Germany’s E.ON signed a letter of intent today with France’s Areva group to cooperate on building new nuclear power plants and the further development of nuclear power.

E.ON said both companies are hoping to cooperate on building any future E.ON nuclear plants in the UK. E.ON has chosen Areva’s 1,600-megawatt European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) design for those potential units.

Both companies have also agreed to collaborate on developing Areva’s third generation boiling water reactor (BWR), known as the SWR, with an electric generating capacity in the range of 1,200 MW. E.ON said it aims to use this model "above all" for its new power stations with an electricity-generating capacity in the intermediate capacity range.

The companies also intend to launch a partnership for the service and maintenance of E.ON’s existing and new reactors, and to collaborate on research and development.

In June 2007, E.ON joined several European utilities in writing letters of support for the EPR to be a potential design for new build nuclear in the UK.

The EPR is among the designs that have passed initial tests as part of the UK’s generic design assessment (GDA).

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Write comment

You must be logged in to post a comment. Please register if you do not have an account yet.