French government to invest in Areva

State backs merger of reactors businesses of Areva and EDF

The French government has said it will inject as much capital “as necessary” into struggling nuclear reactor maker Areva, which has been the subject of crisis talks since it reported a €4.8bn loss last year.

The announcement came as the government backed the proposed merger of the reactors businesses of Areva and Électricité de France into a joint venture controlled by EDF.

French president François Hollande said that the design, project management and marketing of new reactors by both companies will be put into one dedicated company called Areva NP.

In a statement Areva said: “The French State has announced a series of guidelines to renew the French nuclear industry. Areva and its governing authorities will work in complete cooperation with EDF on the roadmap as it is defined, notably on the terms of an agreement for a global strategic partnership and the conditions for EDF to take a majority stake in the capital of Areva NP.

“For entirety of the company’s businesses, the urgency for the competitiveness measures remains. As has always been the intention of the company, these efforts must be the subject of an exemplary social dialogue, and the discussions with the social partners will continue. Areva will study the impact of the French State’s guidelines on the information-consultation procedures which were planned for the month of June.”

Areva, which is also majority-owned by the French government, has been struggling to cope with mounting losses and delays to the construction of its latest generation of EPR reactors in Okiluoto, Finland and Flamanville, France. The company announced it would be cutting up to 6,000 jobs around the world over the next two years.

Areva's problems have also been compounded by a general slow-down in the nuclear sector after the Fukushima disaster.