Orano - Annual Activity Report 2025 182 4 SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT Environmental information 4.2.4.2 Policy and actions in terms of liabilities management and sites’ end-of-life The decommissioning and remediation of end-of-life industrial and mining sites is a major societal, industrial, and technical challenge for the future of the mining and nuclear industry. In an avoidreduce-offset approach, the group endeavors to: ● responsibly manage existing liabilities in the context of the endof-life of its sites; ● be transparent about these issues; and ● limit the creation of liabilities through accidental spills into the environment through prevention, the proper management of our infrastructure and the design of our new facilities. This approach is described in the group’s HSE policy, as well as in the decommissioning strategy and the principles of mining site remediation. The HSE 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 group’s decommissioning strategy and its application are managed by the Director of the Decommissioning and Waste Strategic Planning Division (DPS2D). It meets a requirement of the French administrative authorities concerning the group’s nuclear facilities. The principles of mining site remediation and the associated objectives are managed by the subsidiary, Orano Mining, and validated by its Chief Executive Officer. DEFINITIONS Decommissioning (DEM) concerns all technical operations carried out in order to reach a predefined final state allowing for declassification. The decommissioning phase follows the operation of the facility and ends at the end of the facility’s declassification process. Clean-up corresponds to operations to reduce or eliminate the remaining radioactivity or any other hazardous substance remaining both in structures and in the soil. Declassification is an administrative operation consisting of removing the facility from the list of “regulated nuclear facilities” (INB). The facility is therefore no longer subject to the legal and administrative regime of INBs. Mine redevelopment refers to all the work and measures aimed at restoring and securing a site after the end of its mining operation, by minimizing its environmental impacts and preparing for its future reuse. Guidelines for decommissioning nuclear facilities Decommissioning, remediation, and declassifying are an integral part of the group’s responsibility approach with the following objectives: the nuclear sites are sustainable, the future use is industrial, the decommissioning is immediately after removal of nuclear materials and radioactive waste from operations and the land remains the property of Orano except in special cases. In accordance with the regulations and the guidance of the French administrative authorities, the decommissioning strategy adopted by the group includes: ● the decommissioning of the INBs as quickly as possible, to ensure that personnel familiar with the facility are available and that they have a good understanding of the initial state of the facility to be decommissioned; ● the financial assessment of future expenses determined well in advance, taking into account a certain number of internal and external contingencies and uncertainties; ● the management of the waste produced and in particular the identification of available channels, the management of storage pending the availability of storage, the recycling of waste, and the optimization of the volume of waste; and ● taking into account internal feedback or the national or international benchmark on the decommissioning of facilities. Structured governance within Orano makes it possible to define the strategy, assess expenses, and establish the corresponding provisions. This consists of an operational line and an independent control line. For each of the decommissioning plans, Orano describes the targeted decommissioning strategy, the main measures implemented, the planning of operations, the initial state of the facility, as well as the target final state. Decommissioning operations carried out on buildings and soils concern the decommissioning of all equipment, the remediation of premises and soils, the possible destruction of buildings not to be reused, and the recovery, casking, and disposal of waste. 2025 IN ACTION Decommissioning of the Georges Besse cooling towers In April 2025, Orano began work to decommission the two cooling towers at the Tricastin site. This deconstruction, scheduled to take 18 months, is a symbol in the decommissioning project of the former Georges Besse gas diffusion enrichment plant, which was shut down in 2012. In 2025, the deconstruction of the first 123-meter-high tower was completed using a technique known as “nibbling” which deconstructs the structure piece by piece from top to bottom using a “concrete clamp” erected inside the tower. The deconstruction of the second tower will be completed in 2026. To date, Orano has declassified two nuclear facilities. The group carries out its decommissioning activities itself. It has gained expertise in this area through practice and continues to evolve its approaches.
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