OREANDA-NEWS. October 14, 2014. AREVA and EDF have signed an important framework agreement for the future operation of the French nuclear fleet by providing studies and fuel fabrication for EDF’s nuclear reactors in France from 2015 to 2021.

The agreement guarantees the delivery of several thousands of tons of fuel, consequently securing a significant portion of EDF's needs. It provides AREVA with clear visibility of the workload for its fuel fabrication plants, particularly Romans in the Drome department of France.

As part of this agreement and through an industrial partnership, AREVA and EDF will reinforce their technical cooperation to develop new products aimed at improving performance of the French nuclear fleet. The two groups have already identified an opportunity to cooperate on GAIA, a new fuel developed by AREVA, with the short-term objective of loading assemblies into an EDF reactor.

Luc Oursel said: “This major agreement testifies to EDF’s confidence in AREVA’s engineering and industrial capacities. It illustrates the desire of the two groups to cooperate for the long term in the area of nuclear fuel.”