Orano - Annual Activity Report 2025 172 4 SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT Environmental information DEFINITIONS USED BY ORANO Fresh surface water: all inland water except groundwater, transitional water or coastal water, i.e. water from rivers, lakes, collected rainwater, dams, basins, canals, etc. freely accessible from the surface. Groundwater: all water located below the ground surface, withdrawn via pumping wells and mine water for mining activities. Mine water is pumped from rocks around drifts or pits to prevent flooding. The origin of the water used for our industrial and mining processes is multiple and varies depending on the site: surface water (lakes, rivers, sea, etc.), groundwater (aquifers), dewatering water related to mining, industrial recycling water. Three qualities of water are likely to be used depending on needs: drinking water, sanitary water and industrial water. These categories are set in accordance with the regulations and recommendations in force (national, regional, WHO – World Health Organization regulations), and failing that, according to the type of use to which they may lend themselves. Depending on the location of the sites, the classification (natural quality) of the aquifers does not systematically provide drinking water. This is particularly the case for the Katco (Kazakhstan) and Badrakh Energy (Mongolia) sites, where bottles of drinking water are made available to employees. Water, a key issue of tomorrow Since 2004, Orano has been working to reduce its environmental footprint, including issues relating to freshwater. A working group dedicated to the topic has been led since 2021. The main objective of this group is to reduce and then stabilize the group’s water consumption as much as possible. In addition, the group changed its Biodiversity strategy to a Nature strategy at the end of 2024, fully integrating water issues. The latter was published in April 2025 and is available on the group’s website. Concerning the water component, this strategy includes by 2030: ● the annual assessment of the footprint of our activities with regard to local water resources (e.g. water stress via the Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas tool); ● reducing our sources of pressure by adopting responsible and efficient consumption, taking into account the best available technologies and ecosystem issues, and encouraging our value chain exposed to water-related risks to adopt a more economical approach; and ● collaboration with other stakeholders to anticipate competition for water uses by adopting a watershed approach, and the implementation of reduction, recycling, and reuse projects depending on the issues. Orano’s HSE 2024-2026 policy is based on four commitments. Two of them contain priorities for water-related actions: ● reducing the environmental footprint of our activities on several environmental aspects, including water explicitly mentioned; and ● the development of innovative approaches and tools for prevention, risk management and reduction of the footprint of our activities. This policy is signed by the Chief Executive Officer and its application is monitored by the Head of Health – Safety and Environment (HSE), a member of the executive committee. It is available on the group’s website. The HSE policy and its concrete implementation in our strategic priorities relating to water were inspired by the 53 measures for water of the French Ministry of Ecology, the practical guide on water management by watershed for the mining and metallurgical industries of the ICMM, and the water guide of France Chimie. Managing risks to water resources Water stress is a critical situation that arises when available water resources are lower than water demand. In addition to water stress, the group works in areas at risk of water, depending only on availability. Orano has no production site in an area exposed to high or extremely high water stress. However, three sites are located in water risk areas according to the “Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas” in Kazakhstan, Namibia and Mongolia. In its 2024 CSR report, Orano Mining published an analysis of the water risk and water stress of all its sites. This information is still valid for 2025 and available on the group’s website. The issue of water is also taken into account in the physical risk analysis conducted by the group (see Section 4.2.1.2). Actions around instrumentation, recycling and process optimization The actions implemented in recent years focus on the following areas: ● the improvement of the instrumentation of industrial and drinking water networks, as well as the gradual implementation of consumption monitoring. They make it possible to repair leaking networks as soon as possible to limit excess consumption; ● multi-year network renovation; ● optimization of consumption in industrial processes; ● improving recycling (washing water, condensate, industrial water); and ● rainwater harvesting. The sites in operation that consume water share their best practices within a Water working group and take action to reduce their consumption: ● in Katco, network instrumentation industrial water recycling;
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