Atmea

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Atmea is a joint venture between Mitsubishi and Areva that will develop, market, license and sell a new generation III pressurized water reactor. A memorandum of understanding between the two companies effectively creating the entity was signed October 19, 2006 and the name of the joint venture was announced on September 3, 2007. The European Commission cleared the joint venture in October 2007 on the grounds that the activities of Areva and MHI are geographically complementary and Atmea was unlikely to strengthen the competitiveness of each parent company. [1]

Mitsubishi has been known in the nuclear industry largely for it's contribution of components to construction of many plants around the world. It even provided forgings for the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant that Areva is currently constructing in Finland.

1 Atmea I
2 Other Activities
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Atmea I

A license application for Atmea I is expected within three years.

The CEO of Areva, Anne Lauvergeon made the statement "By founding Atmea, we combine the experience of two leaders in reactor development, construction, licensing and marketing. We thus provide the ideal framework for the development and sale of a reactor whose size fits into almost every grid."

Correspondingly, Mitsubishi's president, Kzuo Tsukuda commented that "By bringing together the state-of-the-art technologies of both companies, we are confident that Atmea 1 will be the leading plant in the mid-size reactor range, and will be successful in attracting interest from our clients."

Both companies have other reactor designs that boast the largest power outputs yet planned. The Mitsubishi's APWR is slated to have a power of 1700 MWe while Areva's European Pressurized Reactor currently under construction will have an output of 1600 MWe, but later units could be scaled up further. The Atmea I, having a lower power, is targeted to attract a different market for both companies.

[edit] Other Activities

Aside from the Atmea I plant, the joint venture is expected to allow cooperation in equipment procurement, services, used nuclear fuel management, and development of fast-breeder and high-temperature reactors. Mitsubishi is currently developing Mitsubishi FBR Systems, which will specialize in fast breeder technology.