Areva wins deal to build two Guangdong nuclear reactors

Euro8b contract hailed as the largest in the industry's history

French state-owned nuclear power giant Areva yesterday sealed the biggest deal in the industry's history with an Euro8 billion (HK$92.53 billion) contract to develop two reactors for China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group Corp.

'A new era is opening in nuclear energy partnerships between our two countries,' said Areva chief executive Anne Lauvergeon, a member of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's delegation to Beijing this week.

Areva and Guangdong Nuclear will build two next generation European pressurised water reactors, EPRs, in Taishan, Guangdong province. The French company will provide the materials and services to operate the reactors.

As part of the deal, Guangdong Nuclear gains access to 35 per cent of the production from Areva's uranium unit, UraMin. The mainland will be the third country after Finland and France to use EPR technology.

Areva and Toshiba's US-based Westinghouse Electric unit have been competing to build as many as 30 nuclear reactors in the mainland since Beijing unveiled long-term plans to increase its reliance on nuclear power from less than 2 per cent now to 4 per cent by 2020.

Westinghouse reportedly secured a US$5.3 billion order in July to build four reactors in the mainland.