Areva, the Paris-based nuclear energy giant, said Friday that Korean nuclear companies have become more aggressive competitors while also serving as customers of the firm.

“I think the Korean industry is a competitor and a customer and we respect both,” said Areva’s president and chief executive Luc Oursel in a press conference on the sidelines of the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Industry Summit in southern Seoul.

“We obviously see a more aggressive competitor and we like competition.”

Areva, a well-known name in the industry, was among the bidders for the $40 billion nuclear power contract with the United Arab Emirates back in 2009, which was won by a Korean consortium.

The consortium, which secured the order to construct four 1.4 million kilowatt nuclear power reactors in the UAE, was composed of Korea Electric Power Corp., Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Samsung C&T Corp. and Doosan Heavy Industries.

While confirming that Areva is not involved in the Turkish nuclear power deal, which is the subject of negotiations between Korea and Turkey, it is working with the Japanese in Vietnam, according to Oursel.

Vietnam is another country with which the Korean firms are engaging in talks to provide nuclear reactors.
 

Regarding its joint bid with French power utility Electricite de France to build an atomic plant in Poland, the two groups are teaming up very “quickly and successfully,” said Oursel.

“We understand this could happen this year,” he added.

PGE SA, the largest utility in Poland, is expected to announce tenders within the next two months for a technology provider for a planned nuclear power plant.

Stating that it introduced new safety requirements in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, the French nuclear energy firm has dedicated 25 percent of its investments for the next five years ― 2 billion ($2.6 billion) out of 8 billion euros ― to the safety of installations, said Oursel.

“In the next five years, we will spend 8 billion euros and this remains a very high figure,” he said. “(The Fukushima incident) has slowed down a certain number of projects but we expect it to pick up very soon.”

Areva, which decided to go through restructuring late last year due to a decrease in industrial demand, is currently bidding to provide nuclear reactors in China, India, the U.K., Finland and the Czech Republic. It is also currently building plants in France, Finland and China.


By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)