South Korean utility is to take a 2.5% stake in the Société d’Enrichissement du Tricastin (SET)
– By Linton Levy –
Anne Lauvergeon, CEO of AREVA, and Kim Jong Shin, CEO of Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. Ltd. (KHNP) have signed an agreement under which the South Korean utility is to take a 2.5% stake in the Société d’Enrichissement du Tricastin (SET) holding which operates the Georges Besse II enrichment plant.
This agreement follows those signed with GDF Suez in June 2008 and with Japanese corporations Kansai and Sojitz in March 2009. It illustrates AREVA’s customers’ interest in this major project and their desire to secure their enriched uranium supplies.
AREVA is delighted to have signed with KHNP, one of the four leading producers of nuclear energy in the world. KHNP operates a fleet of twenty reactors, generating 40% of South Korea’s electricity.
The AREVA group’s new enrichment plant is situated on the Tricastin nuclear site in Southern France. It will use state-of-the art centrifugation technology to produce up to 7.5 million SWUs (separative work units).
On May 18, 2009, François Fillon, French Prime Minister, and Anne Lauvergeon inaugurated, the first centrifuge cascade at the plant, where enriched uranium is set to be produced as of this year.