EdF and GdF Suez are to build France’s second EPR nuclear reactor at Penly.The two companies will work jointly on the project, with EdF the major partner in the joint project company but with the intention that GdF Suez will take on project management and operation of the plant.
New partners will be invited to take part in the construction phase, with contracts in the form of a balanced partnership where investors share in the proceeds from the plant’s output. EdF has entered into similar arrangemens before, for example with Belgian company Electrabel at the Chooz and Tricastin plants.
Construction at Penly is expected to beginin 2012 with a grid connectin target of 2017. The site, near Dieppe on France’s northern coast, already has two 1350 MWe PWRs and according to EdF already has the charateristics suited to the Framatom (now Areva) designed reactor. the first EPR is due to start up at Olkiluoto in 2012 wit h France’s first EPR, the Flamanville unit, scheduled for first power later in the same year.
