AREVA Fast Track Inauguration

AREVA
Fast Track Inauguration
Kazakhstan, September 28, 2010
AREVA IN KAZAKHSTAN
AREVA has been a partner
in Kazakhstan since 1996
The KATCO mining company
runs the largest In Situ
Recovery (ISR) operation in
the world
AREVA and KAZATOMPROM
have developed a unique
know-how concerning ISR
KAZAKHSTAN
ASIA
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Fast Track Inauguration - September 2010
AREVA operates worldwide,
providing its clients with
solutions for carbon-free power
generation. Its knowledge and
expertise in this field means
that the Group has a leading
role to play in meeting the
world’s energy needs.
The AREVA Group
at a glance
Worldwide leader in the entire nuclear cycle, AREVA keeps strengthening its
strategy by capitalising on its integrated business model and expanding its
renewable energies offer. Its solutions for CO2-free power generation integrate
global offers in:
NUCLEAR ENERGY
RENEWABLE ENERGIES
•
•
•
•
•
• Design and manufacture of high-output offshore
wind turbines
• Turnkey design and construction of bio-energy
power plants
• Development of solutions to produce hydrogen by
electrolysis and electricity with fuel cells
• Turnkey design and construction of concentrated
solar power (CSP) plants
Uranium-ore exploration, mining and concentration
Uranium conversion and enrichment
Nuclear fuel design and production
Nuclear reactor design and construction
Supply of products and services for nuclear power
plant maintenance, upgrades and operations
• Processing and recycling of used nuclear fuel
• Clean-up of nuclear facilities
• Nuclear logistics
AREVA’s activities are organized into five Business Groups that offer their clients a complete
range of solutions for greater production stability and energy efficiency. AREVA employees are
committed to sustainable development for the effective management of economic,
environmental and social challenges confronting their businesses.
Fast Track Inauguration - September 2010
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AREVA IN KAZAKHSTAN
The AREVA Way:
a management approach that turns
sustainable development into reality
Sustainable development, which has been
the cornerstone of AREVA’s industrial strategy
from the beginning, is structured around
three axes:
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1
Defining sustainable
development commitments,
and translating them into
policies and objectives,
2
Establishing a management
system for sustainable
development performance
to drive progressive actions,
3
Developing a sense of
responsibility among all
employees by promoting
sustainable development
values, awareness and
know-how.
Fast Track Inauguration - September 2010
The Group’s sustainable development policy is served by
commitment to the implementation of ongoing improvement
procedures based on 10 commitments. It is underpinned by specific
management criteria that enable each entity to assess its own
performance and define performance-improvement plans consistent
with the overall objectives. This approach has led to the
establishment of social and environmental performance indicators.
AREVA assumes its responsibilities as a corporate member of
society. Because its operations may prompt questions, the Group is
dedicated to getting to know its stakeholders, to keeping them
informed, to understanding what they want, and to encouraging open
and constructive dialogue. The Group also reports publicly on
developments in its programs and commitments through controlled
objective data.
All of AREVA’s businesses and departments are relevant to
sustainable development.
The Group’s day-to-day success owes much to the fact that everyone
in the organization is made to understand the challenges and to
propose areas for improvement.
Ranked first in the global nuclear power industry, AREVA’s unique
integrated offer covers every stage of the fuel cycle, including reactor
design and construction and related services. In addition, the Group
is expanding its operations in the renewable energy field. AREVA’s
activities are organized into five Business Groups that offer their
clients a complete range of solutions for greater production stability
and energy efficiency.
Mining Business Group
Present on five continents, the Mining Business Group is
involved in the exploration for new uranium deposits, in the
extraction and processing of uranium ore, and in site
rehabilitation following mining operations. AREVA today is the
world’s largest uranium producer with a market share of around
17% in 2009. It controls a diversified portfolio with operating
mines in Niger, Kazakhstan and Canada and projects under
development in Kazakhstan, Niger, the Central African Republic
and Namibia. The Mining Business Group generated 10% of
AREVA’s consolidated revenue in 2009.
AREVA’s mining
activities in Kazakhstan
KATCO, an industrial success
The KATCO mining company, whose administrative office is in Almaty, was
established in 1996 to develop and operate the Muyunkum and Tortkuduk
deposits in southern Kazakhstan, approximately 250 km north of Shimkent.
Shareholders are AREVA (51%) and Kazakhstan’s national natural uranium
producer, KAZATOMPROM (49%).
Astana
Tortkuduk
Muyunkum
Shimkent
Almaty
Development of the Muyunkum and Tortkuduk sites, which are about
50 km apart, began in April 2004 under agreements concluded
between AREVA and KAZATOMPROM. The decision to move ahead
with the project was made following a feasibility study lasting more
than three years and including full-scale pilot plant tests. The
technology selected for developing the sites is In Situ Recovery (ISR),
which uses a chemical solution injected into the rock to dissolve the
uranium. The initial nominal production objective for the two sites was
1500 metric tons (tonnes) of uranium per year (3.9 million pounds of
U3O8); KATCO produced 3132 tonnes in 2009. Considering the size
of the deposits, the prospects for discovering ore in new areas under
licence to the company, and the recent 35-year extension of KATCO’s
Fast Track Inauguration - September 2010
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AREVA IN KAZAKHSTAN
underground mining concession, the aim is now to increase
nominal production to 4000 tonnes of uranium as of 2012.
