The takeover by EDF of the nuclear activities of General Electric (GE) has finally been finalized and will be effective on Friday, announced President Emmanuel Macron in an interview with the regional dailies of the EBRA group. “This May 31, EDF officially takes over the nuclear activities of General Electric and in particular the maintenance and manufacturing activities of Arabelle turbines,” he said, although the principle of this operation had been announced in 2022.
Arabelle turbines, manufactured by GE, are essential equipment for nuclear power plants. “This transaction will allow us to take back control of the production of turbines, and it can be profitable because we will produce for ourselves and for others,” argues the president.
In 2015, Alstom’s energy branch was acquired by GE, following a long political-economic controversy that began in the spring of 2014. Emmanuel Macron was Minister of the Economy when the transaction was finalized. EDF and GE announced in February 2022 “an exclusivity agreement” to discuss the French energy company’s takeover of GE Steam Power, the nuclear arm of the American conglomerate. President Emmanuel Macron then announced, from Belfort, the relaunch of a vast French nuclear program.
But the operation was slow to materialize, stumbling in particular over geopolitical questions. Asked about the presence of the Russian Rosatom among the clients of this nuclear activity and therefore about the opposition of the United States, Emmanuel Macron “confirms that all these problems were on the table and that they have been resolved”.
Asked about the fact that this announcement comes ten days before the European elections, Emmanuel Macron replied that it was “first and foremost a company announcement”. “I didn’t choose the calendar, and if I could have announced it in December, I would have been even happier. »