en.Wedoany.com Reported - Framatome has inaugurated an additive manufacturing center at its site in Romans-sur-Isère, in the Drôme department of France, which began operations in May. This facility, representing an investment of €25 million (approximately $28.4 million), uses metal 3D printing technology to produce mechanical components to meet the growing demands of customers and industrial partners. With this, Framatome expands its industrial footprint in the region, and the center currently employs around 20 people.

This center is unique among similar facilities in Europe, consolidating Framatome's leading position in additive manufacturing for the nuclear and defense industries. Its services cover nuclear power plants and defense sectors worldwide, producing critical components such as impellers and primary circuit parts. The 6,000-square-meter complex is named after Admiral Bernard-Antoine Morio de L'Isle, who passed away in 2024 and previously served as an advisor to Framatome's former CEO and as a Commander of the French Legion of Honor.

Additive manufacturing shapes parts by layering metal. The Framatome center employs two metal printing processes: Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) and Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF). These processes can produce high-quality metal parts of any geometry in batch production, ranging in weight from a few kilograms to several tons and in size from a few millimeters to five meters in diameter, while significantly reducing costs and lead times. The center also features research and development, industrial process qualification capabilities, and a training platform for Framatome's internal teams and partners, aimed at driving the industrialization of additive manufacturing in the nuclear and defense industry supply chain. The electrification of processes and optimized use of materials and energy also reduce the environmental impact of production.

Framatome CEO Grégoire Poncet stated that this new center is a core part of the company's strategic ambition to develop first-class industrial assets to sustainably support nuclear projects, meeting the needs of customers, partners, and the defense sector in France and globally. Through additive manufacturing, Framatome enhances the autonomy of its industrial capabilities, strengthens competitiveness in strategic areas, secures critical supply chains, while accelerating innovation to improve the performance and safety of nuclear and defense facilities. Jean-Bernard Vial, Senior Executive Vice President of Framatome's Projects and Component Manufacturing Business Unit, noted that this center embodies the company's commitment to using innovative technologies to improve its own performance and that of its customers, enhancing the autonomy and competitiveness of France's strategic sectors. Framatome has made this a core business direction, dedicated to improving supply reliability and driving innovation in nuclear component design.

Some nuclear components 3D-printed by Framatome are already in use at commercial nuclear power plants worldwide. In 2021, Framatome, in collaboration with the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States, installed the world's first 3D-printed stainless steel fuel assembly fasteners at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant (a boiling water reactor). These components secure fuel assemblies and protect them from strong vibrations. In 2022, Framatome installed a 3D-printed stainless steel upper tie plate at Vattenfall's Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden. Beyond installed fuel components, Framatome has also manufactured and tested high-strength mechanical parts and primary circuit components using additive manufacturing, including a main coolant pump impeller produced via Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing, which is a key research focus of the newly inaugurated center. The company has also produced specialized spheres for steam generators (complex components with internal geometries printed using Laser Powder Bed Fusion to optimize fluid dynamics) and primary circuit elbows (multi-ton structural elbows for primary circuit piping developed using advanced hot isostatic pressing and additive manufacturing technologies). The new plant in Romans-sur-Isère plans to transition production of these components to in-house large-scale series production by the end of 2026.

This additive manufacturing center is part of a larger, multi-year strategic investment plan by Framatome to modernize and expand capacity at the Romans-sur-Isère site. Given the acceleration of the EPR 2 industrial plan and Europe's desire to establish an autonomous nuclear supply chain, the plan encompasses three core initiatives. Framatome has established a dedicated TRISO (TRi-structural ISOtropic) fuel pilot line at the site, focusing on enriching fuel to 20% to support next-generation high-temperature reactors and Small Modular Reactors (SMRs), particularly through partnerships with startups like Blue Capsule Technology. Recently, the site also inaugurated a new uranium processing workshop and production complex for its subsidiary CERCA. This modernized facility provides specialized fuel elements for research reactors and targets, which produce 75% of the global supply of technetium-99m used in medical imaging. In line with European initiatives to reduce reliance on Russian fuel imports, Romans-sur-Isère also plays a central role in producing VVER-440 fuel assemblies for Western designs. The plant will execute new supply contracts for energy companies in Central and Eastern Europe, including Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Finland, and Hungary, with deployment scheduled to begin in 2027.