Rio Tinto is commercializing this technology in Namibia and Australia, the French nuclear power company Areva in Niger (two mines) and Namibia, and several other companies are studying its feasibility.
It is the site of a uranium mining project involving French company Areva and SOPaMin (Société du Patrimoine des Mines du Niger on behalf of the government of Niger).
The matter has been a subject of serious debate and discussions between the Environmental Activists and the AREVA (the owner of the mining operations).
Prior to this, Areva also gained a concession in nearby Imouraren, which is hoped to double or triple their production in Niger.
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Areva NC's Niger operations consist of three concessions near the town of Arlit, runs as joint ventures with (minority) stakeholders from the Nigerian government and smaller foreign investors.
Areva Solar is conducting a 44-MW solar thermal addition with CS Energy to the existing 750-MW Kogan Creek Power Station in Queensland, Australia.
The deal struck in 2007 was part of a policy shift by then Nigerien president Mamadou Tandja to break the four decade de facto monopoly held by Areva, a French state owned nuclear company, by bringing in Sino-U as a competitor.
Eurodif, which means European Gaseous Diffusion Uranium Enrichment Consortium, is a subsidiary of the French company AREVA, which operates a uranium enrichment plant established at the Tricastin Nuclear Power Center in Pierrelatte in Drôme.
The European Commission has handed out a massive €750 million in fines to Siemens, Alstrom, Areva, Schneider and Japanese firms Fuji, Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric, Toshiba and Japan AE Systems.
The Tricastin Nuclear Power Plant is a collection of sites run by Areva and EDF located in 4 different communes Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux and Pierrelatte in Drôme, Bollène and Lapalud in Vaucluse, and four departments (Drome (26), Vaucluse (84), Gard (30) and Ardeche (07)) on right bank of the Channel of Donzère-Mondragon (diversion canal of the Rhône River) between Valence (70 km upstream) and Avignon (65 km downstream).
Some of the main competitors to General Atomics in the supply of research reactors are Areva of Europe and INVAP of Argentina.