Back end segment revenue at Orano, Paris, France, was up in 2021, due in part to an agreement signed last summer between the company and the German government allowing Berlin to retake possession of its intermediate-level nuclear waste, according to financial documents published this week.
Revenue for the back end business line, which includes used fuel recycling, nuclear logistics and decommissioning services, was around $3.1 billion, up 38% year-over-year from roughly $1.9 billion, according to a financial report published by Orano Friday. Operating income for the back end was around $389 million, up from a nearly $235 million loss in the 2020 fiscal year, which the company blamed partially on effects from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a press release Friday Orano credited the back end segment’s performance to the contracts the company signed with the German government in August for the return of the country’s intermediate-level nuclear waste (ILW), which had been processed at Orano’s La Hague plant in northern France. The company has said that it plans to return all of Berlin’s ILW by 2024.
Although its contract with Germany was a major boon, Orano said its back end sales were hampered in 2021 by “difficulties” at its Melox waste recycling plant in southern France that led to production losses and delays on waste processing contracts.
However, earnings for the back end were “in line with the group’s expectations,” Orano said.
Meanwhile, Orano’s income in 2021 was back in the black following losses in the prior year. Total net income for the company was roughly $820 million, up from a roughly $24 million loss year-over-year. Revenue was about $5.3 billion, up 22% from around $4.1 billion in 2020.
“2021 will remain for Orano a year of contrast marked by exceptional export contracts and operational difficulties in the Back End sector,” Orano CEO Phillipe Knoche said in a statement Friday. “Orano’s ambition is more than ever to be a major player in the nuclear industry and thus contribute to a neutral-carbon world.”
In the U.S., the Orano-Waste Control Specialists joint venture Interim Storage Partners (ISP) is planning to build an interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in west Texas. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed the project back in September but it has yet to break ground.
