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Areva has announced two new agreements with China Guangdong Nuclear Power Company (CGNPC). The Chinese firm will gain supplies of uranium, and the two will start a nuclear engineeringÌýjoint venture.

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Ling Ao (Image: Areva)

An Areva statement said the deals were signed off recently by Areva chair Anne Lauvergeon and Zhang Guobao, president of the National ¶¶Òõ´«Ã½ÔÚÏß Administration.

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First, CGNPC "and Chinese sovereign wealth funds" will take a total of 49% of UraMin, a uranium mining firm purchased by Areva last year.ÌýThe figure is up from the 35% agreed solely with CGNPC during a November 2007 round of deals. The agreement provides CGNPC with "guaranteed access to more than half" of UraMin's total uranium production - estimated at 18 million pounds ofÌýuranium oxideÌýafter 2012 from projects in South Africa, Namibia and Central African Republic.

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CGNPC operates two reactors at Daya Bay and two more at Ling Ao. It is also a partner in new-build projects for a total of 12 more reactors at Ling Ao, Hongyanhe, Ningde, Yangjiang and Taishan. The units at Taishan are to be Areva EPRs, while the others are Chinese-design CPR-1000s based on earlier Areva models.ÌýFurther plans see CGNPC involved in new CPR-1000 reactors at Fangcheng, Lianyungang, Xanning, Tianwei,Ìýand Wuhu. Beyond this are still more plans for new nuclear power units, though less well developed.

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These new-build plans will be supported by the second Areva-CGNPC deal annoucned today, which concerns a joint venture to engineer and procure second and third generation nuclear power plants (CPR-1000s and EPRs respectively). This organisation will be "initially dedicated to CGNPC's projects in China," but will move on to support "joint projects abroad." It will be held 55% by Chinese interests, and 45% by Areva.

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CGNPC chair Qian Zhimin said the company's uranium supplies would be secure until 2022, while Lauvergeon added that the duo's strategic partnership "now exists for the very long term."

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