Orano To Dismantle Marcoule Site Storage Pools

French nuclear power service company said it had been awarded the contract to dismantle two stainless steel interim storage pools at the Marcoule site in south-east France in a deal worth several million euros.

Marcoule siteThe company said it would take four years to complete the project and that it would use the largest remote-controlled cutter on the market -- a 12 metric ton device includes a large diameter circular saw -- to get the job done. 

While dismantling the pools -- which will then have parts sorted according to radioactive hazard and moved to storage sites -- the company would study its operations, which is likely to include innovations not yet tried in similar decommissioning projects. "Studies and interventions in the field will be performed by teams from Orano DS, the entity of the group specialized in dismantling, services to nuclear operators and radioactive waste management, Orano said.

Alain Vandercruyssen, Senior Executive Vice President in charge of Orano’s Dismantling and Services business unit, declared: "It makes us proud to see that the technical solution developed by the teams from Orano DS has been selected by the CEA. The challenge and the resources involved are considerable but I have full confidence in our ability to complete this unprecedented worksite at Marcoule successfully, thus serving as a reference for other similar operations in the future."

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