AREVA replaces the reactor vessel head of Unit 1 at China's Daya Bay plant

News brief

ACTIVITIES / NUCLEAR POWER

January 04, 2005

AREVA's joint subsidiary with Siemens, Framatome ANP, has supplied a new reactor vessel head for Unit 1 of China's Daya Bay nuclear power plant. The replacement operation was carried out during a scheduled refueling outage in October 2004.

Guangdong Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company (GNPJVC), the plant owner, decided to replace the reactor vessel heads of its two Daya Bay units in order to upgrade to AREVA's new 690 alloy. The first replacement took place on Unit 2 in February 2003.

The reactor vessel head for Unit 1 was manufactured at AREVA's plant in Chalon St Marcel, France. The initial tight schedule for the reactor vessel head removal and replacement operation was reduced by a further five days to a record 8.5 days, enabling the unit to go back on line on November 16, 2004.

The success of this operation was the product of AREVA's excellent cooperation with GNPJVC and the Chinese maintenance company Shenzhen Nuclear Engineering (SNE), a subsidiary of 23rd Company and Framatome ANP. "This new technical and commercial success demonstrates the excellent cooperation between China and France in the field of civil nuclear energy applications" declared Arnaud de Bourayne, President AREVA China.

AREVA has been present in China since 1986, where it now has a staff of 3,500. The group has already supplied the nuclear islands for four reactors, and is now positioning itself to remain a reference partner in China's nuclear power program.