As
Vice Chairman and President of AREVA Enterprises, Inc. (AREVA U.S.), the
North American arm of a fast growing international group with a strong
position in the energy business, Mike McMurphy is adamant that AREVA is
the right company, at the right time “to make a difference in North
America.” AREVA operates in every sector of the civilian nuclear
power and fuel cycle industry in over 40 countries, staff e d by some
75,000 employees and offering utilities the services and products they
need for electric generation using nuclear power.
McMurphy is also President
& CEO of AREVA’s subsidiary, COGEMA, Inc. “ Tom Christopher,
President & CEO of Framatome ANP, Inc.(and a member of World-Generation’s
Class of 2003), and I are working together to lead the AREVA charge in
North America,” says McMurphy.
“Our strategy includes
significant growth of the local presence of AREVA around the world, both
organically and in partnership with other industry leaders,” McMurphy
went on to say in his Bethesda, MD office. “We already have a very
strong presence in the North American nuclear sector and, with AREVA’s
recent acquisition of Alstom’s Transmission and Distribution business,
AREVA is strategically positioned to be a real leader in the energy industry,
both here and worldwide.” McMurphy insists that “this is not
optimism, but realism.”
AREVA’s “Front-End”
division includes supplying services and products that allow utilities
to fuel their nuclear reactors: uranium mining, concentration, conversion,
enrichment, and fuel fabrication. After purchasing uranium, utility customers
typically retain ownership of their nuclear materials throughout the entire
chain of operations. The uranium undergoes a series of processing services,
culminating in the fabrication of nuclear fuel. “AREVA is the only
group in the world that has every link of this chain“ says McMurphy.
“In the United States, AREVA companies have front-end contracts
with every major utility.”
The AREVA “Reactors
and Services” division designs and builds pressurized water reactors
(PWR), boiling water reactors (BWR) and research reactors. As Mike put
it during our interview, “AREVA has the technology for current,
evolutionary, and revolutionary plants: third-generation reactors, EPRs
like the 1600 MW plant AREVA recently sold in Finland, SWR 1000, and so-called
fourth generation reactors being planned by 2040. Whatever the future
direction chosen by the industry, we’re ready to play a large part
in ensuring the industry’s success.” The group built 102 of
the 297 PWRs and BWRs worldwide, a number equivalent to the entire U.S.
fleet, giving AREVA more than a third of the worldwide market. AREVA also
provides products and services to operate and maintain every type of reactor
on the market. In the U.S. services market, AREVA companies led by Framatome
ANP, Inc. which successfully integrated Duke Engineering and Services
in 2002 and including COGEMA’s Canberra nuclear measurements operation-have
positioned AREVA in the top tier of service providers.
The “Back End”
division provides all the requisite services for managing nuclear fuel
after it has been used in the reactor. AREVA has developed and deployed
advanced technologies to separate materials, isolate and manage difficult
waste elements, and recycle 96% of the energy value of used fuel. In the
United States, where used fuel is not recycled but is instead stored pending
disposition in a long-term repository, AREVA is the premier spent fuel
storage supplier, with COGEMA’s Transnuclear subsidiary having won
and executed contracts resulting in AREVA technology being used for more
than 50% of installed dry storage capacity. AREVA’s experts are
bringing proven fuel management capabilities to the vital Yucca Mountain
spent fuel repository program, and AREVA’s unequalled technical
expertise in the recycling of used fuel could help provide a strong foundation
for the U.S. development of advanced processing technologies, as called
for in the National Energy Policy. Additionally, notes McMurphy, “Our
recycling experience is also a lynchpin of U.S. government initiatives
to convert weapons materials to peaceful use by using them to produce
electricity. So, it’s not an overstatement to say that we help resolve
the most pressing issues for the nuclear industry, while contributing
significantly to making the world a safer place . ”
AREVA recently added a fourth
pillar to its energy portfolio with the acquisition of Alstom’s
Transmission and Distribution (T&D) business. “AREVA was created
to take advantage of synergies,” McMurphy said approvingly. “That
philosophy continues with T&D, which is now the fourth energy division
in the AREVA group . AREVA T&D expands our range of services to our
customers, giving AREVA additional room for strong and profitable growth.
In North America, when we combine the strengths of T&D with those
of Framatome ANP, Inc., and COGEMA, Inc., AREVA is a formidable energy
company.”
Outside the energy
business, AREVA operates its Connectors division, a precision manufacturing
operation involving the design and fabrication of electrical, electronic
and optical connectors, circuitry and interconnection systems. In the
United States, Imark Group’s ‘Supplier of the Year’
award went to AREVA’s Electrical Power Interconnect business unit
in recognition of the quality of its products and services .
“Let me back up to say
a little more about AREVA’s position in the nuclear industry, to
which I have been absolutely committed for a long time because I believe
in its importance for the wellbeing of future generations. And let me
take things in the order of AREVA divisions. In the Front End, we are
number one or two in uranium mining, conversion, uranium enrichment and
fuel supply. In Reactors and Services, we are number one in reactor design
and construction worldwide and a top service provider. In the Back End,
no one is even close to us in processing and recycling, and we are also
the top provider of spent fuel storage systems. The industry relies on
us, and we don’t disappoint.”
A core value for AREVA’s
entire group is sustainable development which balances economic growth
with social development, while preserving the environment. AREVA joined
the United Nations World Pact on sustainable development in March 2003,
is a member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development
and is committed to 100% site certification by 2005.
As McMurphy puts
it, “There can’t be anything much more rewarding than feeling
like your business makes an important contribution to something in which
you deeply believe. AREVA is the right place to be."
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