AREVA TA to provide nuclear propulsion for the new Barracuda submarines

Today, the DGA (French general delegation for armaments) awarded the Barracuda contract to the program consortium DCN / AREVA TA. The contract relates to the purchase of six new generation nuclear defense submarines and keeping them in working order during the first years of service.

To produce the energy needed for propulsion, AREVA TA, lead contractor for nuclear boilers for naval propulsion, has designed a nuclear reactor specially adapted to that already found in SNLE-NG submarines and the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier. The new boiler will offer greater autonomy with regard to operation and maintenance. AREVA TA will be able to draw on operating feedback from the RES test reactor, currently being built at Cadarache.

Commissioning of the first nuclear boiler is scheduled for 2014.

The contract won by AREVA TA represents around 15% of the total value of the program which is estimated at 8 billion euro over a twenty-year period.