a €610 million investment to meettomorrow’s nuclear power needs

COMURHEX II

With manufacturing facilities in 41 countries and a sales network in more than 100, AREVA offers customers

reliable technological solutions for CO2-free power generation and electricity transmission and distribution.

We are the world leader in nuclear power and the only company to cover all industrial activities in this field.

Our 61,000 employees are committed to continuous improvement on a daily basis, making sustainable

development the focal point of the group’s industrial strategy.

AREVA’s businesses help meet the 21st century’s greatest challenges: making energy available to all,

protecting the planet, and acting responsibly towards future generations.

www.areva.com

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COMURHEXGilles SalgasPhone (33) 4 75 50 41 27Fax (33) 4 75 50 55 09E-mail: gilles.salgas@areva.com

Converting uranium ore into uranium hexafluoride (UF6) is a key stage before the enrichment and fabricationof nuclear fuel.

AREVA is gearing up for market changes, increasing its uranium production from 15,000 tons per year to 21,000 tons per year to match market needs.

Today the conversion units of the different industrial operators are showing their age. They will need replacing in the medium term to increase production capacity and keep abreast of the economic, regulatoryand environmental conditions of tomorrow’s market.

Its €610 million investment in the Narbonne and Pierrelatte sites in southern France will make AREVA the first uranium converter to overhaul its industrial tool. Thus indicating the group’s intention of remainingworld leader in UF6 conversion.

The COMURHEX II project will involve the modernization and upgrading of our installations on the basis of tried-and-tested processes and techniques, while incorporating technological innovations that willimprove the production performance, reinforce nuclear safety in the facilities, while further reducing the environmental impact of their activities.

The first industrial production on the basis of 15,000 tons per year is scheduled for 2012.

COMURHEX II in brief

«AREVA has decided to gear up to meet

the future needs of its utility customers.

This is a sign of the group’s trust

in the men and women at Pierrelatte

and Malvési who, for decades,

have proved their ability to match the

requirements of the conversion market.

Together, equipped with a modern and

even higher-performance industrial tool

at the cutting edge of today’s processes,

we will be able to take up new

challenges.»

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COMURHEX II is a key part of AREVA’s industrial strategy focused directlyon its customers.

The plant, together with other large-scale investment projects such as the future Georges Besse II enrichment plant – also located on the Tricastinsite – and the modernization of the FBFC fuel fabrication facilities in the south of France, will enable AREVA to strengthen its position as a long-standing and fully integrated player at the Front End of the nuclearfuel cycle. These major investments confirm the group’s strong commitmentto the global development of nuclear power.

The worldwide development of nuclear power will lead to increasing demands for uranium.

To meet its customers’ growingrequirements, AREVA has chosen to invest in COMURHEX II to renew and modernize its industrial conversion tool.

Christian Barandas,Executive Vice President of the Chemistry Business Unit

AREVA, global conversion leader

Uranium ore from mines, even in its concentrated «yellow cake» form, cannot be used directly to fuel a nuclear power plant. Conversion is an essential step in the fuel cycle between mining and enrichment.

Conversion operations aim at making uranium concentrate pure enough to fabricate nuclear fuel by transfor-ming it into uranium hexafluoride (UF6).

Conversion at COMURHEX, AREVA’s subsidiary, is a two-stage chemical process. Uranium is first transfor-med into UF4 at the MALVESI facility near Narbonne, in the south of France: at this stage the concentrate isdissolved through acid, then purified before going through a precipitation-calcination process to produceUO3 powder. UO3 is then hydrofluorinated by addition of hydrofluoric acid to produce UF4, which has theappearance of green granules.

The UF4 is sent to the Pierrelatte facility on the Tricastin site, where it is transformed into uranium hexafluoride (UF6). UF6 has the chemical property to go from solid to liquid or gas state, depending on

slight temperature changes. At 65°C, UF6 is in a gaseous state, which makes it compatiblewith either enrichment process : gaseous diffusion at EURODIF Production,

or centrifugation in the future Georges Besse II facility currently being built on the Tricastin site.

