First US EPR forging arrives at Areva

04 July 2007

Areva announced that the first quality-approved forging for the steam generator tube sheet for its US Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) arrived at its fabrication plant in Chalon-St Marcel, France. The forging, which will be used to manufacture one of the four steam generators for the first US EPR, was produced in Japan. Three additional shipments are en route to Chalon-St Marcel. "Early progress on heavy forgings is an important step in keeping the first US EPR on schedule," said Tom Christopher, CEO of Areva NP Inc. In August 2006, Constellation Energy and Areva announced that, through their jointly developed UniStar business model, they had entered into agreements to procure the long lead materials necessary to construct the first potential nuclear power plant of a planned US EPR fleet. This procurement included 44 heavy forgings for a planned US EPR, which had not yet been ordered. In August 2006, General Electric (GE) made reservations with Japanese forging companies to secure heavy forgings for possible new US plants, and in advance of its expected submission of a license application this year to build a boiling water reactor (BWR) at North Anna, Dominion signed contracts with GE to purchase certain heavy forgings.

Further information

Areva

WNA's US Nuclear Power Industry information paper

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