OREANDA-NEWS. December 31, 2009. The first Russian commercial installation for defluorination (conversion) of depleted uranium hexafluoride (DUF6) to uranium octoxide (U3O8) was commissioned at the JSC "Production Association ElectroChemical Plant" (PA ECP, Zelenogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Region, 100 percent subsidiary of the JSC "Atomenergoprom") on December 18, 2009.

The new (W-ECP) plant is based on a technology developed by the French company AREVA NC. Recovering of chemically aggressive fluorine will allow converting DUF6 to uranium octoxide — a product with properties close to natural uranium, which is chemically stable and easy for conservation. In the W-ECP plant DUF6 is converted by pyrohydrolysis to aqueous hydrofluoric acid (that could be sold to uranium enrichment and conversion facilities in the nuclear industry, and also to metallurgic companies) and uranium octoxide (U3O8).

Uranium octoxide could be further used for fabrication of nuclear fuel to be used in fast neutron reactors.

The contract for construction of a DUF6 conversion plant with design capacity of 10 thousand tons per year at the ECP industrial site was signed in March 2005 in Moscow between the JSC "Techsnabexport" and JSC "PA ECP" (a subsidiary of the JSC "Atomenergoprom") on the Russian side, and AREVA NC and engineering company Societe General pour les Techniques Nouvelles (SGN, a member of AREVA group) on the French side.

Under the contract AREVA NC and SGN were responsible for designing, manufacturing and delivery of equipment from France, supervision of its installation and commissioning, and also for ECP personnel training. AREVA NC has transferred to the JSC "PA ECP" an exclusive right for manufacturing of basic equipment and design documentation that would allow manufacturing a part of the equipment for similar installations at Russian enterprises.

The ceremony of putting the W-ECP plant in operation was attended by the JSC "Atomenergoprom" Deputy Director V. I. Korogodin; JSC "TVEL" First Vice-President V. V. Rozhdestvenskyi; JSC "Techsnabexport" General Director A. A. Grigoriev; JSC "PA ECP" Director S. V. Filimonov, and a French delegation: AREVA Executive Vice-President Mr. Michael McMurphy; AREVA-NC Executive Vice-President Mr. Christian Barandas; Councilor for Nuclear Affairs, Embassy of France in the Russian Federation Mr. Patrice Bernard; AREVA Russian Office General Director Mr. Armand Laferer, and General Director, CIFAL Russian Office (business partner of AREVA) Mr. Jean-Claude Abeillon.