France to Build 2nd New-Generation Reactor

ASSOCIATED PRESS July 4, 2008

LE CREUSOT, France -- France will build a second of its new-generation nuclear reactors, President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday, pledging a "new industrial revolution" in an era in which fossil fuels have grown too expensive.
France, the European country most reliant on nuclear power, has been constructing its first European Pressurized Reactor, or EPR, on the Normandy coast, with the unit expected to go into service in 2012. EPR reactors are meant to eventually replace aging reactors around the world.
The Normandy site is one of only two EPRs in the world currently under construction; the other is in Finland.
A decision about where to build a second French EPR will be made in 2009, Mr. Sarkozy said, adding that construction will start in 2011.
"The era of inexpensive oil is over," Mr. Sarkozy said. "Nuclear power is more than ever an industry of the future and an essential form of energy."
He spoke while visiting metal workers at the Industeel plant in Le Creusot in the Burgundy region, which he said would produce most of the components needed for the reactor. Industeel is a subsidiary of steelmaker ArcelorMittal SA.
During Mr. Sarkozy's visit, Anne Lauvergeon, chief executive of French nuclear company Areva SA, and Aditya Mittal, chief financial officer for ArcelorMittal, signed a memorandum of understanding to increase production at Industeel for the nuclear market.
France's Green Party and environmental groups oppose the building of EPRs.
Copyright © 2008 Associated Press