We’re really glad to see that Bloomberg is taking notice of the EPR reactor’s popularity in Europe – and the unique position of AREVA in the emerging global nuclear power renaissance, as the only nuclear power company in the world who works at all levels of the supply chain, from uranium mining to spent fuel recycling:
“Areva has a leg up on the competition,” said Ben Elias, a New York-based analyst with Sterne Agee & Leach Inc. “They will help utilities run their nuclear plants,” as the French company also supplies uranium and disposes of nuclear waste. “That’s important for Chinese and Indian clients.”
As the article points out, one of AREVA’s other advantages is the number of skilled people we’ve got in our workforce.
The French company has a larger workforce than Westinghouse, which may give it an advantage because of the skills shortage in the industry, said Colette Lewiner, the global leader of energy and utilities at management consultants Capgemini in Paris. She estimates that global spending on building new reactors could reach as much as $1.05 trillion by 2030.
Areva’s nuclear unit boosted its workforce by 33 percent in the five years through 2008 to 44,623, according to Christian Hillrichs, a vice president at the division.
(By the way, we’re also still looking for more good people.)
But what Bloomberg seems to have missed is that the EPR is gaining traction in the US as well. The new Southern Ohio Clean Energy Park in Piketon, Ohio is planning will focus attention on the AREVA EPR. And the joint venture between AREVA and Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding, AREVA Newport News LLC, which will break ground this July for a $360 million manufacturing facility to produce heavy component for nuclear power plants. In fact, there are seven U.S. EPR™ reactors under consideration in the United States.
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