AREVA has just completed the first production campaign at its Romans plant in France of the fuel assemblies destined for the Taishan 1 EPRTM reactor.

These assemblies have been specially designed for this third-generation reactor and, as they represent an important technological advancement, will enable a significant increase in reactor performance in terms of safety and competitiveness.

An EPRTM reactor core consists of 241 fuel assemblies. The production of the first Taishan EPRTM core will take place in three campaigns and will be delivered to our customer TNPJVC in 2014.

From an industrial perspective, the manufacturing of a new type of fuel presents additional challenges which the teams at the Romans plant were able to meet by utilizing their specialized know-how in terms of engineering and production.

Luc Oursel, CEO of AREVA, stated: "We can all be proud to have achieved this milestone. I would like to congratulate all the AREVA employees who have worked on this project, from assembly design to component supply, and production of the final assemblies."

With the installation of the reactor vessel and the introduction of the four steam generators and pressurizer into the reactor building at the end of 2012, the work on the Taishan 1 EPR reactor is progressing rapidly.