AVAL DU FUTUR
Inside one of the century’s largest industrial projects
In March 2025, the French Nuclear Policy Council confirmed the country’s processing and recycling strategy for fuels from current and future nuclear power plants, an activity Orano has expertly managed for 60 years. Recycling activity is therefore planned to extend beyond 2040. The Aval du Futur project aims to equip France with an industrial facility unique in the world. Located in the Cotentin region, this exceptional project is expected to ramp up from 2030 onwards in order to deliver facilities that will operate until 2125.
What is the Aval du Futur project?
Alongside the work already underway to extend the lifespan of the Orano plants at La Hague (Manche) and Melox (Gard), the aim of the project is to prepare and manage the renewal of these plants, in order to provide France with the industrial facilities needed to recycle fuel beyond the end of the century:
- build a new spent fuel processing plant on the La Hague site, due for completion by 2050, with a lifespan of 80 years;
- build a new MOX fuel manufacturing plant on the La Hague site, with commissioning planned for 2040.
A project that will leave its mark on nuclear engineering
The ambition of the Aval du Futur project is to design facilities capable of remaining operational well beyond the end of the century. These next-generation plants will need to incorporate technologies that do not yet exist. They must be repairable, replaceable, flexible and modular in their design. A challenge for the group’s engineers who will be contributing to the closure of the fuel cycle in the long term. At the same time, the engineering teams are maintaining their commitment to sites that are already operational, as support for them and extension of their lifespan is the essential foundation underpinning the success of the project.
- 150 professions identified
- +2,000 engineers and technicians recruited
An unprecedented industrial boost for the Normandy region
Due to its scale, the project requires regional coordination between all stakeholders: the French government, elected officials, businesses, training providers and public services. This dialog is driven by a common ambition: to find solutions to accommodate the project and enhance its attractiveness in order to appeal to prospective employees and retain them. A dedicated governance structure, led by the prefecture of Manche, was put in place at the end of 2024 and focuses on the following themes: employment, training, land, housing, living environment, mobility and communication. It includes companies such as EDF and Naval Group, which also have significant expansion plans in the area.
A major challenge for skills and talent
Because of its scale, this project requires an unprecedented ramping up of skills: 500 engineers and technicians will be recruited each year over four years, allowing the group to double its engineering workforce by 2030 across all 21 of its facilities in France. To support this transformation, the group is modernizing its legacy facilities while opening new strategic sites in Bordeaux, Aix-en-Provence and Dijon. This is an opportunity to broaden its recruitment pools and strengthen its attractiveness. More than 44 engineering professions are involved: from design to construction of facilities as well as nuclear safety, with a significant emphasis on innovation in practices.
across the Manche department
through the activities of Orano,
EDF and Naval Group over
the 2025-2034 period
Information and education
Understanding the fuel journey, the challenges of nuclear energy and the recycling of materials is also a prerequisite for its acceptance. In 2025, Orano started setting up an information and dialogue mechanism related to the Aval du Futur project, ahead of a public debate planned for 2027. This initiative, featuring talks and meetings, aims to inform the general public on fuel treatment and recycling – a true center of excellence of French industry – and on the project itself which will embed this strategic activity in the Cotentin region beyond 2100.
The Aval du Futur is a crucial project in France’s energy strategy.
For more information, visit www.avaldufutur.fr