PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:
AREVA NP (Paris:AREVA) recently signed three fuel contracts totaling $560 million. The company will supply its ATRIUM™ 11 advanced boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel and GAIA and HTP™ pressurized water reactor (PWR) fuel designs to four different nuclear energy facilities beginning in 2020. These contracts provide utilities with a secure future fuel supply, which helps ensure the continued generation of reliable, efficient electricity to their customers.
“We are proud to work together with utilities to provide continuously improving fuel technologies that ensure reliability and efficiency, as well as cost certainty for the future,” said Robert Freeman, vice president, Commercial and Customer Center, North America for the Fuel Business Unit of AREVA NP. “AREVA NP has more than 50 years of experience designing fuel for nuclear reactors around the world. Our latest fuel assembly designs, ATRIUM™ 11 and GAIA, demonstrate our commitment to continued innovation and operational excellence.”
ATRIUM™ 11, AREVA NP’s most advanced BWR fuel, provides cost benefits and greater operational flexibility through its enhanced uranium efficiency while meeting the demands of high energy fuel cycles. The design features an 11x11 fuel rod array, which is particularly valuable for plants that have implemented power uprates or optimized capacity factor operating strategies. ATRIUM™ 11 fuel is already operating in five reactors worldwide.
AREVA NP’s GAIA PWR fuel provides greater thermal performance and improved mechanical behavior, and features the industry’s leading cladding material – M5. This next-generation fuel design is the result of a global research and development project to meet the demands of utilities for increased safety, reliability and robustness. Currently, GAIA is operating in two reactors worldwide.
Another nuclear facility will employ a modified version of AREVA NP’s HTP™ fuel assembly design to facilitate that plant’s transition to longer fuel cycles through 2030. AREVA NP’s HTP™ platform for PWR fuel provides universally proven reliability and robustness for every PWR lattice type in the United States. Globally, nearly 20,000 HTP™ fuel assemblies have been loaded into 50 reactors, with nearly half of these assemblies in the United States.
These fuel assemblies will be fabricated at AREVA NP’s Horn Rapids Road fuel fabrication facility in Richland, Wash.
MORE ABOUT AREVA NP
AREVA NP is a major international player in the nuclear energy market recognized for its innovative solutions and value-added technologies for designing, building, maintaining, and advancing the global nuclear fleet. The company designs, manufactures, and installs components and fuel for nuclear power plants and offers a full range of reactor services.
With 14,000 employees worldwide, every day AREVA NP’s expertise helps its customers improve the safety and performance of their nuclear plants and achieve their economic and societal goals.
AREVA NP is a subsidiary of the AREVA group.
