Orano - Annual Activity Report 2025 29 SITUATION AND ACTIVITIES OF THE COMPANY AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES DURING THE PAST FINANCIAL YEAR 2 Highlights of the financial year Batteries Program During 2025, several important advances were made as part of the Batteries program, related to projects for cathode active materials (CAM) plants for electric vehicle batteries, their precursors (PCAM) and the recycling (REC) of the materials contained in these batteries: Program labels and grants: ● the hydrometallurgy project to recycle electric vehicle battery components led by Orano in France was declared a strategic project by the European Commission on March 25, 2025, as part of the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), alongside 46 other European industrial projects. Six projects involve battery recycling. The Orano project is the only one recognized in this respect in France; ● a C3IV approval was obtained on June 12, 2025 for the CAM project, entitling it to a tax credit for green industry with a ceiling of 200 million euros; ● on November 10, 2025, the “REC 2 PCAM” project (Hydrometallurgy and PCAM Projects) obtained a grant from the European Innovation Fund for 125 million euros; ● the CAM project has been awarded the “Strategic Project” label under the European Net-Zero Industry Act Regulation (2024/1735). The announcement was made official at the “Choose France” Summit on November 17, 2025. Industrial authorizations and commissioning: ● the industrial hydrometallurgy pilot plant to recycle materials contained in batteries was commissioned at the end of April 2025 in Bessines-sur-Gartempe. An application to extend the operation of this pilot was submitted to the DREAL (Regional Directorate for the Environment, Planning and Housing) of Nouvelle Aquitaine in July 2025. This will be followed by a public consultation in the first half of 2026; ● the ongoing consultation for the NEOMAT project in Dunkerque, within the framework of the CNDP (National Commission for Public Debate), ended in June 2025; ● in September 2025, the prefectural authorization for the first plant of the NEOMAT project (the CAM plant, phase 1, with a capacity of 38 kt/year) was obtained, including the protected species exemption for the entire Batteries program. The building permits were signed in October 2025 by the municipalities of Gravelines and Loon-Plage. Throughout the year, Orano continued to study the best technical, economic and partnership options as part of its batteries program, as well as the market-launch scenarios, in order to adapt to a changing segment environment. In addition, commercial discussions with customers continued to secure the project’s business plan. Please refer to Section 2.7 of this report for the highlights since the reporting date.
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