FUEL & FUEL CYCLE | LOW CARBON ENRICHMENT
Above: Urenco is engaging with its supply chain in a bid to address Scope 3 emissions from its uranium enrichment operations
However, Pye fully recognises that such projects are
not going to be able to fully meet Urenco’s 2030 targets: “We see them as very ambitious. They’re a 90% reduction in our Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030 and fully aligned with our long-term aspirations of being a net zero organisation and bringing that forward as much as we can and as fast as we can. To complement the Scope 2 actions, we’re fully investigating the grid availability of low-carbon contracts for all of our operating sites and, again, different feasibility levels for each of those countries to make sure that we have something that’s robust, but also making sure that we actually have decarbonised electricity that’s credible.” Even so, meeting even 5% of total demand from solar
represents a substantial carbon saving. Pye explains: “Because we’re a high electricity user when we look at it from our overall percentages it looks like low-single figures but when you extrapolate that out it makes a big difference. We’re really keen to make sure that, where we can, we utilise self-generation to reduce the demand that we have on the grid, because we recognise that that then frees up more low-carbon electricity,” he says.
Urenco is also looking at more self-supply options such
as SMRs. As Pye explains: “Nothing’s off the table at the moment. The important thing is we’re looking at all feasible options that we could utilise as an organisation and SMRs are something that we definitely are very interested in.” Urenco recognises there’s no single solution to deliver on its net zero aspirations and embracing conventional renewables as well as nuclear capacity feeding into a low-carbon electricity mix. “A balanced grid system has to have contributions from renewable wind and solar, but also nuclear with that stable base load. That’s going to help us get there as well, working together in tandem,” observes Pye.
Beyond self-supply from whatever sources are available and feasible, Urenco is also looking at contracting low- carbon energy supplies looking to cover all of electricity consumption from low-carbon sources. “We’ve got a 90% target to reduce our Scope 1 & 2
emissions by 2030. However, to get there, we need to decarbonize all of our Scope 2 electricity supply and have complete coverage with low-carbon contracts
Right: Urenco’s Capenhurst site in the UK already has a low-carbon energy supply contract backed with nuclear power
20 | March 2024 |
www.neimagazine.com
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