Conversion and fuel manufacturing
We control about 25% of world UF6 conversion capacity.
Port Hope conversion services
Port Hope is the only uranium conversion facility in Canada and the only commercial supplier of UO2 for Canadian-made Candu reactors.
| Location | Ontario, Canada |
| Ownership | 100% |
| End product | UF6, UO2 |
| ISO certification | ISO 14001 certified |
| Licensed capacity | 12.5 million kgU as UF6 per year 2.8 million kgU as UO2 per year |
| Estimated decommissioning cost | $101.7 million (pending regulatory approval) |
Cameco Fuel Manufacturing Inc. (CFM)
CFM produces fuel bundles and reactor components for Candu reactors.
| Location | Ontario, Canada |
| Ownership | 100% |
| End product | Candu fuel bundles and components |
| ISO certification | ISO 9001 certified, ISO 14001 certified |
| Licensed capacity | 1.2 million kgU as UO2 as finished bundles |
| Estimated decommissioning cost | $19.5 million (pending regulatory approval) |
Springfields Fuels Ltd. (SFL)
SFL is the newest conversion facility in the world. We contract almost all of its capacity through a toll-processing agreement to 2016.
| Location | Lancashire, UK |
| Toll-processing agreement | annual conversion of 5 million kgU as UO3 to UF6 |
| Licensed capacity | 6.0 million kgU as UF6 per year |
2011 update
Production
Fuel services produced 14.7 million kgU in 2011, slightly lower than our plan at the beginning of the year and 5% lower than 2010. In the third quarter, we reduced our production due to unfavourable market conditions for UF6 conversion.
Port Hope conversion facility cleanup and modernization (Vision 2010)
We submitted the draft environmental impact statement for review by the regulators in December 2010 and have continued work on the environmental assessment.
Community outreach
We continued to strengthen our community outreach program in Port Hope by:
- holding a series of community forums
- making presentations to municipal council
- reaching out using community newsletters, newspaper advertising, public displays, open houses and a website dedicated to the Port Hope community
Public opinion research shows we have strong local support.
Springfields toll milling agreement
Based on the unfavourable market conditions for UF6 conversion, we have discontinued discussions to extend our toll conversion contract with SFL beyond 2016. We remain fully committed to the current contract. If market conditions improve over the next few years, we would consider resuming our discussions to extend the contract.
Planning for the future
Production
We have lowered our production target for 2012 to between 13 million and 14 million kgU due to the unfavourable market conditions for UF6 conversion.
Port Hope conversion facility cleanup and modernization (Vision 2010)
In 2012, we expect to continue with the environmental assessment process for this project.
Managing our risks
We manage the risks listed here.