Jacques Besnainou sets up an open mike for questions
Areva North American President Jacques Besnainou is like a starship captain. This past week he went where no reactor vendor CEO has gone before by opening up, unfiltered by corporate PR, to a group of nuclear energy bloggers. The company has claimed it will practice "transparency" in its communication with the public and the press. This week it got a chance to prove it and it did a pretty good job.
Despite the fact bloggers are somewhere in the middle of those two groups, they got candid answers to tough questions. In an exclusive interview published only here on the EnergyCollective, Besnainou laid out his views on the nuclear renaissance, recycle spent nuclear fuel, and a big investment in biomass and wind energy in the U.S.
It must have been quite a challenge for the executive suite in Bethesda, MD, to agree to get wired into the blogsphere. Of course Bensnainou (right) has been blogging himself for a few months via the Areva’s blog. However, taking questions live from bloggers themselves is an entirely different matter than tapping out a thoughtful blog post in the quiet of a corner office.
In an exclusive interview on Friday, June 5, Besnainou spoke via telephone conference call with a small group of nuclear energy bloggers. Invitations had quietly gone out over the past month seeking to develop a dialog between the company and commentators on the Internet who were neither advocates nor critics, but who had attracted the same type of following as the mainstream news media - an audience.
New York Times lights a bon fire
To use a baseball analogy, the first pitch that whizzed towards home plate asked Besnainou to respond to recent newspaper coverage in the New York Times that slammed the company's delays at new reactor projects in Finland and France. The NY Times used the costly setbacks as a springboard to call into question the entire nuclear renaissance attempting to make Areva the apparent once and forever fall guy for the entire global industry. [Note: this blog published a critique of the NYT article.]
While we were on an audio feed only, there was no question from the excited tone of his response that the 'Times piece has hit a deep nerve with the French nuclear firm as a whole. Although Besnainou has no direct involvement with either the Finland or French EPR projects, he called the newspaper's reporting "unbalanced." He said that Areva was not the cause of the end of the nuclear renaissance, but in fact was leading it.
With great force Besnainou said, "We are going to finish the job in Finland and France. As a company we are determined that both plants will [enter revenue service] by 2012."
There might have been a much tougher line formulating in the CEO's response, but in an animated and clearly energized voice he also said,
"I want to remind you that these are first-of-a-kind [FOAK] facilities and the problems we are facing are typical of the start up of construction of new nuclear reactors."
When asked to explain how similar quality control problems with welding the steel and pouring concrete showed up at both sites, Besnainou commented that in both cases, "the supply chain is difficult to start up in the right direction." He said that a "lessons learned" database had been developed and that Areva "can now deliver nuclear quality welding and concrete."
He added that it is not uncommon to reject welds, and that the company would have been very concerned if the subcontractors had not rejected any.
Using the 2012 completion date for the 1,600 MW reactor projects in Finland and France, Besnainou said that Constellation Energy at Calvert Cliffs, MD, will break ground for the first U.S. EPR inn 2012. He said that Areva has already sent its engineers who will work on the Calvert Cliffs project to Finland and France to bring home to the U.S. the lessons learned there.
Recycling nuclear fuel
The new Obama administration, dancing to a the Pied Piper tune of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), has killed off the Yucca Mountain project. In its place the government has opened the door to consideration of separation and recycling of spent nuclear fuel. Besnainou told the bloggers that it makes sense to recover the useful materials from spent fuel.
In an direct and clear voice, Besnainou said, "It is irresponsible not to re-use 96% of the energy value in spent fuel."
He called fuel recycling a "market opportunity" which Areva is ready to exercise just as soon as the U.S. government wakes up and smells the coffee. The firm will use the COEX process and is developing conceptual plans for a 300-500 ton per year plant. Besnainou points out that MOX fuel takes plutonium out of circulation which is a key nonproliferation objective.
"We are ready to put skin in the game," Besnainou said.
He cited the work of a joint project between Areva and the Boston Consulting Group which estimated [PDF file] the cost effectiveness of recycling spent nuclear fuel compared to the once-through cycle. He also pointed out that the price of uranium "will continue to be volatile."
Areva is building a $4.5 billion Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel plant at Savannah River, SC. The firm's commitment to putting "skin in the game" is most visible there. The firm has signed market agreements to sell the fuel to Duke Energy, and negotiations are nearing completion with two other utilities. Besnainou added that Areva is offering "competitive pricing" for MOX fuel relative to conventional reactor fuel bundles. He also said the firm already ha a commercial base of MOX fuel customers taking product from its facilities in France,
Besnainou noted that the Areva EPR reactor can burn MOX fuel up to 100% With plans to build a fleet of them in the U.S., Areva could be its own best customer for the MOX fuel coming from the South Carolina facility which will begin production in 2016. He noted that Areva will continue to supply the Japanese market with MOX fuel from its facilities at Le Hague in France.
Uranium enrichment in Idaho
The Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility will come online in 2014 Besnainou said adding that there is rapidly increasing demand for commercial reactor fuel. While the current demand level is about 12-13 million SWU, he predicted that by the end of the next decade it will easily grow to 20 million SWU. Asked about the entry of the Russians to the U.S. enrichment market, he said," they are formidable competitors."
Alternative Energy
It came as a surprise to the nuclear energy bloggers that Areva is also investing in biomass energy and wind power. Besnainou briefly noted that the firm has opened its first biomass (wood waste) project in Florida and is seeking locations for offshore 5 MW wind turbine projects.
ADAGE LLC, a joint venture owned by AREVA SA and Duke Energy Company, has announced the proposed site of its first U.S. biopower plant in Hamilton County, Fla., about 80 miles west of Jacksonville. ADAGE plans to develop a series of 50 MW biopower plants in the United States that will use clean wood waste as fuel to produce electricity.
The Hamilton County biopower facility will create approximately 400 jobs during construction and 125 facility and fuel-related jobs during operation, adding significantly to local economic activity.
In Europe Areva is involved in a 400 MW wind farm that will be built off the German coast in the North Sea. The project will come online in 2011. Besnainou said his firm is currently scouting locations in the U.S. to build similar facilities using its Multi-Brid 5 MW wind turbines.
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Our hour was up so that ended the first “Jacques talk” session with bloggers. The company is making progress from its assessment a year ago that it had a “blind spot” when it comes to nuclear energy bloggers. The firm promised future sessions with Besnainou and he reportedly came away from the session enthusiastic about the vigorous give and take of the conversation. Hopefully, there will be more of it.
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