Advanced Nuclear Power - AREVA

Nuclear FuelNuclear FuelJapanWith 51 plants (28 BWRs, 23 PWRs)totaling more than 44 GWe capacity,Japan's nuclear power program suppliesover 35 percent of the nation'selectricity demand. It is the thirdlargest nuclear program in the worldbehind only the US and France - andgrowing. Six new plants (totaling5.6 GWe) currently under construction,will increase Japan's installednuclear capacity to about 50 GWe.Japan has a domestic nuclear fuelindustry that introduced in the past,state-of-the-art advances in nuclearfuel technology from foreign suppliers.Framatome ANP has long-standingrelationships with Japan's utilities andfuel supply industry, and is playing anincreasing role as a supplier of bothBWR and PWR fuel technology.Long-term cooperation agreementsfor both PWR and BWR technologyhave been in place with theJapanese nuclear fuel manufacturer,Nuclear Fuel Industries (NFI), sincethe 1970s. NFI and Siemens, nowFramatome ANP, have worked togetheron design technology transfer, aswell as fuel fabrication subcontracting.NFI is the only Japanese nuclear fuelcompany that supplies both BWR andPWR fuel.In the early 1990s, a long-termcontract was executed with NFI forsupply of UF 6 to UO 2 conversionservices. This was later expanded andFramatome ANP is currently supplyingabout 250 tons of UO 2 powderannually to NFI.As part of long-term technicalcooperation agreements,Framatome ANP's and NFI's jointresearch and development efforts haveled to advances in fuel designs such asnew material types for high burnup. Inmany instances, lead tests wereconducted on these advanced fuels inreactors in Europe and the UnitedStates. In addition, Framatome ANPsupplies starting material for thefabrication of fuel cladding byJapanese suppliers as well as forresearch reactors.Tokyo Electric Power Companyfirst purchased Framatome ANP BWRfuel in 1995 for the Fukushima Dainiplant. This led to the supply of 9x9reloads to the Fukushima plant startingin 1999. Tokyo Electric Power, thelargest utility in Japan, operates 17BWR nuclear plants. Chubu ElectricPower Company signed a contractwith Framatome ANP in March 2001for supply of a 9x9 BWR fuel reloadto Hamaoka Unit 3 in 2002.The first PWR fuel to Japan wasdelivered in 1999 with the supply of16 High Thermal Performance (HTP)lead assemblies of 17x17 design toKansai Electric Power Company'sTakahama Unit 3.Japan's impressive nuclearprogram will continue to growdramatically. Japanese utilities andglobal suppliers such asFramatome ANP are working togetherto assure that Japan has access toadvanced nuclear technology. Japan'sreload nuclear fuel market, long suppliedonly by Japanese companies, is,at long last, opening to foreign suppliers.As a result, Framatome ANPhopes to increase nuclear fuel deliveriesto Japan in the coming years. @robust design that will enable troublefreereactor operations."To date, Framatome ANP hasdelivered 39 BWR fuel reloads toTaiwan Power - a total of over 6,000fuel assemblies containing more than1,000 metric tons of uranium.In addition to fuel reloads,Framatome ANP provides consultingservices to the Institute of NuclearEnergy Research (INER) on thedesign of the Taiwan Research Reactor(TRR) - II. Framatome ANP also suppliedspent-fuel storage racks to theMaanshan PWR plant.Although currently facing politicalopposition, nuclear power isexpected to play an increasing role inTaiwan's energy supply. The longstandingrelationship betweenTaiwan Power and Framatome ANPwill continue to support Taiwan'sgrowing nuclear power program.Fukishima Daini Fuel Inspection StandBELGIUMTihange 2 Receives PowerUprating ApprovalThe Belgium Safety Authority AVN(Association Vinçotte Nucléaire). gavefinal approval on April 27, 2001 to theElectrabel utility for the set of safetyanalyses and justification studies thatallow uprating the nominal core powerof the Tihange 2 nuclear power plant,located in Belgium, by 10%. Thisapproval is contingent upon the steamgenerator replacement scheduled forsummer 2001.An earlier power uprating of4.5% had been licensed in 1995 onthe basis of safety analyses performedby Tractebel Energy Engineering andFramatome ANP. This new programof analyses, associated with a fuel cycleextension of up to 18 months, wasawarded to Framatome ANP andTractebel in 1998. A complete reviewof the plant design basis wasperformed using advanced methodswhich were licensed through acontinuous process of discussions withthe client and the Belgian SafetyAuthority. In particular, successfullicensing of the heat flux correlationwhich significantly increasedNuke NotesDeparture from Nucleate Boiling(DNB) margins, and of the LargeBreak LOCA method using theadvanced Cathare thermal-hydrauliccode, contributed to the achievementof the ambitious objectives of theproject.Framatome ANP and TractebelEnergy Engineering have collaboratedon several projects includingcompatibility studies for Doel 4 andTihange 3 steam generator replacements,which were licensed in 1996and 1998 respectively.30 Advanced Nuclear Power 08/200108/2001 Advanced Nuclear Power 31