Following the success of AREVA's previous Polish Supplier Days held in Warsaw last October and in Wroclaw and Opole in March, AREVA and EDF have organized, with the support of the Association for the Construction of Nuclear Power Plant in Pomerania Region, their first joint regional Supplier Day in Gdansk, the capital of the Pomerania region.

Part of AREVA's pluri-regional localization strategy, the event built on the success of the series of Supplier Days AREVA already conducted in the U.S., Finland, Czech Republic, and the UK to continuously develop its European and international supply chain to ensure competitive, on-time and on-budget delivery of ongoing and future EPR projects worldwide.

Having a similar approach to localization, AREVA and EDF further demonstrated through the joint Supplier Day event the united front of the French nuclear industry when it comes to support new-build opportunities in emerging nuclear countries such as Poland in order to propose full support to national utilities.

AREVA already confirmed that a significant part of the new power station works would be open to procurement by Polish suppliers. The anticipated supply chain market would represent some 70% of the total value of the investment.

Two of the three possible sites listed by PGE, the Polish investor, are situated in the region of Pomerania. There is a strong industrial and scientific nuclear tradition in this region notably due to the construction of what would have been the first Polish nuclear power plant stopped in 1990. "The local industrial potential in Pomerania.is therefore of great value for AREVA and EDF", said Ruben Lazo, AREVA's Chief Commercial Officer.

"Today's event confirmed the real strength of the relationships we have with Pomerania companies and we are committed to utilizing and leveraging their expertise as we are convinced these companies will be a solid basis for the construction of the first Polish nuclear power plant as well as for EPR projects worldwide."

"Localization is a condition for success. To secure such a project, it is important to combine the competences of local companies who perfectly know the local rules and local practices with experienced companies who know the safety rules, codes and standards", highlighted Jean-Marc De Guio, EDF Vice-President Industrial Relations for Nuclear Engineering Division.

The seminar presented suppliers the collaborative possibilities at all stages of the construction of the future plant as well as the responsibilities and scope of each of the two French nuclear groups. Polish suppliers got firsthand information from AREVA and EDF management and supply chain experts, and from their peers from Polish companies already working on EPR projects worldwide.

Several Polish companies are indeed involved in key aspects of AREVA's EPR reactor construction project at Olkiluotod3 (OL3) in Finland. Having manufactured the liner of the reactor building for OL3, Energomontaz Polnoc, a company from Gdynia, presented the company's invaluable experience gained from working on a nuclear construction site, and how it bolstered the company's expertise and future prospects.

Waldemar Dunajewski, President of the Association for the Construction of Nuclear Power Plant in Pomerania said, "Energomontaz shows the way to the Pomeranian companies. They are a concrete example of the capabilities of our local industries to work on a nuclear project and their will to participate in nuclear construction in Poland and beyond."