The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) awarded Framatome several multimillion-dollar contracts for work across the company’s fleet of nuclear power plants, including fuel for the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, fuel handling equipment upgrades across the fleet and steam generator replacements at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant.

France-based Framatome will provide fuel for the three boiling water reactors at Browns Ferry with the first use planned for 2023. The company said its fuel helps utilities save money by using uranium more efficiently. A facility in Richland, Washington, will manufacture the fuel.

Watts Bar nuclear power station. Source: TVAFramatome will also upgrade fuel handling equipment at the Browns Ferry, Sequoyah and Watts Bar nuclear plants. The work will include upgrading the refuel bridges at Browns Ferry, the manipulator cranes at both Sequoyah units and Watts Bar Unit 1, and the fuel transfer systems at Watts Bar. Framatome previously upgraded the fuel transfer systems at Sequoyah. The company will also replace the spent fuel bridges at Sequoyah and Watts Bar.

Framatome is owned by the EDF Group (75.5%), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI — 19.5%) and Assystem (5%).

In a separate contract, SGT, a joint venture between Framatome and California-based AECOM, will replace four steam generators at Watts Bar Unit 2. The steam generator converts water into steam using the heat created in the reactor core. The steam drives the turbines that generate electricity.

TVA’s Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant includes three boiling water reactors. Both the Sequoyah and Watts Bar nuclear plants have two pressurized water reactors.