FIVE MAIN COMPETITORS SHARE THE CONVERSION MARKET

Over forty years of experience,an expanding activity

AREVA can draw on forty years of conversion experience from its Malvési site inNarbonne and the Tricastin site in Pierrelatte. Both sites are located in the south ofFrance.

This valuable experience, together with the group's successful local intergation has convinced AREVA tomaintain and develop its activities on both sites. The upgrading of its industrial tool will materialize with theComurhex II project.

573EMPLOYEES WORKING FOR COMURHEX ON THE NARBONNE AND PIERRELATTE SITES

€€4,2 MILLIONTOTAL ANNUAL LOCAL TAXES MAKING COMURHEX A MAJOR ECONOMIC STAKEHOLDER IN THE REGION.

AERIAL VIEW OF THE MALVÉSI SITEAERIAL VIEW OF THE TRICASTIN SITE

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WITH A 26%MARKET SHAREAREVA IS NUMBER ONE ON THE WORLD CONVERSION MARKET

The nuclear energy cycle

AREVA / COMURHEX (France) 26%

ROSATOM (Russia) 24%

CAMECO (Canada) 22%

CONVERDYN (United States) 15%

USEC (United States) 6%

OTHER 7%

➜ ❘ HISTORY DATES• 1959: Foundation of the Société de Raffinage de l’Uranium (SRU) in Narbonne-Malvési

• 1961: Foundation of the Société des Usines Chimiques de Pierrelatte (SUCP)

• 1971: Merger between these two companies and creation of COMURHEX (Metal Uranium Hexafluoride Conversion Company)

• 1993: COMURHEX becomes a subsidiary of AREVA NC (formerly COGEMA)

• 2001: COMURHEX becomes a subsidiary of the newly-created AREVA group

• 2004: Production of the 300,000th ton of UF6

COMURHEX II, a response to the nuclear renaissance

Nuclear power is part of the solution to today’s energy problems, and is being calledupon to assume an increasingly important role in the energy mix of the future.

Given today’s growing energy demands and supply difficulties, the rising price of fossil fuels and the challenges that climate change presents, nuclear power offers a number of advantages:

• economic competitiveness, • supply availability, facilitating countries’ access to energy independence, • minimal pollution, producing very little CO2

Fuel demands are bound to increase in years to come as throughout the world new power plants are beingbuild and the service life of existing plants extended. The most optimistic scenario developed by the WorldNuclear Association forecasts an increase in installed capacity from 365 gigawatt hours (GWe) in 2005 to upto 520 GWe in 2020, with higher demand for uranium and therefore conversion. To match market needs, the conversion units of the existing industrial operators will have to be renovated or replaced to offer greaterproduction capacity, in line with the economic, regulatory and environmental conditions of tomorrow.

AREVA has chosen to anticipate these changes with its COMURHEX II project.

Thus becoming the first converter to renew its industrial tool, with a production planned at 15,000 tons per year, to be extended to 21,000 tons per year as soon as the market will require so.

By investing more than €610 million in its COMURHEX sites, AREVA intends to remain world leader in uranium conversion.

➜ ❘ A POLE OF EXCELLENCE IN TRICASTIN

With COMURHEX II and the newGeorges Besse II uranium enrichment facility, also on the Tricastin site, AREVA will build a one-of-a-kind center for enrichment and conversion excellence.

€€610 MILLIONTHE INVESTMENT TO BE MADE ON THE NARBONNE AND PIERRELATTE SITES.

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SITE DE MALVÉSIE

A €€240 MILLIONINVESTMENT IN NARBONNE

The new COMURHEX II plants

The COMURHEX II project will see the renewal of our industrial tool using tried-and-tested processes andtechniques as well as technological innovations that will improve the production performance and nuclearsafety of the facilities while making the environmental impact of their activities virtually negligible.

Investment on the Malvési site will include the construction of entirely new units as well as major renovationsof several existing facilities. In line with AREVA’s commitments to sustainable development, the facilities willbe built to meet the latest safety and environment standards.

