French nuclear company Orano’s revenue dipped by nearly $100 million over the first half of 2018, while operating income posted a large gain even as net income fell even further into the red.
The Paris-based nuclear fuel cycle specialist, part of what remains of the former AREVA, reported 1.71 billion euros ($1.99 billion) in revenue for the period from Jan. 1 to June 30 of this year. That was down from 1.79 billion euros ($2.08 billion) in the same period of 2017.
Operating income skyrocketed from a 21 million-euro ($24.5 million) loss last year to a gain of 163 million euros ($190 million) in the latest reporting period. However, net income attributable to owners of the parent fell further from a 154 million-euro ($179 million) loss in first-half 2017 to a 205 million-euro ($238 million) loss in the same time frame of 2018. In a press release, Orano attributed the dip to “the deterioration in net financial income, impacted by the financial markets.”
The news was overall good in the company’s back-end nuclear segment, which covers recycling, logistics, dismantling and services, and projects. Revenue rose 4.8 percent in this business, to 862 million euros ($1 billion). While the company’s La Hague and Melox spent fuel recycling plants in France sustained production losses due to “social conflicts and technical problems,” and business was down for Orano’s logistics branch, that was “more than offset by the growth in business with foreign customers in other activities,” the release says.
Management attributed a 27 million-euro ($31.5 million) boost in operating income in the back-end business, from 14 million euros ($16.3 million) to 41 million euros ($47.8 million) on a year-over-year basis, to increased business with foreign clients.
Orano took home several new contracts during the first half of 2018, including dismantling work in the United Kingdom, nuclear waste logistics and storage cask provision in the U.K., and waste packaging and other operations for clients in Japan and Ukraine.
In May, the company’s logistics branch, Orano TN, picked up the contract for final transfer to dry storage of spent fuel at the shuttered Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant in Nebraska. The company also in March announced its partnership with Waste Control Specialists on a planned interim spent fuel storage site in Texas.
“Orano’s first half results reflect the €1 billion in new orders, particularly in Asia, and a dramatic improvement in our net cash flow, despite a still-challenging market. This confirms both the confidence of our customers and the group’s economic recovery, which should be illustrated by the return to positive net cash flow this year,” CEO Philippe Knoche said in the release. “These results make us confident going forward: Orano has the technology and skills to be a major player in the nuclear industry and to help to provide competitive, safe, low-carbon electricity.”
Management said it expects revenue to rebound by 2020, an outlook that does not include proffering to China of a spent fuel treatment and recycling plant. Talks with Beijing over that facility are ongoing.
The company’s release did not provide specifics on earnings from its U.S. operations under Orano USA.
“Orano USA normally represents between 16-18% of global sales, and we’re a positive contributor to Orano’s EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization),” a company spokesman said Thursday by email. “In the U.S. markets, we’re forecasting growth led by our businesses in used fuel management and federal waste clean-up services.”
New AREVA became Orano in January of this year, with 16,000 employees and global operations covering nuclear fuel recycling, logistics, dismantlement, and other nuclear materials development and waste management operations. AREVA’s former nuclear reactor business is now largely owned by French utility EDF.
Kansas Contract
Separately, Orano on Thursday announced that Orano TN had secured a contract to build a dry storage pad for spent nuclear fuel at the Wolf Creek Generating Station in Kansas. The company will then conduct the first transfer of used fuel assemblies from wet storage on to the independent spent fuel storage installation.
That will encompass 296 assemblies in 37 canisters, according to the Orano spokesman. “Additional transfers and the amount of material are based on Wolf Creek’s decisions for its dry storage campaign schedule.”
The initial work is expected to be complete by 2021.
Up to 37 fuel assemblies containing will be placed into each of Orano’s NUHOMS canisters, which will then be placed within NUHOMS MATRIX horizontal modules on the ISFSI.
The single-reactor Wolf Creek plant, which began operations in Burlington in 1985, is owned by three utilities and provides power in Kansas and Missouri.
