Faced with flooding, a leading uranium facility had to urgently treat its water to protect the natural environment

In 2006, the uranium conversion plant Areva Malvési near Narbonne, France was forced to shut down – due to heavy rainfall, water with a high concentration of nitrates had to be treated urgently in order to protect the lagoon, a nature conservation area. To tackle the extreme situation, SUEZ designed an innovative effluent treatment solution. On the back of this partnership, Areva asked SUEZ to modernise its facilities in order to improve on its performance goals and sustainable development policy.
The mission
60,000
m3
of nitrate-laden water urgently treated
5 to 10
g/l
nitrate concentration in the water that needed treating
Our solutions

Responding to the emergency and implementing sustainable solutions

SUEZ immediately opened a crisis centre to mobilise the necessary teams and technology to ensure Areva Malvési’s nitrate-laden water was treated as quickly as possible.nable solutions
The result
100,000
m3
of water can be treated in the new wastewater treatment plant
25
m3/hr
of process water treated
0
SS
at the end of the treatment process, cf. 50 to 150 mg/l at the start
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