2001/769/EC: Commission Decision of 6 December 2000 on the compatibility of a concentration with the common market and with the EEA Agreement (Case COMP/M.1940 — Framatome/Siemens/Cogéma/JV) (Text with EEA relevance) (notified under document number C(2000) 3691)

• Articles: 2

Article 1

The proposed operation, as modified by the parties on 17 November 2000, between Framatome SA and Siemens AG is hereby declared compatible with the common market and the EEA Agreement.

Article 2

This Decision is addressed to: The notifying parties.

Done at Brussels, 6 December 2000.

For the Commission

Mario Monti

Member of the Commission

(1) OJ L 395, 30.12.1989, p. 1: corrected version (OJ L 257, 21.9.1990, p. 13).

(2) OJ L 180, 9.7.1997, p. 1.

(3) OJ C 309, 6.11.2001

(4) MOX is a blend of natural uranium or "tails uranium" (a by-product of the enrichment process) mixed with a small amount of plutonium gathered through reprocessing.

(5) Turnover calculated in accordance with Article 5(1) of the Merger Regulation and the Commission notice on the calculation of turnover (OJ C 66, 2.3.1998, p. 25). To the extent that figures include turnover for the period before 1 January 1999, they are calculated on the basis of average ECU exchange rates and translated into EUR on a one-for-one basis.

(6) ENU fuel is produced from natural uranium that undergoes several chemical processes in order to make it useable as nuclear fuel. The main steps are "conversion" (i.e., the mixture of purified uranium concentrates with hydrofluoric acid and fluorine in order to obtain suitable chemical compounds) and "enrichment" (i.e. the increase of uranium 235 isotopes that split easily in the fission process). Once enriched, the uranium is chemically transformed into UO2 powder, which is then granulated into UO2 granulates and afterwards compressed into ENU pellets.

(7) ERU fuel is produced from uranium that comes from reprocessed spent fuel and is later enriched or mixed with weapon-grade uranium. ERU fuel is therefore produced in much lower quantities than ENU fuel

(8) Only one fuel type is loaded within one given FA.

(9) NPP operators use approximately 1 % of ERU-type FAs in their LWRs.

(10) Parts of this text have been edited to ensure that confidential information is not disclosed; those parts are enclosed in brackets.

(11) In view of the facts outlined above, it appears that, for the purpose of this case, no distinction has to be made between MOX fuel for PWRs and BWRs.

(12) For example, the notifying parties note that an FA design developed in the United States can be used in European NPPs, and vice versa. The same is true for the production processes.

(13) Agreement for cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy between the European Atomic Energy Community and the United States of America of 7 November 1995 (OJ L 120, 20.5.1996, p. 1).

(14) The customs duties are higher for some of the components, e.g. cladding tubes, guiding tubes, instrumentation tubes: 9 %.

(15) One FA supplier notes that the main reason why a shipment from the USA to a particular customer in Germany took place was that this customer had an emergency need for fuel.

(16) This is also confirmed by documents produced by NAC, the organiser of the Nuclear Fuel Management Seminar.

(17) SPC is a wholly owned Siemens' subsidiary in the USA.

(18) Annual report of ESA, issue 1999, p. 27.

(19) In the EEA, 89 PWR nuclear power plants were built, of which 58 were installed in France.

(20) It is worth mentioning that the NPP constructor receives the first FA load contract.

(21) In the EEA, 18 BWR were built, of which six were installed in Germany.

(22) Nonetheless, when FA vendors have obtained qualified supplier status for reactors with identical designs to a reactor for which it has not yet obtained qualified supplier status, it generally becomes somewhat easier to obtain this status.

(23) By decision of 1 August 2000, the Commission authorised the concentration between Rio Tinto (owner of Rössing) and North (majority shareholder of ERA); Case COMP/M.2062. When the concentration has been completed, the market share of the new combined entity would add up to some 15 % to 20 % on a worldwide basis.

(24) BNFL has a one-third share in Urenco. The other Dutch and German shareholders in Urenco have plans to sell their participation. Only very few enterprises, namely those which have activities in enrichment of natural uranium, could possibly have an interest in acquiring these shares, inter alia, Cogéma, BNFL and USEC.

(25) Nuclear fuel management seminar, in which Siemens participated in June 2000; the seminar was organised by NAC.

(26) And Switzerland.

(27) At this point, it must be noted that Holtec is of the opinion that it is not the use of Boral as such that is to blame for the shortcomings experienced but, rather, the poor quality of the Boral that has been procured by the suppliers in question. Further, borated stainless steel is also said to have a history of problems: as a result, the US regulatory authorities do not recommend its use.

(28) The parties maintain that also the value of the contracts for SKB, the central storage facility for the Swedish nuclear power plants, must be included in the calculation of market shares. The position of SKB is, however, rather special as it has its own rack design for wet storage (using canisters in larger racks) and just subcontracts the construction of these racks. In addition, the compact canisters of SKB are used for interim storage only.

(29) [...].