EDF Awards New Contract for Fuel Supply

On December 13, 2002, Electricité de France (EDF) and Framatome ANP signed a contract worth around a billion euro for the supply of enriched natural uranium, reprocessed uranium and mixed plutonium and uranium oxides (MOX) fuel assemblies.

This new contract will cover a significant share of the requirements of existing French nuclear reactors over the coming years. And it will give EDF and Framatome ANP a clear visibility of their medium-term relation regarding fuel.

“The awarding of this new contract shows Framatome ANP’s ability to consolidate its leading position despite competition due to the gradual opening up of the fuel market by EDF. Framatome ANP is more than ever a partner able to contribute significantly to giving its customers a competitive edge,” said Vincent Maurel, President and CEO of Framatome ANP.

The terms and conditions of this new contract meet specific EDF requirements with regard to security of supply and flexibility both in terms of annual volumes and supply of fuel in tight deadlines.

AEP Signs Long-Term Strategic Alliance

American Electric Power (AEP) and Framatome ANP have signed a contract for a long-term alliance. “This is more than just a contract for service. This is a true partnership,” said Chris Bakken, AEP’s Senior Vice President Nuclear Generation. “AEP and Framatome ANP will work together on a wide range of activities to achieve continued success at Cook. We expect this to be a long-term alliance that will result in benefits to the employees and shareholders of both companies.”

The expected workscopes within the alliance are outage activities, engineering services for refuel and non-traditional outage activities, parts, maintenance services and fuel. The alliance also covers instrumentation and control (I&C) upgrades and reactor head replacements. “We will support AEP’s commitment to excellence at Cook, drawing on our worldwide experience base.” said Tom Christopher, President and CEO of Framatome ANP, Inc.

Koeberg Fuel Supply Contract Extended

Framatome ANP and ESKOM, operator of the South African nuclear power plant Koeberg, signed a long-term contract to supply nuclear fuel reloads at units 1 and 2.

This contract covers all fuel reload requirements for the Koeberg nuclear plant units (6 reloads for each unit), from 2005 to 2014.

The fuel reloads to be supplied under this contract for the Koeberg nuclear power plant will be of the latest design: AFA-3G fuel assemblies that extensively make use of the M5™ advanced material. The AFA-3G fuel has been designed to operate safely and trouble-free under the conditions that future core management strategies for long cycles would require whereby the U235 enrichment would be increased from the current 4.40% to 4.95%.

In the framework of this contract, Framatome ANP will implement solutions aimed at participating in South African policies for the promotion of previously disadvantaged people and “Industrial Participation”. These policies consist in associating specific actions to the contracts to promote the technical skills of people and investments in local enterprises.

Contract for RV 10-Year ISI Awarded

Framatome ANP has been awarded a contract by Omaha Public Power District’s (OPPD) Ft. Calhoun plant for a reactor vessel (RV) 10-year in-service inspection (ISI) to be performed in the fall of 2003. This will mark one of the first usages of the company’s newest tool for ISI, the Trans-World Reactor Vessel Examination System (TWS, see ANP Magazine #6, pg. 17).

Due to its compactness, modularity and configuration flexibility, the TWS is easy to install and reduces vessel occupation time. Its anthropomorphic robotic arm sweeps the phased-array transducers circumferentially around the vessel, thus eliminating the need to scan the same region multiple times with different transducer orientation. The use of this tool is expected to significantly reduce the time it takes for the inspection.