Feb. 14, 2007 (China Knowledge) – French state-run company Areva has unexpectedly agreed a $5 billion deal to build two nuclear power plants in China weeks after a U.S. rival Toshiba Corp.'s Westinghouse Electric Co. appeared to have won a competition that dragged on for more than two years, reported Reuters.

According to the report citing an official at the China Nuclear Society, the agreement covers a total of 3.2 GW of generating capacity in southern Guangdong province.

Areva’s winning of the US$5 billion-dollar deal is seen as reward for the lobbying by France's President Jacques Chirac during October talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao. Paris-based Areva and Westinghouse are competing to build as many as 26 more reactors by 2020 as China turns to atomic energy to cut pollution and reliance on oil.