KATCO is now the largest ISR operation in the world. It is
also the largest uranium production source for AREVA.
Social Policy
The KATCO mining company, one the largest employers in
the Suzak District of South Kazakhstan Oblast, is known as a
socially oriented and responsible business, and works
extensively in the two key areas of social policy: employees
and communities. Its success depends significantly on its
personnel and on respecting its responsibility in Kazakhstan
and beyond. It has a collective agreement providing social
Tortkuduk South (TDK S) under construction
Objective:
4000 tonnes in 2012
On April 27, 2009, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources of
the Republic of Kazakhstan and KATCO JV LLP signed Addendum
No. 6 to the subsoil use contract formally authorizing KATCO to
increase production to 4000 tonnes as of 2012. The KATCO 4000
project involves several major challenges:
• Prospecting for additional deposits to ensure an annual
production of 4000 tonnes of uranium over the long term.
• Ramping up drilling capabilities and improving the quality and
efficiency of the boreholes.
• Increase the production capacities at Tortkuduk South (TDK S)
and at Muyunkum South (MYK S) through the Fast Track Project,
upgrade and increase the storage capacity, modify the
precipitation process, the calcination, and the packaging system,
and adapt the main infrastructures (base camp, warehouse).
• Adapting the infrastructures through extending and renovating the
base camp and offices, the road, and the landing strip.
• Hiring and training personnel; there are currently over 1200 staff
members
rights and benefits, free medical care for personnel and their
family members, training of employees, packages for
children’s summer camps, and other benefits. It offers a
number of training programs to help its employees develop
their skills and qualifications, and encourages them to reach
their potential. Most employees receive annual training.
The KATCO mines being located in a remote area of South
Kazakhstan, the company maintains a close contact with the
local communities. The company’s social program in the
region is carried out in accordance with the AREVA Value
Charter and is focused on implementing projects and
programs having a long-term impact on the community. It
assists in the training of local students, providing them with
scholarships to study in major Kazakhstan universities and
French schools.
Production-juice ponds, Fast Track
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Fast Track Inauguration - September 2010
Fast Track Project
The Tortkuduk South (TKD S) satellite plant was
completed in March 2007 with an initial 1500 m3/h
production-juice treatment capacity. The Fast Track
Project was launched in March 2009 to ensure the
2010 production target by increasing the TKD S fixation
capacity through adding four fixation columns in the
process workshop (see picture below), four covered
production-juice-ponds (each 2000 m3), and associated
pumps and pipes (3 km). The budget of almost €9 M,
including management costs (under KATCO supervision) included more than
700,000 hours of construction between October 2009 and July 2010.
Commissioning and start-up of the new installations took place in July 2010.
A little bit of geology
The uranium mineralization of the Muyunkum and Tortkuduk
deposits is a roll-front type orebody. Such deposits form
naturally where groundwater in permeable sandstone or
conglomerate encounters the interface between oxidizing
and reducing conditions; the uranium naturally present in the
solution in the aquifer precipitates at this interface, commonly
forming a crescent-shaped body. As over the years, the
reduction front migrates in the direction of groundwater flow,
the “roll-front” orebody can extend for hundreds of meters.
Process workshop
extension for the
KATCO-4000 project
results in little surface disturbance and generates no
tailings or waste rock. Capital costs are low (relative to
conventional mining) and it is often a more effective method
for mining low-grade uranium deposits.
Post-mining rehabilitation is also an important activity for
AREVA. It calls for specific mining and civil-engineering
techniques and involves many areas of expertise. The
purpose of this activity is to return the mine site to its natural
state with a view to sustainable development after
operations have ceased.
Example of a roll front
The largest ISR operation in
the world
The In Situ Recovery (ISR) method used to mine the lowgrade uranium in the vast Muyunkum deposit consists in
injecting a leaching solution (in this case, diluted sulfuric acid)
into the deposit through boreholes, allowing it to circulate
through the deposit to dissolve the uranium, and then
pumping out the pregnant production solution. The pregnant
solutions are piped to the processing plant where the
uranium is loaded onto resin and then stripped from the resin,
purified, concentrated and packaged as at a conventional
ore-processing plant
ISR and environment
ISR techniques have evolved to the point where it is a
controllable, safe, and environmentally benign method of
mining with strict operational and regulatory controls. It
Fixation-column, Fast Track
Fast Track Inauguration - September 2010
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AREVA supplies solutions for
carbon-free power generation. Its expertise
and know-how in this field are setting the
standard, and its responsible development is
anchored in a process of continuous improvement.
As the global nuclear industry leader, AREVA’s unique
integrated offer to utilities covers every stage of the fuel
cycle, nuclear reactor design and construction, and related
services. The group is also expanding considerably in
renewable energies – wind, solar, bioenergies, hydrogen
and storage – to be one of the top three in this sector
worldwide in 2012.
Every day, AREVA’s 48,000 employees cultivate the
synergies between these two major carbon-free offers,
helping to supply safer, cleaner and more economical
energy to the greatest number of people.
Energy is our future, don’t waste it!
Conception & Realisation: BLEU CERISE - Picture credits: © AREVA / JM. Taillat - Zhanarbek Amankulov
www.areva.com
AREVA
Adresse : 33. rue La Fayette - 75009 Paris - France - Tel.: 33 (0) 1 34 96 00 00 - Fax: 33 (0) 1 34 96 00 01
www.areva.com