nuclear-news

European Union’s anti-trust regulator is expected to approve France’s EDF takeover of the troubled AREVA nuclear company

FT 28th May 2017  Brussels is expected to approve the takeover by French state-controlled utility EDF of the reactor business of Areva this week, clearing the path for a state-backed rescue deal that will reshape France’s nuclear industry.

Brussels antitrust watchdog is likely to sign off the deal on Monday, according to two people familiar with the situation, a green light that is needed before the French state can carry out the wider restructuring of Areva. Once Areva’s reactor business is acquired by EDF, what is left of Areva, mostly a uranium mining and nuclear fuel business, will then need only a sign-off of its new reactor in Flamanville in France to unlock a €5bn state-backed capital increase scheduled for later this
year.

EDF has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Areva NP, which designs, manufactures and services nuclear reactors, in a deal valuing the business at about €2.5bn. The deal will unite two of the companies responsible for building the UK’s Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, the country’s first new atomic power station for a generation, in a move executives say should help to avoid the kind of costly delays that have beset similar projects.

Nuclear power producer TVO, which owns the Finnish project, is concerned that after the EDF takeover, Areva might neglect Olkiluoto in favour of the EDF-led projects in Flamanville and Hinkley Point. The Finnish company is also facing the awkward balancing act of co-operating with Areva to finish the project while simultaneously pursuing the French company and its former partner, Siemens, for billions of euros in compensation for the delays.
https://www.ft.com/content/d44b6476-4068-11e7-9d56-25f963e998b2

May 31, 2017 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | EUROPE, politics international