Industry consolidation and the competitive marketplace are forcing a nuclear-services vendor transition. To meet this new 21st Century challenge, Framatome ANP, the joint venture between Framatome and Siemens, offers, for the first time in a single organization, the technical knowledge, data and operating experience to provide OEM-quality products and services to every BWR and PWR design now in service in the US. Since BWR-type products and services are a relatively new offering for Framatome, below is a brief look at how this competency is evolving.
       One of Framatome's core competencies of long standing is underwater inspection and repair in nuclear plants. This capability was developed in PWRs to resolve early design issues such as internals bolting, upflow modifications and split-pin repairs. Addressing BWR internals inspection and repair issues is a natural extension of this core competency.
       Initially, Framatome's BWR in-vessel services included shroud inspections and tie-rod repairs, jet pump ultrasonic inspections and in-vessel visual inspections. From this beginning, the company expanded to assume full responsibility for refueling floor activities - helping one utility achieve its shortest outage ever. Currently, Framatome ANP is offering complete refueling-floor and under-vessel services along with ISI. The refueling-floor services include reactor vessel disassembly and re-assembly, fuel movement, in-vessel visual inspections, ultrasonic inspections, and change-out and rebuilding control rod drives. From this current base of refueling- floor and under-vessel services, Framatome ANP is moving aggressively to further expand its BWR services portfolio. Examples of this expanded scope include Electric Power Research Institute-qualified ID and OD nozzle inspection techniques, BWR vessel inspection tooling, phased-array inspection technology, decontamination, optimized narrow-gap and underwater welding techniques.
       In addition, the new joint venture's engineering capability will allow the Framatome ANP team to offer power uprates and mechanical, electrical and I&C system modifications to BWR owners. The necessary engineering expertise is an extension of the com-pany's nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) design capability combined with Siemens BWR NSSS, balance of plant and fuel design knowledge. This is one example of our "core-to-condenser" philosophy for developing a viable OEM-quality alternative for engineering, products and services.
       Framatome ANP offers the widest breadth of experience and capabilities in the U.S nuclear fuel industry, having supplied more than 40,000 fuel assemblies to plants of either BWR or PWR design throughout the US.
       World-class technology, expertise, and experience position Framatome ANP to be the world's BWR OEM of choice.