s RRP reprocessing plant following the adaptation of its design for Japan.