Orano - Annual Activity Report 2025 58 2 SITUATION AND ACTIVITIES OF THE COMPANY AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES DURING THE PAST FINANCIAL YEAR Foreseeable developments and future prospects 2.6 Foreseeable developments and future prospects 2.6.1 Future prospects Since the 2020s, nuclear energy has found itself at the crossroads of several forces shaping the global economy: electrification of uses, acceleration of investment in clean energy technologies, issues of sovereignty and reducing dependence on energy supplies, reindustrialization of regions, among others. Several countries have thus revised upwards or reintroduced nuclear power into their future energy mix, either through the construction of new reactors, including power reactors, small modular reactors (SMRs) or advanced modular reactors (AMRs), or through the extension of existing reactors (the United States, France, Japan, Sweden and Switzerland in particular). The number of countries supporting the COP28 declaration to triple nuclear capacity by 2050 is now 33. China and India continue to invest massively in this energy: in 2025, India revised its ambitions upwards, with a roadmap providing for up to 100 GW of nuclear power by 2047; in China, the annual rate of nuclear capacity addition should double the size of its reactor fleet by the end of the decade. The market outlook for Orano thus remains very favorable, driven by very positive long-term price prospects in the front end of the cycle. These same effects also open up new prospects in the Back End of the cycle. In addition to China and Russia, several countries are making progress on closing the cycle and new countries (the United States, India) are reopening the door to Back End technologies. The announcement in 2024 of the renewal of French reprocessing and recycling facilities is a major signal to strengthen the latter on an international scale. With its industrial expertise and in-depth knowledge of nuclear materials, Orano is well positioned to seize the opportunities arising from the ongoing transformations in the sector. The group is expanding along several lines, strengthening its core business and investing in new markets and fields of business that create value. Community A key success factor both in terms of acceptability and the ability to execute its industrial programs within budget and on time is the regional anchoring of the group’s various sites, which is at the heart of Orano’s strategy. Its objective is to contribute positively to the well-being and support of the communities associated with its activities in terms of training, innovation, attractiveness and sustainable development. At the end of 2024, the group renewed its Commitment roadmap with sustainability objectives and reduction of its environmental footprint by 2030. Orano has integrated all actions related to Water and Biodiversity as part of a broader Nature strategy, with the following main objectives: ● reduce specific water consumption by at least 25% by 2030 (vs. 2019) for sites located in water-risk areas (Katco, Mongolia, Malvési); ● have reasoned management plans for green spaces that integrate local biodiversity issues for its sites. This Nature strategy, led by the Commitment Department, is being rolled out across all of the group’s sites, processes and Business Units, with regular monitoring of the achievement of objectives for 2025 and 2030. Climate Since 2004, Orano has been actively pursuing a decarbonization approach that has already borne fruit: greenhouse gas emissions (scopes 1 and 2) decreased by 57% between 2004 and 2019, with a significant acceleration of 28% over the period 2015-2019 alone. Building on these results, the group defined a new climate roadmap at the end of 2024 to reduce by 25% direct and indirect energy-related emissions (scopes 1 and 2) by 2030 compared to 2019. To achieve this, Orano is deploying several levers, including the modernization of its facilities (particularly at the la Hague site) and several energy efficiency projects. Regarding indirect emissions (scope 3), which represent more than 80% of the group’s total carbon footprint, Orano has structured a specific approach, based on collaborative work with its suppliers to refine emission factors and systematically integrate eco-design into all of the group’s major projects over 20 million euros. Lastly, Orano is improving its resilience to the physical impacts of climate change by rolling out adaptation plans on 100% of its industrial operations by 2030, with investments already committed in the order of 250 million euros. These actions target improving cooling systems, protecting against forest fires in Canada, and securing facilities in the face of extreme weather events (heat waves, Cévennes episodes, loss of power grid). Through this global strategy, Orano aims to embody a responsible company in the face of climate challenges, by actively contributing to the objective of carbon neutrality while promoting the place of nuclear power in the energy transition with the general public.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzMxNTcx