EdF awards front-end contracts to Areva

Tuesday, 3 February 2009

Areva has been awarded two contracts by Electricité de France (EdF) for the long-term supply of uranium conversion and enrichment services.

 

The Belleville nuclear power plant hosts two of France's 58 power reactors

The €5 billion ($6 billion) long-term uranium enrichment deal is the largest such contract that Areva has ever signed. Enriched uranium supplies under the new contract will be supplied from Areva's Georges Besse II (GB-II) centrifuge plant, currently under construction at the Tricastin site in southern France.
 
Areva and EdF signed their first enrichment services contract in 1975, with supplies of enriched uranium starting in 1979. Areva said that since that first contract, it has helped EdF "meet a significant portion of its needs." The power supplier uses 58 reactors, the largest nuclear fleet of any company.
  

In June 2007, Areva signed a long-term enrichment supply contract with Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power (KHNP) worth 'over' €1 billion ($1.3 billion), which was described at that time as its largest enrichment contract outside France. 
 
The €3 billion ($3.9 billion) two-unit GB-II plant is based on what Areva calls 'ultra centrifuge technology' and will be built and operated by Areva NC subsidiary Societe d'Enrichissement du Tricastin (SET). The first stages of the first unit are expected to begin operating early in 2009 and it will reach full capacity in 2014. Construction of the second unit will begin in 2009 and it will be fully operational in 2016. The GB-II plant, with nominal annual capacity of 7.5 million SWU, will replace Areva's existing Georges Besse enrichment plant at Tricastin, which uses energy-intensive gas diffusion technology.
 
In June 2008, Suez agreed to acquire a 5% equity stake in the GB-II uranium enrichment plant for an undisclosed sum.
 
Conversion contract
 
Last week, Areva announced that EdF has also awarded it a long-term uranium conversion contract "worth several hundred million euros." The contract, due to come into force in 2009, will be fulfilled initially by output from Areva's Comurhex plants. From 2012 onwards, it will be fulfilled by the new Comurhex II conversion facilities, construction of which began in 2008.
 
Uranium concentrates are converted to hexafluoride at the 14,000 tonne per year Comurhex plant at Pierrelatte in the Rhone Valley, which commenced operation in 1959. In May 2007, Areva NC announced plans for a new conversion project - Comurhex II - with facilities at Malvesi and Tricastin to strengthen its global position in the front end of the fuel cycle. The €610 million ($786 million) facility will have a capacity of 15,000 tU per year from 2012, with scope for increase to 21,000 tU annually.