We do appreciate the review of our recent blogger conference call. From Dan Yurman:

Areva North American President Jacques Besnainou is like a starship captain. This past week he went where no reactor vendor CEO has gone before by opening up, unfiltered by corporate PR, to a group of nuclear energy bloggers. The company has claimed it will practice “transparency” in its communication with the public and the press. This week it got a chance to prove it and it did a pretty good job. . . .

Our hour was up so that ended the first “Jacques talk” session with bloggers. The company is making progress from its assessment a year ago that it had a “blind spot” when it comes to nuclear energy bloggers. The firm promised future sessions with Besnainou and he reportedly came away from the session enthusiastic about the vigorous give and take of the conversation. Hopefully, there will be more of it.

And the write up from Steve Aplin:

The conference call, as I mentioned in my May 14 post, is part of Areva’s groundbreaking North American outreach effort. And I say groundbreaking because the company is not shy about going on the record about some pretty controversial issues.

We had a great time, as did Jacques Besnainou, and we’re finding a good date for the next call that he can attend again. Stay tuned. Also, if you’re a blogger and you’d like to be in on our monthly conference calls, let us know in the comments or send us an email.

Similar to before, when we commented about Dan’s Post, we’d also want to highlight and thank Steve for his comments at Canadian Energy Issues Blog, and Rod over at Atomic Insights. We’re truly glad and lucky to have such good company in our efforts at being a constructive part of the energy blogosphere, and welcome the questions, challenges, and comments from everyone…

AREVA has launched a new U.S. Web site focused on its products and services in the United States that reinforces the company’s leadership position in providing CO2-free energy technology.

AREVA North America President Jacques Besnainou said, “This new Web site offers something for everyone, from bloggers and journalists to government officials, job seekers, and the general public. AREVA’s online presence reinforces not only our policy of transparency, but also our U.S. position as a CO2-free energy technology leader and thinker.”

The new Web site includes the following features to provide visitors with easy-to-find information about AREVA’s strong U.S. presence and activities:

*Detailed information on AREVA’s CO2-free energy technology expertise, including a section on our renewable energy offering
*A career section covering AREVA’s U.S. and international jobs, as well as on-campus recruitment fairs
The latest group and U.S. news, as well as upcoming events
*Focus reports on key projects, including U.S. EPR™ reactor technology, the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility, and AREVA Newport News, LLC, among others.

AREVA’s new Web site can be found at www.us.areva.com.

Following our launch yesterday, we were quite pleased to see welcome messages from several of our colleagues at other nuclear blogs…

From Steve Aplin at Canadian Energy Issues:

No sooner do I get off a post about the challenges the “nuclear industry” faces when it comes to strategic communication than Areva, the French giant, launches a blog dedicated to promoting its North American operations. It went live this morning. One of the first posts, by an Areva communications executive, says there are 60,000 potential new jobs in nuclear energy in the U.S.

From David Bradish at NEI Nuclear Notes:

NEI’s former blog contributor, Jarret Adams, is one of the authors for AREVA’s first blog. Welcome and best of luck!

And from Dan Yurman at Idaho Samizdat:

So far as I know Areva is the first nuclear company to launch a corporate blog with the objective of fostering dialog about energy issues. Lots of energy companies have blogs, but they are often just one-way broadcasts from the corporate PR office. . . .

The blog is just being published this week so the discussion forums aren’t live yet. I’m told they are coming soon. The story can also be told now that in developing this blog, Areva’s team reached out to a fairly diverse group of energy bloggers for ideas and input. That’s an important signal that the company plans to work hard at using its listening skills.

Dialog is welcome. Welcome to the blogsphere Areva. Do well.

Thanks for the warm welcome, friends! We’re looking forward to the conversation.

Click here for a special message from Jacques Besnainou, President of AREVA Inc.

by Jacques Besnainou, President of AREVA Inc.

Jacques Besnainou

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to AREVA’s blog for North America. We hope this blog will offer a forum on energy issues and our activities in North America. We also hope to foster discussions about energy issues and foster discussions about combating climate change, increasing energy security, and improving economic growth. It will also focus on AREVA’s solutions for clean power generation and electricity distribution in North America.

Though we are joining a diverse and exciting energy blog community, AREVA is the first nuclear energy company, and one the first energy companies of any kind to maintain a blog. This is very much in keeping with our policy of openness with our stakeholders, a policy spearheaded by our CEO Anne Lauvergeon and supported by the rest of the AREVA team.

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