Transformation of engineering feeds into EDF’s CAP 2030 strategy, under sections related to managing current new nuclear projects, extending the operating life of the fleet in operation, expanding abroad and embracing digital transformation. It is a multifunctional programme involving all EDF players in the nuclear sector, including Framatome.
This programme aims to achieve significant performance gains in engineering by focusing on three areas:
Framatome is a key player in nuclear energy, acclaimed for its innovative solutions and high added value technologies for the nuclear fleet worldwide. Benefiting from its global expertise, backed by sound references and a workforce of 14,000 employees, the company designs, maintains, and installs components and fuel, as well as instrumentation & control systems for nuclear power plants.
Framatome is jointly owned by the EDF group (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI – 19.5%), and Assystem (5%).
Framatome has a significant industrial presence in France, Germany, the United States and China. The company also has an industrial or sales presence in South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, South Korea, Spain, Finland, Hungary, Japan, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Russia, Slovakia, Kazakhstan, Sweden and Ukraine.
In 2021, Framatome hired approximately 1,600 employees to maintain and increase skills (see section 1.4.1.1.1 “The excell plan”).
Framatome’s strategy is based on its core business i.e. nuclear steam supply systems, and aims to offer safe and competitive solutions, industrialise them and carry out the projects as part of an industrial sector.
The company’s customer base includes leading international energy players and it works on over 300 reactors in the world. With Framatome’s experience in reactors of all types of technologies, it can meet the specific needs of its customers worldwide.
With an experience built up over 60 years in the design and construction of nuclear plants, Framatome is present at every stage of the process. With its highly skilled engineers and operators, the company has completed more than 90 nuclear power plant projects around the world to date.
Framatome’s experts are specialised in the design of the principal items of equipment making up nuclear steam supply systems, and that includes mechanics and metallurgy, neutronics, the scientific calculation work, fluid mechanics and risk and nuclear safety analysis. Framatome’s engineering services include the heart of the power plant, referred to as the “nuclear island”, and the main components of the reactor’s primary circuit such as steam generators, pumps, pressurisers, as well as the nuclear reactor pressure vessel itself. Its specialists and technicians are actively involved in major new nuclear power plant construction projects such as the new EPR reactors.
Framatome components equip more than 100 power plants in 11 countries. At its plants in Le Creusot, Saint-Marcel and Jeumont, in France, Framatome’s manufacturing plants produce the key equipment for nuclear steam supply systems for electrical utilities all over the world to equip new-build power plants or to replace items of equipment at power plants in operation. The company manufactures advanced technology heavy equipment (reactor pressure vessels, steam generators, etc.) and mobile components (reactor coolant pumps and control rod drive mechanisms).
In 2021, the company continued to ramp up production at its Saint-Marcel plant, specialising in the manufacture of heavy components. It supplies the main forged components for new construction projects abroad, in particular for the EPR reactor project of Hinkley Point C in the UK, as well as parts for replacement components intended for French reactors.
At the same time, Framatome has joined EDF group’s excell plan (see section 1.4.1.1.1 “The excell plan”). In this respect, Framatome component factories are rolling out plans designed to guarantee “right the first time” compliance of manufacture and construction. Actions are also being conducted to this end within the supply chain.
Framatome is also engaged in a skills maintenance programme. It aims to secure the production of primary equipment for nuclear boilers (steam generators, vessels, etc.). All stakeholders are involved with the aim of standardising activities by making the necessary investments for their industrialisation. It is based on a dedicated organisation that coordinates actions in Framatome’s engineering departments and primary component manufacturing plants (Le Creusot, Saint-Marcel and Jeumont) for targeted projects (EPR2, Sizewell C). This industrialisation process is accompanied by the manufacture of components, sometimes in advance, in order to ensure the stability of the supply chain, control the manufacturing lead times of Framatome and its key suppliers, and maintain skills.
In 2021, Framatome continued its programme aimed at consolidating knowledge and mastering local stress-relieving heat treatment (SRHT) processes implementation equipment supplied by Framatome. This programme includes mechanical tests on the properties of materials, which will continue until the end of 2022. It enabled the ASN to finalise and validate the files supporting the compliance certificates for the replacement steam generators for the Gravelines 6 and Flamanville 1 units. At the same time, in connection with this work, Framatome has quantified, using a numerical and experimental approach, the existence of possible residual stresses caused by the implementation of these local SRHT processes. In-depth work to verify the integrity of the relevant assemblies using methods available to date has been initiated and will continue in 2022.
Framatome designs, manufactures and installs safe nuclear instrumentation solutions and control systems for plants in operation and new builds. Its solutions include in particular safety instrumentation & control (I&C) systems, I&C systems for normal operation, nuclear instrumentation, lifecycle solutions, global I&C engineering expertise simulators, human-machine interface design and human factors engineering. Framatome has installed over 300 complete instrumentation and instrumentation & control systems on reactors of all types worldwide.
Framatome designs, develops and manufactures fuel assemblies for pressurised water reactors, boiling water reactors and research reactors. The company’s know-how spans the entire process: from the design of the fuel assembly to the production of zirconium and its alloys – zirconium being vitally important for fuel production – on to fuel fabrication and related services, right through to operations on the nuclear power plants.
The company performs all relevant calculations from general fuel management up to dedicated licensing for the highest performance and safety. Over 226,000 Framatome fuel assemblies have been loaded in more than 100 reactors in operation around the world.
Framatome has substantial international experience working with nuclear safety authorities on all types of reactors currently in service around the world. The company also offers support for operators through relationships with their respective safety authority and in the application of existing regulations in their country of the establishment. In France, Framatome has expertise in the application of the Order relating to nuclear pressure equipment (Arrêté relatif aux Équipements Sous Pression Nucléaire – ESPN). The company also provides its international customers with technical centres where numerous tests are carried out each year to qualify their equipment. It assists them in the preparation of qualification studies and associated documentation.
