Alstom clinches EdF turbine-generator deals
Alstom has signed multiple deals for the supply and maintenance of key turbine and generator components for Electricité de France's (EdF's) 900 and 1300 MWe reactor series.
The contracts, which Alstom said were worth €340 million ($445 million), were signed over a period of several months starting in September and concluding early this month. They include the supply of stators for 900 MWe and 1300 MWe generators, rotors for 900 MW generators, and lines of steam turbine rotors for 900 MWe unit. They follow on from a framework agreement signed between the two companies in 2008 under which Alstom is to renovate the generators at French nuclear plants – worth a reported €140 million ($183 million).
The relationship between EdF and Alstom goes back to the 1970s - Alstom has designed and manufactured the conventional island for all of the operating French reactors, and is supplying a 1650 MWe Arabelle turbine for the Areva EPR project at Flamanville 3. The companies also frequently work together on maintenance and upgrade projects.
According to its website, Alstom has supplied some 30% of the turbine-generator sets of the existing global nuclear fleet.
French fleet management
By law, each French nuclear reactor must undergo a major outage and inspection every ten years, the results of which determine whether the reactor can continue in operation. This is accompanied by heavy investment in to refurbishment work at the plant, often resulting in a power uprate.
It was announced this month that Tricastan 1 was the first to successfully undergo this process at the 30-year mark, when it shut down for four months starting May last year.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News