Nearly €29 millions were invested in safety and environmental protection around the evaporation ponds areain 2006. Adding these recent major developments to the planned investment amounts to a complete rene-wal of the industrial site.

For Malvési, the COMURHEX II project means:

Constructing a new 2500 m2 plant building meeting the latest building standards, and including:

• a drainage and dissolution unit for mining concentrates, designed to improve product containment.

• a thermal unit to remove nitrogen from purified uranium, using an innovative process which eliminates theneed for ammonia at this stage and allows nitric acid to be recycled.

Modifying the purification unit.

Building an installation to treat raffinates from the purification phase, which when connected to a future recovery workshop for already stored effluents, will dispense with the need for evapora-tion ponds.

Building a new installation to treat gases from the hydrofluorination unit.

Refitting the industrial platform, with a high-performance system to manage collected water and a closed cooling-water loop.

Boiler house

Closed cooling loop Industrial building

Hydrofluorination gas treatment unit

Water collection and treatment system

Raffinate treatment plant

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The new COMURHEX II plants

An entirely new plant is to be built on the Tricastin site to the north of the existing COMURHEX plant.

For Pierrelatte, the COMURHEX II project means:

• A new hydrofluoric acid storage unit with improved containment and safety features.

• New installations to produce fluorine by electrolysis, integrating the latest improvements to electrolyzers.

• A new fluorination unit to transform UF4 into UF6, using tried-and-tested technologies as well as severalsystems developed on purpose.

• Improved gas treatment systems designed for a higher efficiency and the reduction of amounts of rea-gents used and waste produced. Specifically, the production of fluorines is expected to be reduced by50% and the consumption of potassium hydroxide by 60%.

• A new liquid release treatment plant generating less waste.

Hydrofluoric acid storage

Services facility

Fluorine production

Uranium hexafluoride (UF6) production

Fluorine production annex

Uranium tetrafluoride (UF4) storage

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A €€370 MILLIONINVESTMENT FOR PIERRELATTE

UF6

UF6

COMURHEX II will feature the latest improvements and innovations from our R&D programs.

A major innovation: thermal denitrationThis process has been developed, perfected and patented by the COMURHEXR&D department. It replaces the current process of ammonia precipitation, with the major advantage of generating no liquid effluents and enabling the collection and recycling of nitric acid.

Innovative processes and tried-and-tested technologies

The environmental priority

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A constant concern in the design of the COMURHEX II project plants has been to make their environmental impact negligible

Saving waterWater intake from the natural surroundings is divided by ten, using a closed-loop system to cool thePierrelatte and Narbonne facilities. This amounts to 1.5 million m3 less water intake per year.

Saving energyThe calories released by the electrolyzers of the future COMURHEX Pierrelatte plant will be used to heat thenew buildings. The old fuel-oil boilers will be gradually phased out and replaced by electric boilers usingnatural gas or even biomass (currently being examined for Malvési).

Reducing greenhouse gases The aim is to reduce direct greenhouse gas emissions through the use of thermal denitration, as well as improvements to the hydrofluorination unit and the replacement of fuel-oil boilers. In Pierrelatte, releases of SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride, one of the six greenhouse gases mentioned in the Kyoto protocol) werepermanently eliminated by switching to fluorine recycling.

Eliminating liquid effluents The raffinate and effluent treatment facility will be connected in the future to a workshop treating already-stored effluents, thus bringing about the end of evaporation ponds. In Pierrelatte, the new effluenttreatment station will greatly reduce reagent consumption (60% less potassium hydroxide consumption) and waste production (50% less fluorine production).

450,000 TONSOF CO2 EQUIVALENT

EXPECTED TO BE ELIMINATED

WITH COMURHEX II EACH YEAR.

1,5 MILLIONSCUBIC METERS OF INTAKE

WATER SAVED PER YEAR.

