China: Taishan 1 EPR dome installed successfully

10/24/2011

Press release

The dome installation on the reactor building of unit 1 of the EPR nuclear power plant of Taishan in China was realized with success yesterday. This operation, coordinated by the project manager Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company (TNPJVC) - joint venture owned at 70% by CGNPC and at 30% by EDF - was carried out a little more than two years after the first concrete pouring of the reactor building raft.

This success constitutes a major milestone for the construction of the EPR provided by AREVA in China. It is the outcome of large scale work, which lasted more than two years and mobilized more than 2,000 persons to carry out the civil work on the reactor building.

The vast operation to maneuver it into place lasted half a day and mobilized one of the most powerful cranes in the world. After being hoisted 70 meters above ground, the 240-ton steel dome was lowered onto the 44-meter high structure, entirely covering the inner part of the reactor building. The next step will be to seal the dome by welding it around the circumference and covering it with 7,000 tons of concrete.

This operation associated major Chinese civil work and electromechanical contractors, including Huaxing and The 23rd Company, as well as French companies in charge of engineering and equipment manufacturing, such as AREVA and Sofinel, with their Chinese partners. EDF, investor in the construction of the EPR in China, has brought to CGNPC all the necessary technical support and assistance during the construction. About 40 EDF engineers are currently seconded on the Taishan site within TNPJVC.

Speaking after the dome installation, Hervé Machenaud, EDF’s Group Senior Executive in charge of Production and Engineering, said: “the dome installation on the reactor building of unit 1 of the future EPR nuclear power plant is an important symbolic milestone for the construction of the EPR in China. This operation is in line with the cooperation between EDF and the Chinese nuclear sector, as one has seen it with Daya Bay and Ling Ao.”

Claude Jaouen, AREVA’s Senior Executive Vice President in charge of Reactors and Services, declared: “The construction of the EPR reactor in China fully benefits from the experience the partners of the project acquired on the construction sites of the French and Finnish EPR reactors. With the dome now installed, the Taishan project is poised to enter another important stage in its development ".

Contact

AREVA Press Office:
Julien Duperray / Katherine Berezowskyj / Aurélie Grange / Jérôme Rosso
Tel: +33 1 34 96 12 15 - Fax: +33 1 34 96 16 54
email: press@areva.com
AREVA Investors Relations:
Manuel Lachaux
Anne-Sophie Jugean
Tél : +33 1 34 96 11 53
email: manuel.lachaux@areva.com

EDF Contacts

Press:
Alison Marquilly +33 1 40 42 15 76
Analysts and investors :
Carine de Boissezon +33 1 40 42 45 53
David Newhouse (US investors) +33 1 40 42 32 45

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The EDF Group, one of the leaders in the European energy market, is an integrated energy company active in all areas of the business: generation, transmission, distribution, energy supply and trading. The Group is the leading electricity producer in Europe. In France, it has mainly nuclear and hydraulic production facilities where 95% of the electricity output is CO2-free. EDF’s transmission and distribution subsidiaries in France operate 1,285,000 km of low and medium voltage overhead and underground electricity lines and around 100,000 km of high and very high voltage networks. The Group is involved in supplying energy and services to approximately 28 million customers in France. The Group generated consolidated sales of € 65.2 billion in 2010, of which 44.5% was achieved outside of France. EDF is listed on the Paris Stock Exchange and is a member of the CAC 40 index.

AREVA supplies solutions for power generation with less carbon. Its expertise and unwavering insistence on safety, security, transparency and ethics are setting the standard, and its responsible development is anchored in a process of continuous improvement. Ranked first in the global nuclear power industry, AREVA’s unique integrated offering to utilities covers every stage of the fuel cycle, nuclear reactor design and construction, and related services. The group is also expanding in renewable energies – wind, solar, bioenergies, hydrogen and storage – to be one of the top three in this sector worldwide in 2012. With these two major offers, AREVA’s 48,000 employees are helping to supply ever safer, cleaner and more economical energy to the greatest number of people.