Nuclear energy's French connection

Mike Stuckey Senior news editor • Profile • E-mail

With help from the allies it funds in Congress and legions of highly paid lobbyists, the U.S. nuclear power industry won billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies for its promised “renaissance.” But the biggest winner of all could be a French firm that most Americans have never heard of.

That’s because Areva, an atomic energy giant owned by the French government, appears to be better positioned than any of its competitors to benefit from growth in the U.S. nuclear industry and increased federal spending on it.

With 59,000 employees, facilities in 40 countries, operations in more than 100 and revenue of more than $6.6 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year, the firm brags in its annual report that it is “the only group to be active in every stage of the nuclear cycle,” referring to divisions that cover everything from uranium mining to reactor construction to handling waste.

Areva’s U.S. operations already employ 5,000 people and generate $2 billion in revenue, but the company is hoping to add to that total. One of its largest potential sources of business here would be the sale and operation of a U.S. version of its new “evolutionary power reactor” now under construction in Finland. And as the world’s main player in the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, Areva could profit substantially from the Bush administration’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.

“Our U.S. facilities and people will contribute significantly to Areva’s international business and, as with all international companies, that growth prospect is important to Areva,” the company said in a statement in response to questions from MSNBC.com.

Areva, which fields an impressive stable of lobbyists in Washington, had strong ties to President Bush’s energy transition team before the administration took office.

Energy task force members land jobs
Later, after the Bush administration hammered out its energy policy in a series of private meetings of a task force led by Vice President Dick Cheney, the company gave top posts to two senior members of the group — former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham and the task force's executive director. When the task force’s work passed through Congress and was signed by President Bush as the Energy Policy Act of 2005, it contained $13 billion in government subsidies for the nuclear power industry.

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Areva told MSNBC.com that neither it “nor any associates participated in any task force work” and that it “did not request any effort to be made on its behalf” by its associates on the transition team. Abraham concurred: “I am personally unaware of any efforts or contacts by Areva or its predecessor companies to me or the task force in general.”

“Areva is a great company with good people who are visionary and who adhere to the highest ethical standards,” Abraham told MSNBC.com in a written response to questions about his work for the firm.

The firm makes no secret of its ambitions to continue the rapid growth it has experienced under its charismatic and capable CEO Anne Lauvergeon.

Led by ‘Atomic Anne’
Called "Atomic Anne" by the French press, the 47-year-old Lauvergeon in recent years become one of the world’s most powerful evangelists for nuclear power, championing it as the answer to global warming. Her success in delivering that message has made her one of the highest-profile businesswomen on the planet, as evidenced by her move from No. 53 on Forbes Magazine’s 2004 list of the “100 Most Powerful Women” in the world to No. 8 last year.

De Malglaive Etienne / Gamma Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon merged two predecessors to create the nuclear giant.

Lauvergeon’s training as a physicist, and experience in government — she served as an aide to the late French President Francois Mitterrand — and industry helped her consolidate France's nuclear interests with breathtaking speed after she was appointed in 1999 as CEO of Cogema, France’s state-owned nuclear fuel reprocessing and services company. By 2001, Lauvergeon had merged Cogema with Framatome, France’s nuclear-engineering and uranium-mining company, to create Areva.

France long ago established its prowess in the nuclear field. While the expansion of the use of nuclear energy stalled in the U.S. in the 1970s and ’80s, France forged ahead and achieved global domination of several key sectors of the industry. Today, France gets nearly 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power while the United States is far down the list at 20 percent. In its latest annual report, Areva claims to be the world leader in construction and servicing of nuclear reactors, with 30 percent of the market; fuel reprocessing, 80 percent; and spent fuel treatment, 70 percent. It also controls large shares of the world's uranium mining and enrichment operations. The company’s stated goal is to “capture one-third of the world market by 2010” across all sectors of the industry.

While Areva sees potential for growth in Europe and Asia, its most recent annual report is peppered with references to new opportunities in the United States. The 2005 energy bill, which lavished subsidies and tax credits on the nuclear industry, is mentioned frequently. Areva created Unistar, a joint venture with the U.S. firm Constellation Energy to sell and operate new reactors in the United States, soon after the passage of the energy bill, and its sponsors claimed the creation of the new firm was a direct result of the legislation.

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