AREVA said on Tuesday that the company has been awarded a contract by EDF to dismantle its Superphénix nuclear power station in Creysm-Malville, France.
The company said this will be the first time a nuclear reactor with a generation capacity of 1,000 megawatts will be dismantled in France. For this project, only remote-controlled tools can be used due to the amount of radiation that will be present. This includes robotic devices and manipulator arms and a laser cutting arm developed by the company. The scope of work also includes the packaging of radioactive waste materials alongside equipment dismantling.
“(T]he pooling of AREVA’s know-how in dismantling, nuclear engineering and technical innovation allowed us to propose a customized solution to EDF that is a key differentiator,” AREVA Director of Dismantling and Services Alain Vandercruyssen said. “By becoming the leading industrial company to dismantle the vessel internals of a high-powered reactor in France, AREVA Dismantling and Services strengthens its position as the French leader in the nuclear-deconstruction segment.”
The dismantling process is anticipated to be carried out through 2024.
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