Malvési and Philippe Coste (Tricastin)
Malvési and Philippe Coste (Tricastin) is a conversion facility operated by Orano in France. It has a capacity of 15,000 tU/yr as UF6 as of 2022, about 24% of world conversion capacity.
A two-site operation: Malvési near Narbonne converts ore concentrate to uranium tetrafluoride, which is trucked to the Philippe Coste plant at Tricastin and fluorinated to UF6. Tricastin also hosts Orano's enrichment plant, so conversion and enrichment sit on the same site, the only place in the West where that is true.
| Stage | Conversion |
|---|---|
| Operator | Orano |
| Country | France |
| Capacity | 15,000tU/yr as UF6 |
| Figure applies to | 2022 |
| Status | operating |
| Commissioned | not stated |
| Coordinates | 44.3333, 4.7333 |
This facility is about 24% of world conversion capacity (62,000 tU/yr as UF6, 2022).
Orano also operates:
- Tricastin deconversion (W plant) (deconversion)
- Georges Besse II, Tricastin (enrichment)
- Project IKE, Oak Ridge (enrichment)
- Melox, Marcoule (fabrication)
- Moinkum and Tortkuduk (KATCO) (mining)
- Somaïr (Arlit) (mining)
- La Hague (reprocessing)
Other conversion facilities
| Facility | Capacity | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Port Hope Conversion Facility | 12,500tU/yr as UF6 | operating |
| Siberian Chemical Combine, Seversk | 12,500tU/yr as UF6 | operating |
| Metropolis Works | 7,000tU/yr as UF6 | operating |
| Lanzhou conversion plant | 5,000tU/yr as UF6 | operating |
| Hengyang conversion plant | 3,000tU/yr as UF6 | operating |
| Elektrostal (Elemash) reprocessed uranium conversion | 700tU/yr as UF6 | operating |
| Diwopu (Jiuquan) | 500tU/yr as UF6 | operating |
| Isfahan Uranium Conversion Facility | 200tU/yr as UF6 | uncertain |
| Springfields conversion line | not disclosed | shut down |
At the market indicator. 15,000 tU/yr of nameplate capacity, valued at US$ 65.00 per kgU spot, comes to roughly US$ 975 million a year, or US$ 833 million at the long-term indicator. Treat both as scale, not revenue: most volume moves under contracts signed years earlier at prices neither figure reflects, and nothing here is netted against the cost of producing it. The indicators, and forty years of history behind them, are on fuel market prices.
Sources
- World Nuclear Association, Conversion and Deconversion · retrieved 2026-09-06
How these sources are used, including the corrections applied on top of them and what is deliberately left blank · download the underlying data