Platts Energy Week recently interviewed Mike Rencheck, the CEO of Areva Inc., about the company’s outlook on the US nuclear energy market.
During the interview, Rencheck talked about Areva’s business serving the operational needs of the existing fleet of nuclear power plants, its involvement with plant uprates, the Mixed Oxide (MOX) project at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, prospects for used fuel recycling in the United States, and the company’s line of various sized reactor plants including the 1600 MWe EPR, a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), the 1100 MWe Atmea (PWR), and the 1200 MWe Karena, a Boiling Water Reactor (BWR).
Thanks for posting this Rod, I don’t think I’d see it other wise (though I do get Platt’s notices the specifics are often buried).
I think Rencheck presents a “happy face” to Areva’s business but it’s also fairly honest. Nothing really new for the pro-nuclear activist to take note of.
My problem with Rencheck as with most CEO’s of nuclear corporations (public or investor owned and in the US, Areva is seen as an investor owned manufacturer) is that they *only* position nuclear energy for new capacity when “the market picks up” and not as the future generation technology for *replacing* existing fossil fuel generation. This shows they would rather get along with the CEOs of the fossil companies and only compete with them based on new capacity needs as opposed to a longer term, paradigm shift away from fossil fuel. In fact, Rencheck is like many PR announcements from nuclear companies that endorse the “muti-sourced energy” market “of the future”, where “all generation forms have a role to play”.
Needless to say I’ll never be hired by Areva to write their energy policies.