Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum receives double-digit million Euro order in the area of uranium enrichment

Global energy company invests in innovative vacuum equipment

Cologne, Germany / Pfäffikon SZ, Switzerland, October 10, 2013 – Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum re-ceived a double-digit million Euro order for vacuum technology from a global manufacturer of uranium centrifuges used in nuclear power stations worldwide. Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum will deliver reliable and proven fore vacuum equipment for 12 different subsystems used at the customer’s new plant in the USA. Oerlikon has optimized the design of the products to meet stringent customer and regulatory specifications. “This order demonstrates once again that we are technology leaders in the mastering of highly complex and demanding vacuum applications,” says Dr. Martin Füllenbach, CEO of Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum.

Uranium centrifuge technology is used for nuclear power generation and in medical and industrial applications. Nuclear reactors require the isotope U-235 in concentrations of 4-5 % to run efficiently. Because the concentration of U-235 isotopes in natural uranium is just 0.7 %, an enrichment process using centrifuges is required. The process consists of some 1 400 stages, each using a diffuser, compressor and a heat exchanger to yield a product with U-235 concentrations of 4-5 %. Vacuum is needed to provide the pull of the gas through the system and thus ensures operation.

“Our expertise does not end with vacuum components. An essential part of this contract is vacuum engineering for process development. Given our expertise and international reach, designing a system to the high American specifications is business as usual,” says Segment CEO Füllenbach. “Our understanding of customer needs, quality standards and regulatory codes make Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum a trusted and reliable partner and the supplier of choice.”

For further information please contact:

About Oerlikon

Oerlikon (SIX: OERL) is a leading high-tech industrial group specializing in machine and plant engineering. The Company is a provider of innovative industrial solutions and cutting-edge technologies for manmade fibers manufacturing, drive systems, vacuum, coating, and advanced nanotechnology. A Swiss company with a tradition going back over 100 years, Oerlikon is a global player with around 13 000 employees at around 160 locations in 34 countries and sales of CHF 2.9 billion in 2012. The Company invested in 2012 CHF 106 million in R&D, with over 1 000 specialists working on future products and services. In most areas, the operative businesses rank either first or second in their respective global markets.

About Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum

Oerlikon Leybold Vacuum offers a broad range of advanced vacuum solutions for use in manufacturing and analytical processes, as well as for research purposes. The Segment’s core capabilities center on the development of application- and customer-specific systems for the creation of vacuums and extraction of processing gases. Fields of application are coating technologies, thin films and data storage, analytical instruments and classic industrial processes.