PARIS (Thomson Financial) - The merged GDF Suez will decide by early 2009 at
the latest what role nuclear power should play in its future development, Suez
said.
If the combined group decides to be a candidate to build France's second
European pressurised water nuclear reactor, it will do so in partnership with
French or international electricity companies and with interested industrial
companies.
Teams from Suez have been working for several months on the various options
and have strengthened cooperation with Areva, manufacturer of the
third-generation 1,600 megawatt EPR, the company said.
President Nicolas Sarkozy announced yesterday that a second EPR will be
built in France, in addition to the one already under construction for EDF at
Flamanville.
EDF's 58 existing nuclear power stations provide 80 percent of the country's
power.
Suez said the development of a second EPR in France "will benefit the French
nuclear industry in the broad sense."
Environment Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said today that a second EPR would be
"marginal" for electricity production.
"One EPR more or less, it will not fundamentally change French electricity
production. It is an idea, but in the end it is fairly marginal. Proportionally,
even with this announcement, nuclear will shrink as a proportion of the French
energy mix," he said on France Inter radio.
Andrew Newby; Andrew.Newby@thomsonreuters.com
an/cmr
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