"Outage Optimization" brochure
Fuel, the heart of nuclear fission
COMURHEX II: meeting tomorrow’s challenges
Zirconium, the reactor’s primary safety barrier
The well-known competence of AREVA in the fabrication of zirconium and its alloys for fuel cladding is an essential component of its integrated offer. This competence extends to the technological specialties of its plants CEZUS in France and ANF in Germany, which cover every stage of zirconium metallurgy.
Why zirconium?
In the nuclear industry, zirconium is used as a material for cladding and structural elements in fuel assemblies. Cladding constitutes the first confinement barrier of a reactor.
The use of zirconium is explained by its specific qualities, such as low absorption of thermal neutrons and an excellent resistance to corrosion in water and high-pressure vapor. This material also offers good mechanical strength and stability under radiation, ensuring constant contact between the fuel and the coolant.
Plants specialized in zirconium metallurgy
With its subsidiaries CEZUS, with five plants in France, and ANF, with one plant in Germany, AREVA possesses the greatest capacity in the world for the production of zirconium.
This activity draws on vast expertise in chemical and metallurgical processes:
- Fabrication of zirconium sponge
- Arc welding, extrusion, forging, and lamination
- Heat treatment
- Nondestructive testing.
Each plant is specialized in one aspect of the metallurgy or shaping of zirconium:
Zirconium sponge and semi-finished products
- The CEZUS plant in Jarrie (Isère) carries out the refinement of zirconium sand to produce zirconium sponge, of which the plant manufactures about 2,200 metric tons each year.
- The CEZUS plant in Ugine (Savoie) is specialized in arc welding in vacuum and hot forging of zirconium, hafnium, and titanium starting from zirconium sponges from Jarrie and scrap recycling. The semi-finished products are then delivered to other facilities to be processed into tubing, slab and flat band. Ugine is also the site of the CEZUS Research Center, renowned for its research and development activities in alloys.
Flat products
- Every year, the CEZUS plant in Rugles (Eure) exports more than 75% of its production of flat products produced by laminating rectangular bars of zirconium or hafnium in slabs, strips, and bands. These flat products are then used for the fabrication of fuel assembly components for PWR, BWR, and CANDU (heavy water) reactors.
Fuel cladding and structural tubes
- The CEZUS plant in Montreuil-Juigné (Maine-et-Loire) carries out the lamination of tubes from Ugine, with an annual capacity of 1,300 metric tons.
- The CEZUS plant in Paimbœuf (Loire-Atlantique) produces cladding and structural tubes for PWR and BWR reactors throughout the world. Its capacity is some 5,000 km of tubes per year.
- The ANF plant in Duisburg (Germany) is world-famous for its expertise in Duplex tubes (a grade of alloy containing zirconium) and in equipped cladding tubes. It produces more than 2,000 km of them per year.
