Areva has entered into an agreement with AmerenUE to procure a set of 45 critical heavy forgings that could be used in a planned US Evolutionary Power Reactor (US EPR) fleet based on Areva’s 1,600 MW pressurised water reactor design.
Areva, through the UniStar Nuclear business model with Constellation Energy, announced procurement agreements for a set of heavy forgings for a US EPR in August 2006. The first set of forgings has since begun to be poured, and completed forgings have already begun arriving at Areva’s Chalon St. Marcel facility in France before fabrication into finished components.
“Let me stress that this order does not represent a decision to build a new nuclear power plant,” said Chuck Naslund, AmerenUE senior vice president and chief nuclear officer. “We are simply preserving the option to do so. By making this early investment to procure the long-lead-time materials necessary to construct a potential US EPR, we ensure our ability to add additional, low-cost, base-load generation through new nuclear if we later choose to do so to meet the growing demand in our service area.”
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