New competition in the world market of nuclear reactors [La nouvelle concurrence sur le marché mondial des réacteurs nucléaires]

As nuclear orders are picking up a little, there are strengths competing againts one another in the world industry of reactors, an industry that has been deeply affected for twenty years, by the smallness of the market and the reorganisation of the electromechanical industry. Competition remains particularly difficult, even though, in terms of exports, national markets in industrialised countries such as the American market and European market are now open to foreign new-comers. One of the reasons of the difficulty is the increased commercial competition based on advanced reactor techniques untested due to strong faith in technology leading to forget the learning difficulties of older reactor types. On a narrow market, demanding and with very specific political interference, the reasoning is not like on an ordinary capital equipment market. Each builder tries to sell by relying on the assets it has in addition to the offered price and related services: industrial reputation and experience that play confusedly when untested advanced reactors are competing with one another, credit terms offered by the State and the government's influence on the market of emerging economies, the backing of the State's financial insurance in the event of risks taken in the sale of turnkey untested reactors. In the competition of the five manufacturers in the export market, American builders do not seem to have the best place, though even the leading position of Framatome ANP shows some limits.