Orano - Annual Activity Report 2024 182 4 SUSTAINABILITY STATEMENT Environmental information 4.2.4.2 Policy and actions to manage liabilities and the end-of-life of sites The dismantling 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 avoid-reduce-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 infrastructures and the design of our new facilities. This approach is described in the group’s HSE policy, as well as in the dismantling 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 – Environment (HSE), a member of the Executive Committee. It is available on the group’s website. The group’s dismantling strategy and its application are managed by the Decommissioning and Waste Strategic Planning Director (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. Guidelines for dismantling nuclear facilities Dismantling (DEM) concerns all technical operations carried out in order to reach a predefined final state allowing for declassification. The dismantling phase follows the operation of the facility and ends at the end of the facility’s declassification process. Decommissioning 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. 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. They 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 dismantling 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 dismantling strategy adopted by the group includes: ● the dismantling 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 dismantled; ● the financial assessment of future expenses, determined well in advance and 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 facilities 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 dismantling 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 dismantling plans, Orano describes the targeted dismantling strategy, the main measures implemented, the planning of operations, the initial state of the facility as well as the target final state. Dismantling operations carried out on buildings and soils concern the dismantling of all equipment, the remediation of premises and soils, the possible destruction of buildings not to be reused, and the recovery, packaging and disposal of waste. 2024 IN ACTION: Start of deconstruction of the cooling towers of Georges Besse I After obtaining authorization from the French nuclear safety authority, on July 10, 2024: work began on one of the towers in mid-November, with the demolition of internal reinforced concrete elements. The most visible and dramatic phase of the construction work, the exterior cladding of the towers, will begin in 2025. The work will take place from now to 2026. While the demolition of the cooling towers is an emblematic step in the dismantling of the historic Georges Besse uranium enrichment plant, it is not the first completed by the Orano teams: study of dismantling scenarios, rinsing operations (called PRISM), site preparation inside the plant, etc. To date, Orano has declassified two nuclear facilities The group carries out its dismantling activities itself. It has gained expertise in this area through practice and continues to evolve its approaches.
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