The nuclear safety authorities in Finland, France and the United Kingdom have raised common questions regarding the respective I&C (instrumentation and control) certifications for the EPR™ reactor in each country. AREVA pointed out in a statement today that the authorities have not called into question the safety of the EPR™ reactor.

This constant dialog between operators, constructors and nuclear safety authorities is an integral part of the certification and construction processes for new reactors. AREVA is currently working with the regulators in each country to make the necessary adaptations, if any, to meet local standards.

The EPR™ reactor is currently the most powerful reactor in the world and meets the highest safety standards. EPR™ reactors are currently being built in Finland, France and China and the certification process is underway in the United States. AREVA is working closely with the authorities in each country to determine how its model can respond to various local issues.

AREVA guarantees the safety of its reactor and welcomes the approach made by the safety authorities to introduce a global standardization for its I&C model.

On Sept. 6 AREVA announced a major milestone with the installation of the massive reactor building inner dome for the Olkiluoto 3 EPR™ reactor in Finland.

This is a significant step in the reactor’s construction as it’s now the first generation III+ plant in the world with a covered reactor building. This step also marks the end of the civil works phase. Weighing 210 tons and measuring over 150 feet in diameter, the steel inner dome was put in place with one of the most powerful cranes in the world.

AREVA is using this experience and expertise in nuclear reactor design and construction for its US EPR™ reactor. Eight US EPR™ reactors are currently under consideration for the United States and four are already undergoing licensing.

In preparation for this new reactor boom, AREVA recently broke ground on a manufacturing facility in Newport News, Virginia. This facility will provide the heavy components which are critical pieces for these U.S. EPR™ reactors.

More information on the US EPR™ is available here and for AREVA Newport News, LLC.

Watch a video of the dome installation here.

And stay tuned for updates as AREVA builds the next generation of nuclear generation around the world.

AREVA prides itself on being the leader in the nuclear energy cycle, and the company’s success has caught the attention of Time Magazine. In a piece posted to Time’s online section from August 7, AREVA was identified as “the first place that countries or power companies go when looking for all of their nuclear services─ supplying and enriching uranium, building and managing plants, disposing of their waste ─ under a single roof.”

The article attributes a large part of the company’s success to AREVA CEO Anne Lauvergeon. Ben Elias, a research analyst for Sterne, Agee & Leach, was quoted as saying “if you look at what she’s done since taking her job, you realize Anne Lauvergeon had the drive, creativity and vision to assemble all these parts into a single unit ready for a nuclear renaissance that she saw coming.”

While the Time piece focuses primarily on AREVA’s current profile, it also emphasizes growth in the global demand for nuclear energy. “As governments search for clean, renewable energy sources and consumers worry about volatile oil prices, nuclear power is hot again…over the next decade, the world is expected to build 180 nuclear power plants, up from just 39 between 1999 and today.” These figures include countries like Italy (who just reversed its moratorium on new plant builds), Britain, Japan, and China.

Of these new builds, the attention right now is on Finland where the construction of AREVA’s Generation III+ EPR™ reactor, Olkiluoto 3, is under way. As the article points out “AREVA’s EPR boasts innovations that led the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists to call its design the only one with the ‘potential to be significantly safer and more secure against attack than today’s reactors.’”

While the article notes that the OL3 project is behind schedule and over-budget, AREVA spokesman Jacques-Emmanuel Saulnier responded, “You only see how it works once you’ve built it and proved it’s what you’d said it would be.”

Although there are a couple of points with which AREVA may take issue, the full article, “Areva’s Field of Dreams,” by Bruce Crumley, is definitely worth a read. Check it out on time.com.