After more than a year of intense negotiation, an 8 billion euro agreement has been signed with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPC) involving the sale of two of Areva"s 1600 MWe EPR reactors plus 12 years supply of fuel and other services.

The reactors will be built as stage 1 of Taishan nuclear power plant, west of

Hong Kong, and the first unit is expected to come into service in 2014. Steam turbines and generators will be bought separately.

In a separate agreement CGNPC will buy 20,000 tonnes of uranium from Areva's UraMin subsidiary in Africa.

CGNPC and Areva will also set up a joint engineering venture for future development of EPR plants in China and perhaps abroad.

CGNPC has also signed an agreement with Electricite de France (EdF) to take a 30% share in the customer company - Taishan Nuclear Power Co which will own and operate the EPRs. EdF says the two companies intend to study the prospects for further joint development projects in China and internationally.

Areva also signed a general agreement with China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) to undertake a feasibility study for construction of a used fuel reprocessing plant and MOX plant in China.

www.cgnpc.com.cn

News sourced from Australian Uranium Association Weekly Digest