DISSOLUTION HYDROFLUORINATIONTHERMAL DENITRATION

Raffinate treatment

Purification

Uranium tetrafluoride production

Uranium tetrafluoride (UF

4)

UO3

Recycling nitrous vapors

Emptying drums

Dissolving uranium

UF4

Hydrofluoric acid

FLUORINATION

UF6

Hydrogen (H

2) release

F2

Flame reactor

HF

F2

UF4

Crystallization

Sampling

Plate reactor Treating gas release

Fluorine

Recycled material

containing uranium

UF6

ELECTROLYSIS

Processes used in the Pierrelatte plants Processes used in the Malvési plants

➜ ❘ REVERSE OSMOSIS: A WORLD FIRSTAn innovative process has already been established at Malvési, a filtering system used to greatly reduce nitrate concentrations in water.The process, jointly developed by COMURHEX and Ondeo Industrial Solutions (Suez group), adapts the principle already used to desalinate seawater to the removal of nitrogen from industrial effluents for the first time in the world.Reverse osmosis is a filtering process in which water is forced through a semi-permeable membrane, thereby selectively separating nitrates.

The processes used in the COMURHEX II plants will reduce the consumption hence the and storage of ammonia and nitric acid.

Measures will also be taken to improve containment in the areas where various materials are handled, e.g. loading and unloading of uranium and chemical reagents.

Optimized working conditions Improved employee protection and working conditions were also taken into consideration in the development of the COMURHEX II project, including automated tasks, workstation ergonomics, special high-performance ventilation systems fitted to exposed workstations, and improved conditions for high temperature work.

A special zoning system will also be set up to distinguish production areas from workshop areas, so as to improve the safety of teams moving around the industrial sites and avoid interference during the COMURHEX II construction phase.

Further improvements in nuclear safety Nearly 400 people mobilized on the worksite

➜ ❘ THE NEW COMURHEX II BUILDINGS

The new COMURHEX II buildings havebeen specially designed to withstand themost extreme flooding and earthquakescenarios (exceptionally high water levelsand major earthquakes).

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First industrial production in 2012

The building work in Narbonne and Pierrelatte will be ongoing over several years. The objective is to reachan initial annual uranium production capacity of 15,000 tons by 2012, to be later extended to 21,000 tons as soon as market demands require so.

The first calls for bids for work on the two sites will be launched in summer 2007.

The people involved in the project

The project owner will be the AREVA Chemistry Business Unit. The prime contractor will be the SociétéGénérale des Techniques Nouvelles (SGN), an AREVA subsidiary, which will be in charge of design, engineering and construction work, as well as monitoring work progress on site.

In total, the project team is made up of more than one hundred people. The number of people workingon the building site is expected to grow to around 400.

➜ ❘ KEY DATES

• 2004 to 2007: Design studies (feasibility, basic design, choice of solutions)

• 2007 to late-2008: Preparation of worksite platforms, drafting of specifications, supplier consultation and selection, regulatory process, including a public enquiry

• Early 2009: Start of civil engineering work

• 2012: First industrial production

AROUND

150,000 HOURS OF ENGINEERINGWORK WERE NEEDED TO DESIGN THE COMURHEX II PROJECT

a €610 million investment to meettomorrow’s nuclear power needs

COMURHEX II

With manufacturing facilities in 41 countries and a sales network in more than 100, AREVA offers customers

reliable technological solutions for CO2-free power generation and electricity transmission and distribution.

We are the world leader in nuclear power and the only company to cover all industrial activities in this field.

Our 61,000 employees are committed to continuous improvement on a daily basis, making sustainable

development the focal point of the group’s industrial strategy.

AREVA’s businesses help meet the 21st century’s greatest challenges: making energy available to all,

protecting the planet, and acting responsibly towards future generations.

www.areva.com

VA

LC

OM

.f

r-

Com

mun

icat

ion

AR

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Tric

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- P

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AR

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May

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COMURHEXGilles SalgasPhone (33) 4 75 50 41 27Fax (33) 4 75 50 55 09E-mail: gilles.salgas@areva.com