nuclear-news

France pins its nuclear hopes on exporting reactors

Rescued Areva faces uncertain future as nuclear fuel group By Geert De Clercq (Reuters) 5 June 15 – France‘s Areva faces an uncertain future as a specialised nuclear fuel supplier, as a state rescue moves its core nuclear reactor activities to its utility customer EDF. Shares in the state-owned firm briefly rose almost 6 percent on Thursday after the government said late on Wednesday it would recapitalise Areva and approved EDF’s plan to take over Areva’s reactor unit.

The government plan unwinds Areva’s much-vaunted model of an integrated nuclear group that mines and enriches uranium, produces nuclear fuel, builds reactors and recycles spent fuel. Created fifteen years ago from the nuclear fuel group Cogema and reactor builder Framatome, Areva had ambitions to sell as many as 16 of its massive EPR reactors to energy-hungry developing countries.

But it has not sold a reactor since 2007 and the four it did sell have been plagued by delays and cost overruns. More than two decades after it was designed, not a single EPR is in operation today.

Still, the French government said it hopes an EDF-led nuclear industry could win the export contracts that have proved so elusive for Areva.”The French camp must work together abroad,” Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron told France Info radio on Thursday.

In light of French President Francois Hollande’s pledge to reduce French power generation’s reliance on the atom to 50 percent by 2025 from 75 percent, and with EDF banking on extending the life of its 58 reactors by at least 10 years, Areva has no market at home.

The only way for France to keep its nuclear industry alive – and the more than 200,000 jobs it provides – is to export. Hence the government support EDF enjoys for its project to build EPRs at Hinkley Point in Britain.

Keeping its nuclear industry alive is also crucial if France wants to be able to replace its first ageing reactors in a decade or so……

the EPR, designed with Germany‘s Siemens, turned out to be too big, too complex and too expensive for the emerging markets where the growth in nuclear is, as most developed nations now focus their energy investments on renewables.

Already weakened by a massive loss on an African uranium mining investment gone awry and billion-dollar writedowns on its fixed-price Finnish reactor, Areva did not have the financial reserves to outlast the order drought caused by the 2011 Fukushima disaster.

Four years of losses have eaten up the last of its equity capital and left Areva virtually bankrupt, protected only by its state shareholder, which owns 87 percent……

The government has given EDF and Areva a month to sort out crucial details……Additional reporting by Benjamin Mallet and Matthieu Protard, editing by William Hardy) http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/06/04/areva-edf-idUKL5N0YQ13720150604

June 6, 2015 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, France, politics