The firm’s LEU fuel assemblies will secure the reactor’s future needs in an effort to ensure the successful conversion of the reactor from high enriched uranium (HEU) to LEU use.
Areva CERCA general manager Alain Gauvin said, "This new contract demonstrates the confidence Poland’s NCBJ has in our LEU fuel and opens great perspectives for AREVA CERCA solutions for HEU/LEU conversion programs all over the world."
Gauvin noted that Areva, along with its American partner Battelle Energy Alliance, has successfully contributed to the Polish National Centre for Nuclear Research’s (NCBJ) program to convert Maria to LEU fuel use.
The company had inked a deal with NCBJ under the auspice of US National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) Global Threat Reduction Initiative for manufacturing suitable LEU fuel for Maria.
Areva said two LEU prototypes had been successfully loaded into the research reactor core to start the conversion process.
In 2011, a contract was signed between Areva CERCA, Battelle Energy Alliance and NCBJ for the delivery of the first 25 standard LEU fuel elements to Maria.
