EDF has awarded Areva a EUR 600 million ($800 million) contract to upgrade the monitoring and control safety systems for its twenty 1300MW reactors. The award follows September orders for 44 replacement steam generators from Areva (32) and Westinghouse (16).
The work to upgrade the monitoring and control systems, which include the power and protection control system for the reactor core, is an integral part of EDF’s continuous improvement programme. The systems were first developed by Areva in the 1980s and were the first digital systems to be used in a nuclear power plant (Paluel in 1984).
The monitoring and control systems will be upgraded at the Paluel, Flamanville, Saint-Alban, Cattenom, Belleville, Nogent sur Seine, Golfech and Penly plants. Work will begin in 2015, to coincide with the third 10-yearly reactor inspections.
Areva said that Rolls Royce, based in Grenoble, would supply the majority of the technology.
