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Expectations regarding Nuclear Infrastructure in Newcomer Countries

This article discusses the expectations and considerations for nuclear infrastructure in newcomer countries, including licensing, human resource development, supply chain, and funding/financing.

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Expectations regarding Nuclear Infrastructure in Newcomer Countries

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  1. Expectations regarding Nuclear Infrastructure in Newcomer Countries Andrew Teller, AREVA – International & Marketing Division Senior Technical Advisor

  2. AREVA’s International Track Record • AREVA = 102 “NPP/Nuclear Island” built in 12 countries: • 2 countries hosting most of the Units : France & Germany • 10 other countries, namely : • Belgium The Netherlands • Spain Switzerland • Finland Argentina • Brazil People’s Republic of China • Republic of Korea Republic of South Africa  Some of the above countries were newcomers at the time their reactors were built Expectation re Nuclear Infrastructure – Vienna 11 Feb 2010 - p.2

  3. AREVA’s Experience With Emergent Infrastructures • With some of the above countries • And recently with some countries through proposals in bidding processes. • Adaptive : Despite possible similarities, all cases are different and call for custom-tailored solutions. The recent various IAEA initiatives (since 2006) help to set some kind of “standard” approach, which is beneficial to everybody. Expectation re Nuclear Infrastructure – Vienna 11 Feb 2010 - p.3

  4. End of life Milestone 3 Milestone 1 Decommissioning Operation Project ~8 – 15 years ~100 years in total ~60 years General Considerations • Some legal, and/or governmental “prerequisites”: • Adherence to the NPT; compliance with export control regulations • Signature of a bilateral agreement at governmental level • “Long-term commitment for the first nuclear power plant” (NG-G-3.1) • The long timescales, the overall complexity, and the mutual legal, industrial, political…responsibilities (with All stakeholders) implies a common need for stability and trust.  AREVA’s experience leads to recommend negotiating a LTCA (Long-Term Cooperation Agreement). This allows to: • Create a climate of mutual trust, work on long-term mutual benefits and improvements • Facilitate experience feedback and sharing, cross-fertilization, technology transfer Expectation re Nuclear Infrastructure – Vienna 11 Feb 2010 - p.4

  5. Four Main Headings • Licensing • Human Resource Development • Supply Chain • Funding/Financing Expectation re Nuclear Infrastructure – Vienna 11 Feb 2010 - p.5

  6. Licensing Considerations • The operator faces the regulatory body, not the vendor • 2 approaches are commonly used: • Generic “reactor model” licensing + site specific adaptation • A complete licensing procedure for each “Site + reactor” • Experience feedback shows that the first approach sets a favorable context for complying with: • the project schedule • the associated budget • First approach: now advocated by WNA (way of streamlining licensing procedures and decreasing the corresponding expenditures) • AREVA encourages the first approach, but is also effective in managing the second one. • Note: importance of all parties involved in the country implementing the nuclear infrastructure evolving in sync to smooth the overall process Expectation re Nuclear Infrastructure – Vienna 11 Feb 2010 - p.6

  7. Human Resource Development Considerations • Country – capacity building : • A core staff of around 1000 must be foreseen for a newcomer (~80 for safety authorities, 350 for PM – Project Management, 5-600 for future operator) • A steady flow of new talents (PhD’s, Engineer’s, technicians) must be anticipated, and set in place, to match turnover, new needs, local nuclear industry upgrade, • Is mastering the vendor language useful and/or mandatory ? • Experience feedback of AREVA, especially with PRC (People’s Republic of China), shows that mutual comprehensive intercultural skills are an important part of the success.  Learning French is a excellent investment in the framework of a long-term partnership • English can be considered for (near) native speakers  AREVA’s commitment in response to the utmost importance of HRD : • Share our broad experience and propose our numerous training capacities worldwide • And to help to set up a receptive industrial network in newcomer countries (nuclear standards of quality, maintenance, housekeeping…), which leads to adapting quality of training by developing “Academic Industrial excellence” for very large projects. • Define jointly the adequate HRD Plan, followed by the detailed capacity building plan (per category, schedule, ...) • Propose a state-of-the-art training action plan for all stakeholders Expectation re Nuclear Infrastructure – Vienna 11 Feb 2010 - p.7

  8. Supply Chain Considerations Procurement or Localization? • No easy answer : each project is unique, depending also of the country and its industrial network. • Civil work, balance of plant are commonly localized. • In a “nuclear fleet approach”, localization can be increased and make sense for good results in terms of economics and safety. • For countries planning a limited number of reactors, selecting a well-established technology and LTCAs will help through: • sharing the economies of scale of larger fleets • benefiting from the operational experience gathered by such fleets Expectation re Nuclear Infrastructure – Vienna 11 Feb 2010 - p.8

  9. 40% 30% increase in generating cost 20% 10% 0% Nuclear IGCC Coal steam CCGT Funding & Financing Considerations (1/2) • NPP new build financing is very specific due to : • Large CAPEX investment • Long term construction period • Interference of different actors (host stage, safety authorities, public, utility, etc…) which can induce delays and additional costs in the construction period • Different appreciation of Nuclear Sector by International Financial Institutions (from supportive to totally closed) • Recent technology, no standardization Expectation re Nuclear Infrastructure – Vienna 11 Feb 2010 - p.9

  10. Funding & Financing Considerations (2/2) • Government support is a prerequisite to any NPP project and its financing • The necessary level of government involvement depends on the local political and legal situation • Open questions remain as to how governments will participate in managing and mitigating risks • The traditional State model remains the easiest & quickest solution • Nevertheless, whatever the business model selected, the available sources of financing for new NPPs are: • Export Credit Agency financing • Corporate financing • Bond issuance  Lesson learnt: A project that is not “bankable” is not a project Expectation re Nuclear Infrastructure – Vienna 11 Feb 2010 - p.10

  11. AREVAConcluding Remarks Experience feedback of “potential success” for a newcomer: • A nuclear project fully supported over the long term by local government • A clear organization (responsibilities, schedule, costs, priorities…) • Priority given to the HRD Plan, taking all anticipations into account • A long term approach to the cooperation with the vendor and with the vendor country (countries), • Financing  The way to “world-class nuclear safety and operation” Expectation re Nuclear Infrastructure – Vienna 11 Feb 2010 - p.11

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