At the request of the US government, Areva is to set up test facilities in France before building a factory in the United States.

The company, which has already received a green light from the French government, is now awaiting approval from French nuclear security regulators to build several mixed oxide or MOX treatement sites in Cadarache, southern France for demonstration.

The use of MOX, a reactor fuel made by combining plutonium and uranium, carries many operating constraints because of the fuel's delicate chemical and radiological nature.

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union built up huge stockpiles of nuclear weapons, leaving the United States with weapons-grade plutonium it now wants to eliminate.

"This program cocks a snook at history. This plutonium, it was Hiroshima, now it will be used to produce kilowatts," the head of the Cadarache plant Michel Pibarot said.

When US President George W. Bush came to office in early 2001, his administration concluded that since plutonium is an energy, it should be used to generate electricity. A gram (0.035 ounces) of plutonium can produce as much energy as 1.5 tonnes of oil.

During the test period of the programme, 140 kilogrammes (309 pounds) of US weapons-grade plutonium is due to set sail for France in the second half of the year from Charleston, South Carolina.

MOX pellets will then be made from the plutonium before being tested in the reactors of Duke Power in the United States, according Areva executive Arthur de Montalembert.

In a second phase, Areva will then build a plant in the United States to convert 34 tonnes of plutonium into nuclear fuel. Work is scheduled to begin in mid 2005 so that the site is operational in 2008.

Only four sites in the world are able to recycle plutonium into MOX: two French plants run by Areva, a Belganucleaire factory in Belgium and a BNFL factory in Britain.

Despite persisting tensions between France and the United States, the programme is one of the few areas of cooperation, especially in military matters, between the two countries.

"Today the subjects where there is real cooperation between the French and the Americans involving military matters are not very numerous," an expert in French-US relations said.

The contracts for the programme are worth between 250 million and 300 million dollars (207 million-248 million dollars), the group said.

"In terms of the amount, it's not the contract of the century, but the strategic aspect for disarmament os clearly important," Montalembert said.

Areva executives at Cadarache are also hoping that the Russians, who are less advanced in their disarmament programmes than the Americans because of financial reasons, will chose Areva as well.

"Ideally the same factory in the United States could be built in Russia, but no Russian has come yet to give us a visit," Cadarache factory head Pirabot said.

WAR.WIRE