Areva orders new forging press
20 February 2012
Areva has signed a contract with Czech engineering firm TS Plzen for the supply of a new forging press and manipulator for its Le Creusot manufacturing plant.
Under the contract - worth more than half a billion Czech koruna (over $26 million) - TS Plzen will supply a new 9000-tonne forging press as well as a 200-tonne manipulator for Areva's Le Creusot plant in Burgundy, France. The industrial commissioning of the press and the manipulator is planned for late 2013.
Areva's Creusot Forge and Creusot Mécanique subsidiaries are specialized in the supply of big forgings and castings destined mainly for the nuclear market. Creusot Forge is one of a handful of facilities that can produce the heavy nuclear-grade forgings required for large components such as steam generators. Creusot Mécanique, meanwhile, carries out precision finish machining on large components.
Areva said: "Today's contract represents a strategic investment for Areva to ensure the industrial durability of its Le Creusot manufacturing site, which supplies large forgings and castings mainly to the nuclear market, including those for the EPR project currently under construction in Europe and China."
In 2008, Areva announced the launch of an investment program in Le Creusot to increase its production capacity of forged nuclear components, enabling EPR reactor vessels to be manufactured there.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News