Areva SA, France’s state-controlled maker of nuclear plants, may amend the design of the Atmea reactor it’s developing with a Japanese partner to meet demands of Electricite de France SA and boost its export chances.
“It’s crucial to converge with EDF on a 1,000-megawatt product that the market needs,” said Claude Jaouen, deputy head of Areva’s reactors and services unit, at a conference in Paris today sponsored by newspaper Les Echos. “EDF wants an optimized Atmea” that may be less complex to build and have different safety options, he said.
Atmea, a 1,150-megawatt reactor that’s being developed by Paris-based Areva and Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., may also receive some input from a Chinese partner, he said, without elaborating or identifying the company. The reactor, which has yet to be sold, has been shortlisted by Jordan along with a Russian and a Canadian model.
The French government has urged state-controlled EDF and Areva to forge a strategic partnership after the heads of the two companies publicly blamed each other for the loss of a contract in Abu Dhabi in 2009. Henri Proglio, chief executive officer of EDF, the biggest nuclear operator, said in December that the company wants to begin studying the development of a 1,000-megawatt reactor.
The French government will meet on nuclear strategy and the organization of the industry in March, Industry Minister Eric Besson said today.
