Areva-Framatome of Richland recently completed construction of a new $20 million facility to recover scrap uranium at its North Richland plant located adjacent to the Tri-Cities Research District (TCRD). Under construction for nearly three years, the 11,000-square-foot, high-bay facility replaces a 35-year-old facility located in one of the company’s buildings along Horn Rapids Road.

The scrap uranium recovery process involves collecting contaminants in its nuclear fuel fabrication operation to create uranium dioxide powder for use in fuel for nuclear power reactors around the world. The Areva-Framatome plant has produced nuclear power reactor fuel for more than 50 years in Richland. The company employs about 575 workers and produces roughly 2,600 fuel assemblies and 96 million fuel pellets for commercial nuclear reactors.