France’s Framatome has inaugurated a new CERCA workshop in Romans-sur-Isère, dedicated to the fabrication of fuel for research reactors and targets for medical isotopes. The Framatome CERCA workshops in Romans-sur-Isère are organised around a “uranium zone” where compacted powder is produced to form fuel elements and medical-use targets.
As part of its investment policy and to meet expected growth, the site undertook to replace the existing uranium zone by a new uranium zone with new equipment, bringing it up to the latest standards in nuclear safety and security.
“We have leveraged over 65 years of experience to enhance processes in the new facility. Safety, security, environmental considerations and the reliability of the installations were the primary focus,” said Lionel Gaiffe, Senior Executive Vice President, Fuel Business Unit at Framatome. “We can be proud of this new facility which will ensure the supply of fuel for research reactors and medical targets for our customers for decades to come.”
Since 1959, CERCA has been steadily developing its activity on the site and is now the leading supplier of fuel to research reactors, supplying almost all European research reactors and a significant share of research reactors worldwide. More than 20,000 fuel elements have been manufactured by CERCA for research reactors and 75% of the world’s technetium-99m scans are performed using medical targets produced by CERCA.
