AREVA celebrates the success of the french nuclear industry on the export market

Nicole Bricq, the French Foreign Trade Minister, accompanied by Luc Oursel, Chief Executive Officer of AREVA, paid a visit today to AREVA’s Chalon/Saint-Marcel site in Burgundy.  The Minister wished to mark her support, and that of the French government as a whole, for the French nuclear sector’s export business.

AREVA’s Chalon/Saint-Marcel site is a prime example of the dynamism of the French nuclear sector’s export business, producing heavy components for the group’s new-build and in-service power plants in France and overseas.  Since the 1970s, the site has delivered over 300 steam generators that equip 106 reactors in 11 countries. Over 40% of the site’s turnover is export driven, in particular with the manufacturing of components for the EPR^TM reactors in China and Finland and with replacement contracts for Sweden, the USA and Belgium.

During her tour of the facility, the Minister was able to see for herself the two steam generators that AREVA is set to deliver two months ahead of schedule to US customer Xcel Energy, for their Prairie Island power plant, in Minnesota.

As he concluded his visit, Luc Oursel said: “Delivering the steam generators for Prairie Island two months ahead of schedule is a powerful symbol; in 1999 this same plant received the first components exported to the USA from the Saint-Marcel site. I am honored to be able to share this industrial and commercial success with our Foreign Trade Minister.”