Word: finlander
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...finally over, you might think that execs at Areva, the world's biggest nuclear-energy company, are strutting just now. But you'd be wrong. The state-owned French giant is scrambling not just to rectify a series of snafus at a high-profile reactor it's building in Finland, but also to raise more than $10 billion in new capital and weather the loss of an important industrial partner. All that has raised concerns that CEO Anne Lauvergeon - who fused a disparate collection of firms into the first one-stop-shop nuclear conglomerate, winning plaudits and the nickname "Atomic...
...Areva has benefited from nuclear power's second coming as much as any other company. But its 2008 profits - $824 million on $18.4 billion in sales - were down 17% from 2007, due mostly to a whopping $2.4 billion write-down linked to construction troubles with its Finland reactor. The Finnish project was supposed to showcase Areva's third-generation earthquake- and missile-proof design, known as a European Pressurized Reactor (EPR). Areva beat out Westinghouse and General Electric-Hitachi in 2003 to win a contract with Finland's main utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) to build the plant. GE-Hitachi...
...troubles in Finland probably contributed to German engineering giant Siemens' January decision to pull out of its eight-year partnership with Areva. It has also raised questions about CEO Lauvergeon's management style. Critics accuse her of being better at selling big projects than at executing them. Some suggest her refusal to reconfigure the joint venture with Siemens to give it a direct stake in Areva ultimately convinced the Germans they could do better with another partner. (Read: "Siemens Sues Its Own Managers...
...recognize that it has its own sphere of influence in the "near abroad" - the territory of the old Soviet Union - and halt NATO's expansion to the east. More generally, Moscow would like some respect. "The Russians want to belong. They want to feel big," says Finland's Foreign Minister, Alexander Stubb, who has met with both Medvedev and Putin since Obama's Inauguration. "There's a sense of greatness in Russian history, and that's how they feel Russia should be treated...
...Countries such as France, Finland, Italy, Sweden, and the U.K. are already eyeing nuclear power to help them meet emissions reductions targets, leaving Germany isolated among its E.U. and G-8 partners. And German Greens who continue to bang against the metal fences surrounding nuclear plants as they call for shutdowns are increasingly isolated among their European peers, some of whom see nuclear as a viable low-carbon alternative, however imperfect. (See pictures of the G-8 leaders letting their hair down...