China: AREVA delivers the heavy components for the first EPR™ reactor of the Taishan nuclear power plant

AREVA announces the arrival in China, at the beginning of April, of the first two steam generators and the pressurizer for Unit 1 on the site of the Taishan EPR™ power plant. This delivery of heavy components for the primary reactor coolant system marks an important step forward in the construction of the first EPR™ reactor in China.

After leaving the port of the AREVA Chalon-St Marcel plant, these heavy components were first transported to Fos-sur-Mer in the South of France, before being shipped onwards by sea to the Taishan site where they are being kept in storage awaiting installation. The two remaining generators and the reactor pressure vessel internals are currently being transported to the site where they are expected to arrive in the coming weeks.

Completed in record time, the manufacturing of the steam generators has benefited from the experience gained by the AREVA Chalon-St Marcel plant in the supply of heavy components for EPR™ construction projects. The manufacturing time for these generators, which are 25 meters long and weigh 550 tonnes each, has been reduced by nearly 40 % compared to those manufactured previously for other EPR™ reactors.

"The optimized manufacturing and delivery in accordance with the customer's desired schedule of the heavy components for the Taishan 1 nuclear steam supply system [NSSS] demonstrates AREVA's capacity to mass produce equipment for the third generation of EPR™ reactors" declared Claude Jaouen, Senior Executive Vice President for AREVA’s Reactors & Services activities.