Luc Delcourt, Somanu, a subsidiary of Areva

Maria Carolina arrived at the Ecole des Mines in Nantes in 2003 to complete a program she had begun at the Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá. She decided to carry out her industrial project at Somanu, an Areva subsidiary in charge of maintenance.

“The nuclear group had decided to get ISO 14001 certification for all its sites with significant environmental issues,” she explains. “My mission was to prepare for the certification process for the Somanu site in Maubeuge, where I was working with another former student of the Ecole des Mines in Nantes. I had a basic knowledge of environmental systems management. But nuclear sites have really specific issues…”

At a site that receives and processes components that present traces of radioactivity in special rooms in order to prolong their life, the conditions are quite particular. But Maria Carolina rose to the challenge, says her industrial mentor, Luc Delcourt, who now works in China.

She did a perfect job,” he recalls. “The quality of her work was excellent, combining thoroughness and speed. She is an extremely efficient young woman.”

She obviously did a great job, because as soon as she graduated, she was hired by the parent company Areva to work in Finland.

“I deal with certification here too, but this time in the area of reactor construction,” she says. The site has been ISO 14001 certified since December 2005, but we have to adapt to changes in activity. The regulations are obviously very strict. We have to write up all the procedures, stay in contact with the clients and supervise suppliers. It’s not boring at all!”