Atmea begins reactor development

10 December 2007

Atmea - the 50-50 joint venture between Areva of France and Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) - has officially started, the two companies announced on 7 December. The joint venture will be responsible for the design, licensing, certification, marketing, sale, construction and commissioning of a single type of 'nuclear island' to be installed in nuclear power plants - the reactor, coolant system and the steam generation units. The nuclear island to be produced by the Atmea joint venture will include a 1100 MWe pressurized water reactor, which will combine technologies of both companies. The reactor would be marketed at emerging countries wishing to begin nuclear power programs, as well as established markets such as the USA and Europe. Atmea anticipates having the Atmea 1 design ready for licensing application by the end of 2009. Stefan vom Scheidt, Atmea's CEO, said, "With Atmea 1, we aim at taking a leading position in the worldwide mid-size reactor market thus, meeting the challenge of the nuclear renaissance." The companies signed a memorandum of understanding to form a joint venture on 19 October 2006 in Tokyo. Since then, they have been working together to define the conceptual basis for it. The European Commission announced on 30 October that it had cleared the creation of the joint venture.

Further information

Areva
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

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