Areva venture will service TVA plants

By: LYNCHBURG NEWS & ADVANCE | WSLS
Published: October 14, 2009

An Areva joint venture has secured a five-year contract to service three nuclear power plants owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Areva and its business partner, Day & Zimmerman, have worked for TVA before, but the new contract makes them the only vendors TVA can use for certain services for five years.

Areva spokeswoman Denise Woernle said that employees in the Lynchburg area will perform work under the contract with TVA. The contract strengthens Areva’s revenue stream and supports local jobs, she sad.

“Like any business, we like to keep a pipeline of work that ensures that we continue to generate revenue and to maintain a sustainable workload for our workforce,” Woernle said. “Every contract we get is beneficial (to) providing meaningful work for our employees.”

TVA awarded the contract to Areva DZ, a joint venture that Areva NP Inc. and Day & Zimmerman announced in August. The companies formed the partnership to combine their complementary strengths in engineering, construction and maintenance.

Under the contract, Areva DZ will refuel reactors and provide other maintenance and inspection services at the Browns Ferry plant in Alabama and the Sequoyah and Watts Bar plants in Tennessee.

TVA can still get other services from other companies, Woernle said. However, Areva could bid on other TVA projects and receive work outside of the new contract, she said.

Areva DZ President Gary Mignona said in a news release that the contract will help increase the safety, reliability and efficiency of TVA plants. “The outcome will become a model for U.S. nuclear industry service,” he said.

Areva now employs about 2,100 people in the Lynchburg region, Woernle said.