Areva awarded Chinese pump order

17 April 2009

Areva will supply a total of 18 reactor coolant pumps for the Yangjiang and Ningde nuclear power plants under construction in China.

 

A reactor coolant pump on the production line at Areva's Jeumont plant in France (Image: Areva)

The company, through its Areva Dongfang subsidiary, has signed two contracts worth more than €150 million ($195 million) with Chinese utility China Nuclear Power Engineering Co (CNPEC) for the supply of the pumps.
 
The coolant pumps will be used in the second-generation 1000 MWe plants under construction in Yangjiang, Guangdong province, and Ningde, Fujian province.
 
Yangjiang will be the second nuclear power base of the China Guangdong Nuclear Power Corp (CGNPC). Development of all six units of the plant was approved in 2004, with CPR-1000 later confirmed as technology for it. Construction of the first of two units started in December 2008, for commercial operation in 2013. The second pair of units will follow closely, then the final two, with the last being built by 2017.
 
Construction of the 6-unit Ningde nuclear power plant commenced in 2008. Phase 1 comprises four CPR-1000 units. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) approved the project in September 2006, and local content will be over 70%. Construction of the first unit started in February 2008, and CGNPC expects commercial operation of it after 58 months, in 2012, with the others following to 2015. First concrete for the second unit was in November 2008.
 
Areva Dongfang will begin production of the pumps for these plants in 2009. They will be delivered in batches between 2011 and 2013.
 
Areva said that, to see through these projects, Areva Dongfang would make major investments to increase the production capacity of its plant in Deyang, in the central Chinese province of Sichuan.
 
Guillaume Dureau, executive vice president of Areva’s equipment business unit, said: "These two contracts follow on from a similar order signed with CNPEC in 2008 and bear witness to the sound, longstanding relationship we have with our Chinese partner."
 
In September 2007, Areva Dongfang received a letter of intent to supply 18 reactor coolant pumps to CNPEC. Areva said that the initial part of the contract is worth over $140 million. Manufacturing of these pumps was scheduled to start in 2008, with delivery between 2010 to 2012. The pumps will be installed at second-generation 1000 MW plants in Fujian and Liaoning provinces.
 
Areva Dongfang is a joint venture created in August 2005 between Areva of France and Chinese power equipment manufacturer Dongfang Electric Corp (DEC).
 

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