COGEMA transfers nuclear clean-up technologies to China

1/30/2002
Press release
On April 22, 2002, COGEMA subsidiary STMI signed a technology transfer and technical assistance agreement with the China Institute for Radiation Protection. Signed in Beijing, the agreement covers nuclear clean-up technologies. According to the agreement, STMI agrees to transfer specific nuclear decontamination technologies to the China Institute for Radiation Protection. These advanced processes (gels, foams, electro-decontamination, chemical decontamination) are currently used by the French nuclear industry.

China Institute for Radiation protection will use the processes in Chinese industrial nuclear facilities (reactors and fuel cycle plants). STMI will also transfer to the Institute the know-how it needs to manufacture in China the products and equipment for decontaminating its facilities. STMI will provide technical assistance and training for experts from the China Institute for Radiation Protection both in China and at its Triade facility in France. Both partners consider this agreement to be a first step toward both a larger implementation of advanced STMI technologies in China and an expansion of the two companies' cooperation to the entire nuclear clean-up area. In connection with this agreement, STMI subsidiary POLINORSUD, working in cooperation with the HUA XING Company, carried out a contract for nuclear clean-up at the LING AO plant.
POLINORSUD and HUA XING expect additional contracts this year related to supplying logistics for Chinese nuclear plants, in particular for DAYA BAY. STMI provides clean-up services (waste management, decontamination, dismantling, radioprotection) to the nuclear industry.
The company's principle clients include France's top nuclear players, including the electric utility EdF, the national atomic energy commission (CEA), the nuclear fuel-cycle specialist COGEMA, and the national nuclear waste management specialist ANDRA.
As a member of the COGEMA Group, STMI has made sustainable development one of the foundations of its industrial strategy.