Orano Cycle, formerly COGEMA (Compagnie générale des matières nucléaires) and Areva NC, is a French nuclear fuel company. It is the main subsidiary of Orano S.A. It is an industrial group active in all stages of the uranium fuel cycle, including uranium mining, conversion, enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing, and recycling. The company was originally created in 1976. In 2001, it became part of Areva; its name was changed to Areva NC in March 2006. As a result of restructuring of Areva, Areva NC became part of Orano and changed its name to Orano Cycle.
History In 1976, Compagnie générale des mines was created based on the uranium production activities of Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA). Later it was renamed Compagnie Générale des Matières Nucléaire (COGEMA). As of 1999, COGEMA was majority owned by CEA (81.5%) with minority owned by Total S.A. (15%) and Technip (3.5%). It also owned stakes in Framatome and Eramet. In June 2001, Cogema became a part of the Topco group which was renamed Areva in September 2001. In 2006, Cogema became Areva NC and began the construction of a new uranium enrichment plant at the Tricastin nuclear site. In 2008, Areva NC launched the Comurhex II projects for new uranium conversion plants at Malvési and [Tricastin sites in France. In 2018, Areva NC changed its name to Orano Cycle to reflect the restructuring of Areva.
Operations Areva NC is based in France and with its subsidiaries has a presence in more than 30 countries. It employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide. In France, it operates the reprocessing plant at La Hague, the Marcoule nuclear site, the Pierrelatte nuclear site (Tricastin nuclear site) and the Cadarache center. Orano Cycle has uranium reserves in Niger, Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. The last mine operation in France, La Société des Mines de Jouac, closed in 2001 when its reserves ran out.
Niger
Concessions Areva NC's Niger operations consist of three concessions near the town of Arlit, runs as joint ventures with (minority) stakeholders from the Nigerien government and smaller foreign investors. Arlit was in fact built in the midst of the Sahara to support these operations, and has a large expatriate population employed by Areva and its subcontractors. These ventures are Somair (Société des Mines de l'Aïr) which operates an open pit uranium mine, and COMINAK (Compagnie Minière d'Akouta). These two mines accounted for 3,093 metric tonnes of uranium in 2005, almost 10 percent of annual global production and 30% of French consumption and 32% of Niger's exports, but less than 5% of Niger's GDP. The increase in the cost of uranium on world markets in 2006 (more than 46%) will enable Niger to triple its revenues sourced from Areva.
2007 conflict with Niger
On 25 July 2007, the CEO of Areva-Niger, Dominique Pin, was expelled from Niger (although he was in Paris at the time) on charges of supporting the Second Tuareg Rebellion. According to Le Canard enchaîné, this move from Seyni Oumarou's government was motivated by negotiations concerning the uranium trade agreement, which was finally renewed on 1 August 2007. Furthermore, Laouel Kader Mahamadou, who had resigned from his functions as secretary general of the Nigerien government to take a consulting job with Areva-Niger, was asked by the Nigerian DGSE to remain in Niger instead of flying to France for an integration workshop until a "clarification of the situation" could be obtained. The sporadic fighting in the uranium-producing north halted Areva's Niger mining operations in late 2007, and expansion plans were only beginning to resume in February 2008, while the insecurity and uncertainty remained. Prior to this, Areva also gained a concession in nearby Imouraren, which is hoped to double or triple their production in Niger. In January 2008, Areva signed a deal to invest over 1 billion euros into its three operations in Niger, increasing the share of revenues going to the government of Niger by 50 percent. Areva is also being pressured by the opening for the first time of over 100 concessions for uranium mining in Niger, most notably to Canadian and Chinese firms. In July 2008, four French workers were kidnapped from Areva operations near Arlit, but quickly released. Nigerien rebels of the Movement Nigerien for Justice (MNJ) operations in early and mid-2008 affected transport of ore from Arlit. Despite the violence in the Aïr Massif, Areva NC and the Nigerien government were by later 2008 unhindered in their exploitation of the Arlit uranium mines and in the transport of its product by highway to ports in Benin.
Imouraren mine At the beginning of 2009, Niger and the French state mining company agreed a deal to build near Arlit the Imouraren mine. Areva would hold a 66% stake to the Nigerien mining office's 33%. At a projected output of five thousand tonnes of ore a year, it would be largest uranium mine in the world by 2012, as the SOMAIR and COMINAK mines are phased out. The deal would make Niger the second largest uranium producer in the world, and included plans to construct a civil nuclear power station for Niger. While Areva officials earlier in the year admitted the security situation makes it impossible to prospect at night, the operations of the mines were by December unaffected by the Tuareg rebellion. Despite the 2007 awarding of nearly 100 prospecting contracts to firms other than Areva, the high-profile Chinese and Canadian projects were in 2009 not yet formalised.
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