The companies reached a deal in April with Russia's state controlled nuclear power corporation having a 51%-share in the JV, which will operate on the platform of the machine-building firm ZIO Podolsk in the Moscow Region. The JV ZIO Podolsk is the main supplier of equipment to the Bushehr nuclear power plant under construction in Iran.
The future joint venture will manufacture the entire conventional array of equipment used in nuclear power plants, drawing on Alstom's "Arabelle" half-speed turbine technology. Alstom will transfer technology to the joint venture company, namely for the manufacture of its "Arabelle" steam turbine and generator.
The joint venture, expected to reach full capacity within three years, will benefit from the best technology available for conventional equipment for its nuclear power plants, and will have exclusive access to the fast-growing Russian nuclear power plant market.
Alstom is the world leader in conventional nuclear facilities, with 175 plants either already in service or in the course of being built in twelve countries around the world, including France, South Africa, China, South Korea, and Sweden.
Alstom technology has been used in more than a quarter of conventional nuclear facilities around the globe.
The head of Russia's Nuclear Power Agency, Sergei Kiriyenko, said Friday production of the new JV will not be supplied to Iran.
Since Iran resumed uranium enrichment in January 2006, the country has been the focus of international concerns, as some Western countries, particularly the U.S., suspect Tehran is pursuing a covert weapons program. But Tehran has consistently claimed it needs nuclear power for civilian power generation and is fully entitled to its own nuclear program.
Russia is building a nuclear power plant in Bushehr in the south of Iran.
Kiriyenko also said the enterprise will cover at least half of Russia's demand for NPP turbines.
