Areva To Build Two EPRs In China – Talks Start Over Possible Reprocessing Plant

France’s Areva group is to build two European pressurised water reactor (EPR) units at Taishan in China’s Guangdong province it was announced today.

Areva said the "historic agreement" – signed during French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s state visit to China – amounted to a contract worth around eight billion euro (about 12 billion US dollars) which is "unprecedented in the world nuclear market".

The agreement was signed by Zhimin Qian, chairman of the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corporation (CGNPC) and Areva chief executive officer Anne Lauvergeon.

Areva said that in conjunction with CGNPC it will build the EPRs and "provide all the materials and services required to operate them". A joint venture engineering company will be created soon and CGNPC has also agreed to buy 35 percent of the production of the uranium exploration and mining company UraMin. Areva took control of UraMin earlier this year.

Additionally the president of the China National Nuclear Corporation, Kang Rixin, and Mrs Lauvergeon established a joint venture in the area of zirconium and agreed to start feasibility studies into the possible future construction of a spent fuel reprocessing plant in China.

Following the agreement signing ceremony, attended by President Sarkozy and Chinese president Hu Jintao, Mrs Lauvergeon said: "A new era is opening in the durable and constructive nuclear energy partnership between our two countries.

"This partnership represents a major step in the history of the Areva group.

It is the largest international commercial contract ever won by the French nuclear industry. It reaffirms our global nuclear leadership and reinforces our presence in one of the most promising markets for the decades to come."