Arabelle Solutions, the EDF subsidiary specialised in turbines and circuits for nuclear reactors, will invest €100M in Chalon-sur-Saône to take in-house the production of heat exchangers for the six planned French EPR2 reactors. The project, unveiled on Monday by industry minister Sébastien Martin and energy minister Maud Bregeon, will create 160 jobs. Construction starts in early 2027 on the former Nordeon/Philips industrial site, and production of the giant heaters and steam superheaters — cylinders 25 metres long weighing between 220 and 270 tonnes — will begin in 2030.
The timetable does not cover the first pair of EPR2 reactors planned at Penly (Seine-Maritime), whose commissioning has now been pushed back to 2038. EDF nonetheless says Arabelle "will supply the heat exchangers for the first six reactors", without confirming the production sites. Alongside Chalon, the manufacturer has already begun a €350M extension of its historic Belfort plant, which builds turbines for EDF's UK reactors and will serve Westinghouse in Poland and the French EPR2 fleet. Arabelle plans to hire 600 people a year through 2030, 70 per cent of them in France.
Chalon also fits an industrial-cluster logic: Framatome (formerly Areva NP) already employs 1,300 people there, and several thousand more across Saône-et-Loire (Le Creusot forge, Saint-Marcel factory). The two groups have signed a "gentlemen's agreement" not to poach each other, even as the French nuclear sector expects 100,000 hires by 2035 (Gifen). Source: Les Echos, 26 April 2026, Amélie Laurin.
Arabelle gears up for the nuclear restart with a new plant in Chalon-sur-Saône
The story in one line: EDF subsidiary Arabelle Solutions is investing €100M at Chalon-sur-Saône to make heat exchangers in-house for the six planned French EPR2 reactors.
Key numbers
- €100M: investment in Chalon-sur-Saône, creating 160 jobs; production starts in 2030.
- €350M: parallel extension of Arabelle’s historic Belfort plant.
- 6 EPR2 reactors planned in France; first pair at Penly now expected in service in 2038.
- 25m long / 220–270 tonnes: size of the heat exchangers (heaters and steam superheaters) to be made at Chalon.
- 600 hires/year through 2030 by Arabelle, 70% in France.
- 100,000 hires expected by 2035 in the French nuclear sector (Gifen).
- 1,300 Framatome staff already on site in Chalon.
Why it matters
Three readings. First, EDF is trying to turn the page on the controversial sale of Alstom’s old energy unit to GE by reinternalising competences (heat exchangers were previously subcontracted to other European suppliers). Second, the geographic concentration in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté — Chalon, Le Creusot, Saint-Marcel — builds a rare French industrial cluster, with a labour-market tension that the Arabelle-Framatome non-poaching pact tries to defuse. Third, the slipping schedule (Penly in 2038) shows that the nuclear restart is a multi-decade programme — its economic payoff measured in decades, not quarters.
Takeaway
The Chalon plant is a stress test of France’s industrial bet on nuclear: capacity to train, to internalise, and to deliver a programme spanning decades. Watch the real EPR2 schedule and first Belfort deliveries to the UK and Poland.
Source: Les Echos, 26 April 2026, Amélie Laurin.