I have blogged in the past about the push by countries with nuclear industries to export nuclear technology to non-nuclear nations especially in the third world. Russia, China, the United States, Japan, France and South Korea are all engaged in fighting for export sales. Often, the exporting nation will offer loan guarantees or outright grants of billions of dollars to the non-nuclear nation on the condition that the money comes back to the exporting nation for the purchase of the nuclear technology.
France has decided to use the model of the Paris Air Show to showcase nuclear technology in a biennial exhibition. The first such "World Nuclear Exhibition" will be held in Le Bourget in the same venue as the Paris Air Show in October of 2014. The estimated attendance for the WNE is seven thousands people. Over five hundred French and foreign nuclear companies have signed up to participate.
The head of the NWE says that the primary intent of the exhibition is to for small and medium sized players in the global nuclear industry to take orders for nuclear technology and related services in the range of sixty thousand dollars to a hundred and forty thousand dollars. France has a robust nuclear industry with over twenty five hundred companies which bring in a total of over sixty billion dollars annually. The French nuclear industry employs over two hundred thousand workers.
Even though, the major players in the nuclear industry do not need something like the NWE in order to bring in business, major global nuclear companies such as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toshiba Corporation's Westinghouse, General Electric Hitachi and Russia's Rosatom are going to be at the exhibition. The Chinese firms China General Nuclear and the China National Nuclear Corporation are in negotiation for participation.
Although Russia has had many nuclear expositions such as the annual Atomexpo France has had none of their own. The French state-owned Areva is currently building two new European Pressurized Reactors (EPR) nuclear reactors in China and one in Finland. Areva has not contracted to build a reactor since 2007. It appears that their goal of selling ten of the new ERP reactors by 2016 might be too optimistic. With growing demand for energy sources which do not contribute to global warming, France believes that it will be able to increase exports of nuclear technology.
One of my concerns about this push to sell nuclear technology to third-world countries is the fact that the purchasing countries will be at the mercy of the nuclear nation that built their reactors. Recent experiences in Ukraine show that nuclear fuel assemblies are not sufficiently standardized to insure the possibility of seeking other suppliers for nuclear fuel. Russia already has a bad reputation for holding up fossil fuel exports to countries that do not support Russian positions in the international community.
Another big concern that I have is the fact that selling nuclear technology to corrupt third-world regimes is going to virtually guarantee major nuclear accidents as reactor construction and operation will likely not be conducted properly. Another Fukushima level accident or two and there will be a major public backlash against all nuclear power generation.
Model of an Areva European Pressurized Reactor:
