French energy group Suez and nuclear engineering major Areva have signed an agreement giving Suez a 5% ownership interest in the company that holds the Georges Besse-2 uranium enrichment plant in France.
The facility, built by Areva at the Tricastin site in France’s Drome department, is based on ultra centrifuge technology.
Suez, through its energy services business line, is building the electrical installations, and supplying the fluid management systems and the HVAC and process cooling equipment of the new plant, which is scheduled for startup in 2009.
The agreement reflects the two groups’ intention to further develop their exisiting industrial co-operation. With it, Suez hopes to be able to secure a portion of its nuclear reactor supply needs in enriched uranium.
Areva claims that centrifugation enrichment technology offers the advantage of consuming 50 times less electricity than the existing gaseous diffusion process used in France and does not need water for cooling.
The Georges Besse-2 facility is reportedly one of France’s largest current industrial investments, representing a total of around E3 billion.