New AREVA Business Unit to Focus On Advanced Nuclear Plants For North America
AREVA's joint subsidiary with Siemens, Framatome ANP, announces the formation of a new organization to focus on the future need for commercial nuclear generation in North America. The New Plants Deployment team, managed by Ray Ganthner, Senior Vice President, will lead the North American deployment of the EPR, an advanced, evolutionary, pressurized water reactor design, and support the global project to develop a Generation IV high temperature gas reactor.
"AREVA never stopped designing and building nuclear power plants around the world and has been a leading supplier in North America for over 30 years through its COGEMA and Framatome ANP subsidiaries," said Tom Christopher, CEO of AREVA Inc. With 7,100 employees in North America, AREVA is the only vertically integrated supplier who can provide uranium enrichment, nuclear fuel, plant services, major plant components, spent fuel solutions and energy delivery systems. AREVA designed and installed 30 percent of the world's current nuclear generation capacity and provides nuclear fuel to 46 percent of the world market.
"Today, AREVA is the only global nuclear supplier currently building a Generation III plant," said Christopher. "Ray Ganthner has the background, expertise and leadership ability to transfer this global momentum to a revitalized North American market. He will lead a team of experienced engineers in our major North American locations in the effort to license and build EPR and Generation IV plants in the U.S."
Ganthner's extensive management background in the U.S. commercial nuclear power industry was preceded by a distinguished U.S. Naval career, where he served as a member of the Nuclear Propulsion Examining Board.
"AREVA has been preparing for a revival of nuclear generation in North Amerca for some time, and we now have the focus, technology and resources in place to play a leading role in nuclear power's bright future," said Ganthner. "The U.S. EPR will be part of a global fleet of standardized plants, designed and built in North America. The licensing and engineering work will be done primarily in our Charlotte, North Carolina, and Lynchburg, Virginia, locations."
AREVA, through its Framatome ANP subsidiary, has begun a dialogue with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to outline its intentions regarding design certification of the EPR and to be sensitive to the agency's resource planning needs. AREVA's intent is to complete the pre-application process so that an application for design certification can be made to the NRC as soon as possible.
Source: AREVA