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Framatome

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Framatome ( French pronunciation: [fʁamatɔm] ) is a French nuclear reactor business. It is owned by Électricité de France (EDF) (80.5%) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%).

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22-496: The company first formed in 1958 to license Westinghouse's pressurized water reactor (PWR) designs for use in France. Similar agreements had been put in place with other European countries, and this led to a 1962 contract for a complete plant at Chooz . Westinghouse sold its stake to engineering firm Creusot-Loire in 1976, and the company became solely French owned. In 2001, Siemens sold its reactor business to Framatome. As part of

44-423: A French government-linked banking group. A January 1982 company reorganization simultaneously strengthened French public and private control of the company by allowing Creusot-Loire to increase its share of the company while increasing CEA say in the running of the firm. In 2001, German company Siemens ' nuclear business was merged into Framatome. Framatome and Siemens had been officially cooperating since 1989 on

66-541: A full range of reactor services. It is responsible for Flamanville 3 , Taishan 1 and 2 , and Hinkley Point C projects. In addition, Framatome conducts preliminary study for construction of six reactors at the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Framatome provides EPR reactors , which is a third generation pressurised water reactor (PWR) design, and Kerena reactors , which

88-579: A larger series of mergers with Cogema and Technicatome, Framatome became the Areva NP division of the new Areva . It changed its name back to Framatome in 2018 after a major investment by utility operator EDF . While originally a licensing and construction business, today Framatome supplies the entire reactor life-cycle, including design of the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR), construction, fuel management and many related tasks. Framatome

110-405: A serious setback when the corporation lost over one billion dollars due to bad high-risk, high-fee, high-interest loans made by its Westinghouse Credit Corporation lending arm. In an attempt to revitalize the corporation, the board of directors appointed outside management in the form of CEO Michael H. Jordan , who brought in numerous consultants to help re-engineer the company in order to realize

132-606: Is 1,250 MWe Generation III+ boiling water reactor (BWR) design, provisionally known as SWR-1000 . The Kerena design was developed from that of the Gundremmingen Nuclear Power Plant by Areva, with extensive German input and using operating experience from Generation II BWRs to simplify systems engineering. In 2016, following a discovery at Flamanville 3, about 400 large steel forgings manufactured by Framatome's Le Creusot Forge operation since 1965 were found to have carbon-content irregularities that weakened

154-864: The Westinghouse trademarks were granted to the newly formed BNFL subsidiary, Westinghouse Electric Company . That company was sold to Toshiba in 2006. During the 20th century, Westinghouse engineers and scientists were granted more than 28,000 U.S. patents, the third most of any company. There have been a number of Westinghouse-related environmental incidents in the US. Below is a short list of these. All of these are chemical pollution incidents; none of them involve nuclear reactors or nuclear pollution. Westinghouse established subsidiary companies in several countries including British Westinghouse and Società Italiana Westinghouse in Vado Ligure , Italy. British Westinghouse became

176-637: The advancement of AC technology in Europe, the firm became active in developing alternating current (AC) electric infrastructure throughout the United States. The company's largest factories were located in East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , Lester, Pennsylvania and Hamilton, Ontario, where they made turbines , generators, motors, and switch gear for the generation, transmission, and use of electricity. In addition to George Westinghouse, early engineers working for

198-809: The company included Frank Conrad , Benjamin Garver Lamme , Bertha Lamme (first woman mechanical engineer in the United States), Oliver B. Shallenberger , William Stanley , Nikola Tesla , Stephen Timoshenko , and Vladimir Zworykin . Early on, Westinghouse was a rival to Thomas Edison 's electric company. In 1892, Edison was merged with Westinghouse's chief AC rival, the Thomson-Houston Electric Company , making an even bigger competitor, General Electric . Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company changed its name to Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 1945. In 1990, Westinghouse experienced

220-696: The development of the European Pressurized Reactor (EPR). In 2001, after a merger with Cogema (now Orano ) and Technicatome, a new nuclear conglomerate called Areva was formed, and Framatome became Areva NP. In 2007, Areva and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries created a joint venture named Atmea , for marketing the ATMEA1 reactor design. In 2009, Areva NP acquired 30% stake in the Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel company. In 2009, Siemens sold its remaining shares in Areva NP. In 2018, after restructuring of Areva, Areva NP

