EDF promotes nuclear executives to board ahead of new builds

(Fixes typo in Emmanuelle Verger's name in paragraph 6.)

By America Hernandez

PARIS -France's state-owned EDF has appointed several new directors to its board and will reorganise the group's operations in anticipation of its plans to build six new nuclear reactors and increase investments in hydropower, it said on Tuesday.

"This evolution aims to strengthen the Group’s industrial performance in support of the revival of nuclear power and hydropower ... We must organise ourselves to better define and deliver on our commitments over the long term," EDF CEO Bernard Fontana said in a statement.

Xavier Gruz, EDF's nuclear programme director, will join the executive committee immediately and propose a strengthened ownership structure for the new nuclear projects, reporting directly to the CEO and chairman.

EDF will also soon form a new project management entity meant to accelerate the build out of reactors by streamlining cooperation with industrial partners at the engineering, construction, and supply chain levels.

Nicolas Machtou, who currently heads new nuclear projects, will become the board's secretary general beginning in September.

Elisabeth Terrail, from EDF's reactor-building business Framatome, and Emmanuelle Verger, who heads EDF's hydropower activities, have also been appointed to the board.

Fontana, appointed CEO earlier this year, has been tasked with jumpstarting the nuclear ramp-up and is currently seeking ways to bring in money to finance new builds, including possible asset sales.

Earlier this year the French government agreed to issue EDF a subsidized loan covering at least half of the construction costs of six new reactors, which were estimated to be around 52 billion euros in 2022. An updated budget is expected by year-end.

(Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris; Editing by Barbara Lewis and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)