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Sarkozy To Forge ‘Strategic Partnership’ Between EDF And Areva |
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Written by NucNet
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Wednesday, 28 July 2010 |
French president Nicolas Sarkozy is to forge “a strategic partnership” between Electricité de France (EDF) and Areva, as part of a broader reorganisation of the French nuclear industry, the Elysée Palace (president’s office) has announced.
The announcement followed a national Nuclear Policy Council meeting yesterday, and the public release of a summary of the landmark Roussely report on the future of the French civil nuclear industry.
The strategic partnership, which is to reinforce “unity” within the French nuclear sector, will cover “all common interest activities between both companies”, according to the statement by the Elysée Palace.
For the export of French nuclear technology, a joint organisation is to be created “based on EDF’s competencies as operator and architect-engineer”.
The agreement will not prevent either company working with other partners in the industry, but follows the Roussely report’s recommendation that “the state must create an industrial structure dedicated to export”.
Mr Roussely, who is a former chief executive officer of EDF and a current vice-president of Crédit Suisse, also said in the report that France should have a complete portfolio or “several families” of reactor products on the international market, citing Areva and Mitsubishi’s 1,100-megawatt Atmea-1 reactor as a potentially competitive product.
However, he warned that “once licensed, the Atmea-1 will only have any real commercial possibilities if the design architecture takes into account the input of operators” and if a nuclear power plant constructed around the reactor was built in a country with nuclear experience.
It was also announced that the design of Areva’s European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) is to be “optimised”, in a review process to be overseen by both EDF and Areva in liaison with France’s nuclear safety authority (Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire; ASN).
Mr Roussely recommended that the construction of the Penly-3 EPR should therefore not begin until experience from EPR construction at Olkiluoto-3 in Finland, Taishan in China and Flamanville-3 in northern France is analysed.
“The complexity of the EPR which results from the design architecture, notably in terms of power capacity, containment system, core catcher and the redundancy of safety systems is certainly a handicap for its construction and therefore its costs,” said Mr Roussely in his report.
“These elements explain in part the difficulties found in Finland (Olkiluoto-3) and at Flamanville.”
It was also announced that up to 15 percent of equity in Areva would be made available before the end of the year in a bid to raise capital for the company.
Speaking in a radio interview today, French minister of the economy, industry and employment Christine Lagarde said that the capital would be “opened up to partners with whom we have been working for a long time”.
“I’m thinking notably of Mitsubishi, a long-term partner of Areva, and investors from Qatar and Kuwait, with whom negotiations are ongoing,” she said.
Ms Lagarde confirmed that EDF would not be refused the right to increase their stake in Areva, which stands at 2.4 percent.
“If EDF wants (a bigger stake) there would be no reason to refuse, but this would have to be done with respect, in line with the values of the business, and in particular the values of Areva. Our two champions must imperatively get along together,” she said.
Summary of the report ‘Future of the French Civil Nuclear Sector’, released 27 July 2010
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