242-503: The liquidation of their credit operations. In 1995, in a major change of direction, the company acquired the CBS television network and renamed itself CBS Corporation . Most of its remaining industrial businesses were sold off at this time. CBS Corp was acquired by Viacom in 1999, a merger completed in April 2000. The CBS Corporation name was later reused for one of the two companies resulting from

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264-521: The parent companies. The original mission of the company was to act as a nuclear engineering firm and to develop a nuclear power plant that was to be identical to Westinghouse's existing product specifications. The first European plant of Westinghouse design was by then already under construction in Italy. A formal contract was signed in September 1961 for Framatome to deliver a turnkey system, that is, not only

286-570: The potential that they saw in the broadcasting industry. Westinghouse reduced the workforce in many of its traditional industrial operations and made further acquisitions in broadcasting to add to its already substantial Group W network, including Infinity Broadcasting , TNN , CMT , American Radio Systems , and rights to NFL broadcasting. These investments cost the company over fifteen billion dollars. To recoup its costs, Westinghouse sold many other operations, including its defense electronics division, its metering and load control division (which

308-564: The reactor, but an entire, ready-to-use system of piping, cabling, supports, and other auxiliary systems, propelling Framatome from a nuclear engineering firm to an industrial contractor. In January 1976, Westinghouse agreed to sell its remaining 15% share to Creusot-Loire , which now owned 66%, and to cede complete marketing independence to Framatome. In February, the Belgian Édouard-Jean Empain sold his 35% interest in Creusot-Loire to Paribas ,

330-546: The split of Viacom in 2005. One of the few remaining original lines of business to survive this process was the nuclear power division, which was sold to BNFL in 1999 and re-formed as Westinghouse Electric Company . The Westinghouse trademarks are owned by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, and were previously part of Westinghouse Licensing Corporation . Westinghouse Electric was founded by George Westinghouse in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , on January 8, 1886. Building on

352-484: The steel. A widespread programme of French reactor checks was started involving a progressive programme of reactor shutdowns, continued over the winter high electricity demand period into 2017. In December 2016 the Wall Street Journal characterised the problem as a "decades long coverup of manufacturing problems", with Framatome executives acknowledging that Le Creusot had been falsifying documents. Le Creusot Forge

374-475: Was also a major player in the field of nuclear power , starting with the Westinghouse Atom Smasher in 1937. A series of downturns and management missteps in the 1970s and 80s combined with large cash balances led the company to enter the financial services business. Their focus was on mortgages , which suffered significant losses in the late 1980s. In 1992 they announced a major restructuring and

396-626: Was founded in 1958 by several companies of the French industrial giant Schneider Group along with Empain , Merlin Gérin , and the American Westinghouse , in order to license Westinghouse's pressurized water reactor (PWR) technology and develop a bid for Chooz A (in France). Called Franco-Américaine de Constructions Atomiques (Framatome), the original company consisted of four engineers, one from each of

418-442: Was originally named "Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company" and was renamed "Westinghouse Electric Corporation" in 1945. Through the early and mid-20th century, Westinghouse Electric was a powerhouse in heavy industry, electrical production and distribution, consumer electronics, home appliances and a wide variety of other products. They were a major supplier of generators and steam turbines for most of their history, and

440-580: Was out of operation from December 2015 to January 2018 while improvements to process controls, the quality management system, organisation and safety culture were made. In 2020 Framatome won an order to deliver reactor protection systems for the Russian VVER-TOI design nuclear reactors at Kursk II . Westinghouse Electric (1886) The Westinghouse Electric Corporation was an American manufacturing company founded in 1886 by George Westinghouse and headquartered in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania. It

462-694: Was sold to ABB ), its residential security division, the office furniture company Knoll , and Thermo King . Westinghouse purchased CBS Inc. in 1994 for $ 5.4 billion. Westinghouse Electric Corporation changed its name to and became the original CBS Corporation in 1997. Also in 1997, the Power Generation Business Unit, headquartered in Orlando, Florida , was sold to Siemens AG of Germany. A year later, CBS sold all of its commercial nuclear power businesses to British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL). In connection with that sale, certain rights to use

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484-504: Was sold to Électricité de France . Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (19.5%), and Assystem (5%) also became shareholders. As a result of the restructuring, Électricité de France and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries became equal shareholders of Atmea with 50% of shares both while Framatome owns a special share in Atmea. Framatome designs, manufactures, and installs components, fuel and instrumentation and control systems for nuclear power plants and offers

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