Orano, a specialist in the nuclear fuel cycle, has launched, alongside the University of Pau and the Adour Region and the National Research Agency, an applied research programme focused on optimising uranium extraction. The Industrial Chair, named SATURNE (Solutions for the Advancement of URanium Techniques and New Exploitations), has a total budget of EUR2.3mn ($2.48mn), equally financed by its two main backers.
The programme aims to develop tools for characterising complex deposits and improving the efficiency of the “in-situ recovery” method, a technique currently used for over 50% of global uranium production. The project relies on close collaboration between scientists and engineers and will involve 12 PhD and postdoctoral researchers over four years.
A collaboration between public research and the industrial sector
The research will be conducted by joint teams, including 14 researchers from the university and engineers from the mining group. The involved laboratories – the Laboratory of Complex Fluids and their Reservoirs (LFCR), the Institute of Analytical Sciences and Physical Chemistry for the Environment and Materials (IPREM), and the Laboratory of Engineering Sciences Applied to Mechanics and Electrical Engineering (SIAME) – will provide advanced chemical analysis equipment and expertise in microtomography and fluid-rock interaction modelling.
Orano, for its part, aims to leverage this collaboration to explore new deposits located in geologically complex environments, notably in the Athabasca Basin in Canada and the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. The objective is to make the exploitation of previously inaccessible resources both technically and economically viable.
International prospects for the French nuclear sector
The launch of SATURNE is part of a broader strategy to strengthen energy sovereignty around the French nuclear sector. By contributing to the training of young researchers and the development of new extraction technologies, the Chair aims to position French players in growing markets, at a time when tensions over uranium supply are increasing.
Initial findings from earlier research helped shape this programme around concrete case studies and applied themes. The ISR (in-situ recovery) technology at the heart of the project consists of injecting a chemical solution into the ground to dissolve uranium, which is then recovered through pumping before being processed at the surface.
Hervé Toubon, Director of Research, Development and Innovation for Orano’s mining activities, stated that this programme could “pave the way for the discovery of new uranium deposits and innovative extraction methods making difficult deposits viable”.
