by Mary Douglas
Reprinted from AREVA Energy Business, Issue 8

Other Carbon-Free Energies

Nuclear is only one option, albeit a key one, among AREVA’s range of carbon-free energy choices. The group is developing synergistic solutions including a range of renewable energies that make sense in a balanced energy mix.

Renewable energy use is increasing worldwide. In emerging countries they supply inexpensive electricity from local resources. In Europe and North America they help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Europe has set an objective of a 20% share for renewable energies in final energy consumption by 2020, and AREVA has technologies capable of supporting that growth.

The group is currently offering its customers a portfolio of four renewable energies: wind power, bioenergy, concentrated solar power, as well as next-generation hydrogen carrier and storage solutions. Several of these have already reached technical maturity, such as wind power and bio energies. They can still be improved in terms of yield and distribution. For example, following its acquisition of 51% of Multibrid in 2007, AREVA has developed pioneering technology to become a leader in the emerging offshore wind power market.

In bioenergy, AREVA is no. 1 in turnkey solutions. The group has built over 100 operating bioenergy power units all over the world, totaling more than 2,800 MWe of installed capacity. AREVA is also reshaping the hydrogen industry by providing CO2-free Hydrogen production. These solutions enable hydrogen to be generated via electrolysis and electricity from fuel cells, with no greenhouse gas emissions.

AREVA is also developing concentrated solar power solutions, which will deliver more than 20% efficiency and grid parity.

Improving Efficiency of Nuclear Power Generation and Fuel Management

The cleanest energy is energy that is not used at all. AREVA is working to improve efficiency in both power generation and fuel supply. The aim is to maximize the availability of operating nuclear power plants to produce more energy with the same amount of fuel. It includes working to improve load factors at new reactors such as the state-of-the-art Generation III+ EPR™ reactor.

AREVA's Saint Alban plant in France

One advantage of this new generation of reactors is its fuel burn-up coefficient. Compared to the previous generation reactor, the EPR™ reduces uranium consumption by 15% for the same amount of electricity generated. In line with its commitment to sustainable development and environmental protection – by making energy more efficient – AREVA is also helping to conserve valuable resources by improving fuel management. Reusable uranium and plutonium are recovered from used fuel for recycling in nuclear reactors as MOX fuel (a mixture of the two materials) or as enriched reprocessed uranium (ERU). Using its advanced technologies, AREVA is therefore able to recycle 96% of the materials contained in used nuclear fuel which significantly reduces the volume and radiotoxicity of final waste to be disposed of. Through its recycling operation, under strict international safeguards, AREVA also supports non-proliferation objectives since used fuel is unloaded from a power plants it can be sent directly to recycling operations and MOX production, avoiding the accumulation and aging of used nuclear fuel at multiple reactor sites worldwide..

Waking to the Dangers

The world is finally awakening to the dangers of climate change, and as a global leader in solutions for CO2-free power generation AREVA is ready to offer its entire portfolio of energy solutions to solve the problems which will increasingly face its customers.

In July, leaders at G8 agreed to at least a 50% reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, with developed countries achieving an 80% reduction to ensure that global average temperatures do not rise by more than 2ºC above preindustrial levels.

In October, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Washington was “deeply committed” to finding a solution to climate change in the run-up to Copenhagen. “This is a fundamental trust we are about to break if we don’t act as aggressively as we can,” he told a meeting at the IEA in Paris. AREVA is well prepared to meet this challenge.

• AREVA Leads the Way in Tackling Climate Change, Part I
• Find the article on page 22 of AREVA Energy Business Magazine

by Jarret Adams

Antinuclear activists lately have been trotting out that old chestnut that nuclear energy is not really CO2-free and that this claim is some type of deception. Here’s the short version: nuclear power plants do not produce CO2 while they are producing electricity. For each new AREVA EPR™ reactor that we build, we can avoid 10 million tons of CO2 emissions per year compared to a coal-fired plant.

Chart courtesy NEI.

Here’s the longer version: all power sources, including nuclear energy, renewables, fossil fuels and everything else, produce CO2 at various points during their respective lifecycles. There are emissions during the construction of new facilities, manufacturing of components, obtaining and refining the fuel, transportation to and from the facility, and so on. On the basis of lifecycle emissions, there is no energy source that does not produce some CO2 emissions when one includes full lifecycle and all related activities.

Nevertheless, even when one considers the lifecycle emissions of nuclear energy and renewables, they are very comparable. Reputable studies confirm this. A 2002 University of Wisconsin study showed that nuclear energy had 17 tons of CO2 emissions per Gigawatt-hour (GWh) of electricity compared with 14 tons of CO2 emissions per GWh for wind. For comparison, coal had 1,041 tons of CO2 emissions per GWh.

Several other studies, including 2008 study by the International Energy Agency (OECD), and a 2006 study by the U.K. Government, offer similar conclusions: nuclear energy lifecycle emissions are similar to wind and lower than solar photovoltaic. Here also is a great article from a UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) publication that lays it out well.

This should take nothing away from renewables – AREVA supports renewables. We are currently installing our M5000 offshore wind turbines off the coast of Germany and recently announced an agreement to build 80 more. These 5 MW turbines are the world’s biggest, and we hope to build hundreds of them around the world, including here in North America.

The point is that nuclear energy and renewables are complementary and are key elements in helping us move toward a low-carbon future. Anti-nukes seem to believe that a dollar spent on nuclear energy is a dollar taken away from renewables. This is not true. We need to begin investing more in both if we are serious about addressing our energy and climate change goals.

by Katherine Berezowskyj

As AREVA is committed to be the leader in CO2-free energy power generation, we’re actively engaged in strengthening its already diverse portfolio. One part of this pursuit is our operations in the wind power market, specifically with the production of offshore wind turbines through our subsidiary Multibrid.

In March, AREVA signed a memorandum of understanding with Wet Feet Offshore Windenergy GmbH to supply more than 80 of the M5000 turbines to the Global Tech 1 farm. The 400MW farm, located about 55 miles off the German coast in the North Sea, will have a production capacity of 1.4 billion kWh per year.

The 5MW M5000 turbine offers advanced technology with a light-weight hybrid drive-train solution, suited for all foundation types. They’re particularly designed for use in harsh sea conditions. They are outfitted with a fully enclosed structure and wear-resistant construction. This protection guarantees little maintenance and high technical availability because the components are shielded from the corrosive sea environment.

Based on the success of the Multibrid wind turbines in Europe, with nearly 270 turbines selected for major offshore wind parks, and the anticipation of favorable market condition in the U.S. and Canada, we’ve accelerated the expansion of our renewables business in North America. This business expansion began with ADAGE, the biomass partnership between AREVA and Duke Energy. ADAGE has plans to build or operate a fleet of 50 MW woody biomass plants throughout U.S., already announcing the first proposed site in Hamilton County, Florida.

In the wind sector, to bring the proven offshore wind technology of the M5000 to the North American market, AREVA has a business development team in place to link up with development companies pursing wind turbine projects in the U.S. and Canada. This team, actively pursuing new projects, is located at the AREVA Inc. headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland.

Click here for more information on the M5000, AREVA and Multibrid.