VZCZCXRO1083
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV
DE RUEHFR #1267 1891602
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071602Z JUL 08
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3642
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPARTMENT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RHEBAAA/USDOE WASHDC
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES

UNCLAS PARIS 001267 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EEB/ESC, AND EEB/CBA; EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENRG EIND ETRD PREL FR
SUBJECT: FINANCING THE U.S. NUCLEAR RENAISSANCE: FRANCE PUSHES FOR 
DOE INVESTMENT GUARANTEES AND PLEDGES FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE 
 
REF: PARIS 500 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  French Trade Minister Anne-Marie Idrac told 
visiting Senators Murkowski and Craig June 30 that France would like 
to see DoE tender investment guarantees more expeditiously, and 
proposed making French export financing available to help fund 
nuclear reactor construction in the U.S.  France aims to facilitate 
participation of its nuclear industry in the U.S. which it sees as a 
key market for a strategic industrial sector. End Summary. 
 
¶2. At a June 30 breakfast meeting Junior Minister for Trade 
Anne-Marie Idrac expressed a desire to see DoE move quickly to issue 
additional loan guarantees for nuclear power plants authorized under 
the Energy Policy Act of 2005, for which the DoE just announced a 
usd 18.5 billion solicitation for nuclear power facilities. Idrac's 
comments were reinforced by   Constellation Energy CEO Mike Wallace, 
who also participated in the meeting.  Constellation has partnered 
with French firms AREVA and EDF to introduce France's 
third-generation European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) technology to 
the U.S. through their joint venture in Unistar Nuclear. (Wallace 
has been a vocal supporter of guarantees, and has been quoted by the 
New York Times as saying "Without loan guarantees we will not build 
nuclear power plants.") 
 
¶3. (SBU), Idrac also informed Senators Murkowski and Craig that 
France would propose making loan guarantees from France's export 
finance agency COFACE available to help fund French reactor sales in 
the U.S. Idrac said that a letter formalizing the offer would be 
sent shortly from Economy Minister Lagarde to Treasury Secretary 
Paulson. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The Senators and accompanying staffers are participating in 
week-long tour of French nuclear facilities organized by the French 
Embassy in Washington that includes high-level meetings with 
President Sarkozy's national security advisor Jean-David Levitte, 
the CEO of AREVA Anne Lauvergeon, and Pierre Gadonneix, CEO of 
nuclear plant operator Electricite de France (EDF). 
 
¶5. (U) France's largely state-owned AREVA is one of the world's 
leading nuclear energy companies.  It considers the U.S. as a major 
"strategic" export market for its EPR technology, sales of which 
have been booming in the past year (reftel). With interests in all 
stages of the nuclear cycle, AREVA claims to be the leader in the 
U.S. nuclear market, accounting for 28% of the American reactor and 
services sector and 20% of its front end fuel cycle sales.   AREVA 
estimates that more than 30 new reactors will be built in the U.S. 
in the next 20 years, and aims to build ten of those.  It has 
already made considerable strides toward that goal.  Projects for 
seven reactors at six different sites around the US are underway 
(including Unistar projects at Calvert Cliffs, MD and Nine Mile 
Point, NY;  and projects in Amarillo, TX; Bruneau, ID; and 
Susquehanna, PA).  AREVA has so far invested USD 200 million to 
certify the EPR technology for use in the U.S. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Comment:  Against the backdrop of industry demands for 
additional financial support for reactor construction in the U.S., 
France is focusing on ways it can help facilitate AREVA's robust 
participation in the U.S. market.  It is reaching out to U.S. 
lawmakers and staffers, and has also played host to governors and 
other officials interested in its nuclear technology. Florida 
Governor Charlie Crist will be visiting France July 16-19 with the 
possible sale of two more EPR's to Florida utilities in play.   We 
expect continued attention to this issue from the GOF, and it is 
likely to be raised on the margins of Secretary Bodman's September 
visit to Paris for GNEP.  France can be expected to draw on other 
traditional tools of industrial policy to favor the continued 
development of what the government sees as one of its most 
successful industrial sectors.  End Comment. 
 
 
 
STAPLETON