By DPA
Paris : French companies Total, Areva and Suez have formed a joint venture to build two third-generation nuclear reactors for the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the French business daily Les Echos reported Monday.
The three companies signed an agreement at the weekend, following months of negotiations. The deal is said to be worth 6 billion euros ($8.8 billion).
The deal is expected to be formalized when a contract is signed during French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to Abu Dhabi this week.
According to Les Echos, the project is the result of a declaration by the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority that it wanted to acquire two nuclear reactors to respond to strong local growth in the demand for electricity and to furnish the energy for seawater desalinisation.
If the agreement is signed, it would make the United Arab Emirates the fourth Arab country – after Morocco, Libya and Algeria – to sign an agreement on nuclear energy cooperation with France.