Finland: AREVA Supplier Day further consolidates company’s new build supply chain in Europe

Pursuing its pluri-regional localization strategy, AREVA held a Supplier Day in Pori, Finland, which included an Olkiluoto 3 technical site tour. The two-day event built on the success of previous Supplier Days conducted in Finland, U.S., the UK, Czech Republic and Poland in support of ongoing and potential EPR™ projects worldwide.

Gathering more than 100 attendants from 60 companies, this Supplier Day event marks a further step in AREVA’s collaboration with the Finnish industry, and demonstrates the group’s strong commitment to continuously develop and reinforce its European and international supply chain to ensure competitive, on-time and onbudget delivery of new-build projects worldwide.

“Our pluri-regional localization strategy is part of our culture,” said Virginie Moucquot-Laiho, Public Relations Manager for AREVA Finland. “Leveraging local skills from multiple locations, AREVA bolsters local economies by creating jobs, increasing industrialization and bringing access to global opportunities wherever we build as up to 70% of our new-build projects are open to local procurement.”

At the Olikiluoto 3 (OL3) EPR™ project, more than 100 Finnish suppliers have been involved, with no less than 40 in the safety-related scope. The Rauma region has thus extensively benefitted from the OL3 project, generating thousands of jobs and tens of millions euros in fiscal revenues.

Having restarted the nuclear supply chain in Europe with more than 600 qualified companies, AREVA does not seek just suppliers, but long-lasting partners to be mobilized for ongoing and future EPR™ projects, as well as other Group projects worldwide. ”We are bringing bankable prospects to local industries,” said Rüdiger Leverenz, AREVA’s New Build Projects Vice President. ”As proof of our commitment, in 2012 alone we signed numerous partnerships with local companies both in the UK and in Czech Republic and placed significant orders with major industrial players such as TS Plzen and Rolls-Royce”.

Through its “Certified Suppliers” quality program, AREVA works with local companies prior to project contract awards to ensure requirements, standards and local regulations are well understood. Training programs at AREVA University have, for instance, been implemented to help suppliers achieve the highest level of nucleargrade quality and regulatory compliance.

In January, AREVA submitted commercial and technical bids to Finnish utility Fennovoima for the construction of an EPR™ plant at Pyhäjoki, in North Ostrobothnia, Finland. Fennovoima selected the AREVA EPR™ design in 2008 as

one of two designs from potential supplier candidates for their project. Plant supplier selection is expected at the beginning of 2013. AREVA is also participating in TVO’s bidding process for the construction of their 4th nuclear power plant in Olkiluoto, in the Satakunta region.

Having four EPR™ projects under construction worldwide, including one already in Finland, Finnish utilities are already benefiting from AREVA’s unequalled return on experience in licensing, local regulations and standards, and local/regional supply chain, comprising a strong competitive positioning for the Group’s new build proposals.