AREVA Wins Three German Nuclear Contracts

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Written by Martin Lynch, European News Editor for Industrial Info (Galway, Ireland)--Struggling engineering firm AREVA S.A. (EPA:CEI) (Paris, France) has clinched an outage services and maintenance contract at three nuclear power plants in Germany.

The company has been contracted by Germany's largest utility, E.ON (XETRA:EOAN) (Düsseldorf, Germany), to service the Isar 2, Brokdorf and Grohnde nuclear power plants.

The Isar 2 NPP, located in Essenbach, Bavaria, has a net output of 1,400 megawatts (MW), while Brokdorf and Grohnde, located in Schleswig-Holstein and Lower Saxony, have generating capacities of 1,410 MW and 1,430 MW, respectively. The contract will run for several years and will cover maintenance and in-service inspections of the primary circuit components; opening and closing of the reactor pressure vessel; and refueling activities.

"Thanks to this new contract, AREVA reinforces its position as a key partner for service activities for all German utilities," said Michael Cerruti, the sales executive vice-president of AREVA's Reactors and Services Business Group. "We are proud to contribute to the safe operation of nuclear power plants. This agreement reinforces a long-lasting cooperation with E.ON."

The deal is an important one for struggling AREVA, which has turned in massive losses in recent years and in May announced that 6,000 jobs would have to go. Crippling delays with its European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) nuclear projects at Olkiluoto in Finland and Flamanville in France have cost the company billions of euros in overruns.

A rescue plan for the company, which is majority-owned by the French state, was proposed by fellow French state-owned company Electricite de France (EPA:EDF) (EDF) (Paris) earlier this year. In August, Industrial Info reported that EDF would purchase a controlling stake in the nuclear reactor business of AREVA for 2.7 billion euro ($2.96 billion). For additional information, see August 4, 2015, article - EDF to Take AREVA's Nuclear Business in $2.96 Billion Deal.

EDF, which owns and operates all of France's 58 nuclear reactors, will control 75% of the AREVA NP reactor business, which is responsible for equipment and fuel manufacturing, as well as the servicing of reactors.

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