AREVA produces the first fuel assemblies for the Chinese EPR™ reactors

Regulatory News:

AREVA (Paris:AREVA) has just completed the first production campaign at its Romans plant in France of the fuel assemblies destined for the Taishan 1 EPR™ reactor.

These assemblies have been specially designed for this third-generation reactor and, as they represent an important technological advancement, will enable a significant increase in reactor performance in terms of safety and competitiveness.

An EPR™ reactor core consists of 241 fuel assemblies. The production of the first Taishan EPR™ core will take place in three campaigns and will be delivered to our customer TNPJVC in 2014.

From an industrial perspective, the manufacturing of a new type of fuel presents additional challenges which the teams at the Romans plant were able to meet by utilizing their specialized know-how in terms of engineering and production.

Luc Oursel, CEO of AREVA, stated: "We can all be proud to have achieved this milestone. I would like to congratulate all the AREVA employees who have worked on this project, from assembly design to component supply, and production of the final assemblies.”

With the installation of the reactor vessel and the introduction of the four steam generators and pressurizer into the reactor building at the end of 2012, the work on the Taishan 1 EPR™ reactor is progressing rapidly.

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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 its operations to renewable energies – wind, solar, bioenergies, hydrogen and storage – to be one of the leaders in this sector worldwide.

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