Areva Building Nuclear Manufacturing Plant in VA; Wants Nuclear Waste Recycling Plant Too

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Feb. 2 (UPI) -- France-based Areva would like to build a nuclear waste recycling plant in the United States.

Jacques Besnainou, the president of the company's U.S. branch, has appealed to U.S. President Barack Obama to allow nuclear power to provide a larger percentage of the country's power needs, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reports.

"It will be very good for our children and our grandchildren to have a clean, carbon-free source of energy from nuclear power," Besnainou told the Chattanooga chapter of the American Nuclear Society. "Nuclear power is not the only solution, but there is no solution without nuclear."

Besnainou expects there to be about 100 new nuclear reactors built around the world in 2030, and Areva Inc. hopes to build more than 30 of those new plants.

Areva is building a uranium reprocessing plant in Idaho and a nuclear manufacturing plant in Virginia.

Areva officials also want to build a nuclear waste recycling plant in the United States, but it would cost more than $15 billion.

http://www.upi.com/Energy_Resources/2009/02/02/Areva_exec_pursues_US_nuclear/UPI-85641233615879/