Orano and a number of Japanese companies have signed contracts to return all waste from the reprocessing of used nuclear fuel still stored at the Orano La Hague plant in northern France.

The French nuclear fuel cycle company said that from 1981 to 1999, contracts for the reprocessing of used fuel were signed with 10 Japanese utilities.

The contracts resulted in the recycling of fuel elements from Japan nuclear reactors and in the conditioning of the residual waste.