While the project to extend the STMicroelectronics site in Crolles is the subject of public consultation, the Isère company has just announced the establishment of a pilot water recycling line. An “announcement effect” according to opponents who denounce the “grabbing of resources” by the industrialist. They plan three days of mobilization on April 5, 6 and 7, 2024.
They denounce “the monopolization of resources by digital industries and connected life“. The members of the “Stop Micro 38” collective are planning three days of mobilization, one of which “big demonstration“this Saturday April 6, 2024, from Grenoble to the scientific peninsula,”where are all the laboratories working to create a bunch of applications and gadgets deemed harmful” specifies one of the members of the association, contacted by France 3 Alpes.
If this collective was created almost a year ago, it is with the aim of “to fight against the extension” of the STMicroelectronics site in Crolles. Opponents of the project have been denouncing the “water plunder” carried out by the industrialist, the largest private employer in Isère and specialized in the manufacturing of electronic chips and semiconductors, which has nearly 7,500 employees in the department.
According to the management of the company, present for 50 years in Isère, “this extension project concerns the 300mm diameter wafer production unit“which will involve several technologies including one in particular”which allows optimization of computing power and very low energy consumption“. These technologies will be used in particular for vehicle automation and security, Artificial Intelligence and specialized circuits for wireless communication systems.
This expansion project, which would lead to the creation of 1,000 additional direct jobs in the department as well as 3,000 indirect jobs, provokes the anger of certain opponents while a public consultation takes place until April 19, 2024.
It is in this context that the Isère company made an announcement this Wednesday, April 3: “As part of our project to double production capacity, we aim to double the volumes of recycled water to bring them to 6 million cubic meters per year in the long term, while limiting the need for drinking water.“. And this, thanks to the implementation of an innovation on the Crolles site.
The world leader in semiconductors announces that it has installed “a pilot water recycling line on its Crolles site“, this subject being “primordial” according to the company’s management.
After two years of research and studies, this installation “allows part of the waste water leaving the treatment station on site to be recycled to reuse it in the production circuit in the form of ultrapure water“, and so, “limit the need for external raw water supply“.
This pilot line could ultimately contribute to bringing us closer to our objective of 60% recycled water used in our industrial process.
Éric Gerondeau, Director of the STMicroelectronics Crolles site
via a press release
“Water is an essential resource in the semiconductor manufacturing process, which is itself necessary for all sectors of the economy” specifies the industrialist in a press release, arguing the fact of recycling “water needed for production needs, either by reusing it as is or by treating it for reuse in the semiconductor manufacturing process“.
After two years of research and studies, the industrialist STMicroelectronics announces the establishment of a pilot water recycling line on its Crolles site, in Isère. • © STMicroelectronics.
For the “STop Micro 38” collective, this installation is a “announcement effect“. “This is a response to our mobilization, intended to reassure the general public” says the opponent contacted by France 3 Alpes.
For the moment, there is no proof that it works and it would consume a lot of energy.
R., member of the “STop Micro 38” collective
On his websitethe collective published several studies on the subjectdenouncing a “masquerade” et “ever-increasing water consumption” in a press release published on May 9, 2023, and entitled “Water: there is no recycling at ST Microelectronics!“.
“Ecological reuse of water should be done using energy-saving and nature-friendly means to reprocess contaminated water.” explains the collective, “however, the tons of chemicals which pollute the water are impossible to reprocess by such processes (…) The treatment of incoming water at ST to make it ultrapure is the most energy-intensive part of the company, it is would therefore be the same for decontaminating water.“
Recycling therefore amounts, in the context of this business, to replacing one nuisance with another.
The “STop Micro 38” collective
As part of its management of water resources on the Crolles site, STMicroelectronics claims to have reduced “41% water used per plate produced between 2016 and 2022“and return”85% of water in its natural environment after treatment“, the rest being “in the form of water vapor“.
The “STop Micro 38” association explains that “ultimately, the water released into Isère after passing through the treatment station is said to be of “river quality”, that is to say, complies with the concentration thresholds established by the prefecture.“, but that”after treatment, the water is still loaded with chemicals“.
The management of STMicrolectronics reacts to France 3 Alpes and reminds “that the Crolles site is committed to an environmental protection approach certified according to ISO 14001 standards and validated EMAS (Environmental management and audit system)“,
We strictly control the quality of the water that we return to the natural environment.
The direction of STMicroelectronics
in France 3 Alpes
For its part, the “STop Micro 38” collective, which is planning a big weekend of mobilization, concludes: “If this monopolization, this extractivism and this immense pollution continue, we will soon no longer even have enough to drink, eat and breathe healthily.“.
2024-04-05 21:46:24
#STMicroelectronics #company #banking #innovation #recycle #water #announcement #effect #opponents
