Areva signs contracts at home and away

Tuesday, 19 June 2007 France's full-scope nuclear supplier Areva has signed two contracts for services at home and abroad worth over Eur1.1 billion.

A long-term enrichment supply contract with Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) worth 'over' Eur1 billion ($1.34 billion) has been described as Areva's largest enrichment contract outside France. According to Areva, the contract will enable KHNP to secure its nuclear fuel supply at a competitive price, while reinforcing its position on the world enrichment market and providing orders for the Georges Besse II centrifuge enrichment plant, due to start commercial operation in 2009.

Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon described the deal as a "major success", adding that it demonstrated Areva's role as a "key actor in Asia". KHNP President Kim Jong Shin described the contract as a means for both companies to build a "strategic partnership to be well prepared for the global nuclear renaissance".

KHNP operates 20 nuclear reactors providing some 40% of South Korea's electricity.

Separately, French utility Electricite de France (EdF) has awarded Areva's reactor division, Areva NP, a contract worth over Eur100 million ($134 million) for the third ten-yearly inspections of the boilers of 34 nuclear reactors that started up between 1977 and 1987. This is the first major contract to be awarded as part of the plant inspections, which will take place over ten years from 2009, starting at the Tricastin and Fessenheim plants.

The ten-yearly inspection, which EdF describes as a "major stage in the life cycle of a nuclear power plant", involves a thorough technical analysis of the installation and is when the operator can take the chance to incorporate new technical innovations to improve operating performance and safety. The Areva NP contract covers studies, maintenance and modernisation of the boilers of the 900 MWe reactors.

Further information

Areva 
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power
Electricite de France

WNA's Nuclear power in Koreainformation paper
WNA's Uranium enrichment information paper