Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Areva SA, the world's biggest maker of nuclear reactors, expects a nuclear power revival to gather pace in Western nations as oil prices trade near records, Chief Executive Officer Anne Lauvergeon said in an interview.

Controls on carbon-dioxide emissions from coal- and gas-fired power stations aimed at combating global warming will also help demand, said Lauvergeon, 46, who has led Areva since 2001. The Paris-based company may today report first-half earnings fell 4.1 percent, according to a Bloomberg survey.

``Several utilities have approached us with different degrees of interest,'' Lauvergeon said after the inauguration in Finland of the first nuclear power station ordered in Europe since the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. ``We've recruited about a thousand engineers. All sources of energy that don't produce carbon dioxide will have their place.''

Areva last week set up a venture to develop new reactors in the U.S. as a 56 percent gain in the price of crude oil this year increases demand after a two-decade lull in construction. One- third of U.S. nuclear capacity is 30 years old, while only two reactors were being built in Western Europe and North America as of July, compared with a global installed base of 440, the World Nuclear Association says.

Areva may say net income through June fell to 281 million euros ($343 million)from 293 million euros when it posts figures after markets close today, limited by costs from job cuts at its power-networks unit, according to the median estimate of four analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Share Sale

The French government, which controls about 95 percent of Areva, has said it plans to sell shares in the company next year, making it easier for Lauvergeon to raise capital and develop the business through acquisitions.

Less than 5 percent of Areva is publicly traded as non-voting investment certificates. The certificates have surged 35 percent this year, reaching a record 472 euros on Sept. 16, their latest trading session, and valuing the entire business at 16 billion euros.

``Nuclear power has better prospects today than it did two years ago,'' said Pierre Boucheny, an analyst at Kepler Equities in Paris. ``There's an economic reality to a rebound in nuclear. There are no carbon-dioxide emissions and the price of electricity is totally disconnected from the price of the raw material.''

Areva on Sept. 15 agreed to form a joint venture with Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group to develop the French company's European Pressurized-Water Reactor, or EPR, in the U.S., where the last nuclear plant was licensed in 1978 and opened in 1987. At least a dozen U.S. utility owners have expressed an interest in new reactors as oil trading in New York reached a record $70.85 a barrel on Aug. 30.

Concrete Casing

Most funding for the U.S. venture will come from Areva, which intends to spend $200 million adapting the EPR design for the U.S. power grid, Thomas Christopher, chief executive of the company's U.S. business, said last week. Each reactor would generate 1,600 megawatts, enough to power 1.28 million homes. Safety measures include two layers of 4.3-foot (1.3-meter) concrete to protect against aerial attack and a water-filled basin to douse any meltdown of the radioactive core.

``If the U.S. resumes nuclear power it could represent a significant budget,'' said Boucheny. ``By Americanizing itself and partnering with a local utility, Areva can hope to get part of that business.''

Boucheny has a ``reduce'' rating on Areva stock, reflecting its gains this year and concern that business cycles in the nuclear industry are of such a length that benefits from work won today won't boost earnings until at least 2010.

Five out of 11 analysts tracked by Bloomberg recommend selling shares of Areva. Six have ``hold'' ratings.

India, China

About 16 percent of the world's electricity is generated by nuclear power stations. Coal-burning plants produce about 39 percent. In recent years demand for new reactors has come almost exclusively from emerging markets. As of July, eight were being built in India, four in Russia and two in China, according to the Web site of the World Nuclear Association industry group.

Construction of the first EPR in Olkiluoto, Finland, for power utility Teollisuuden Voima Oy, began last year at an estimated cost of 3 billion euros. The only other firm order is from Electricite de France SA, the world's biggest power company, based in Paris and owned by the French state.

France, lacking in coal and oil, already has 58 nuclear reactors, the second-highest total in the world after the U.S., which has 104, according to the International Energy Agency's Web site, and twice as many as Germany or the U.K.

The country gets more than three-quarters of its electricity from nuclear energy, compared with about one-third in Germany and one-fifth in the U.S. and Britain.

GE, Westinghouse

Areva's competitors include General Electric Co., BNFL's Westinghouse unit, AtomStroyExport of Russia, and Mitsubishi Corp. and Toshiba Corp. of Japan. The French company has a two-thirds stake in Framatome Advanced Nuclear Power, which is developing the EPR. Siemens AG of Germany owns the rest.

Areva said last week it's in exclusive talks to sell FCI, a supplier of connectors used in mobile phones, car airbags and satellites to buyout firm Bain Capital Ltd. The company last year paid Lauvergeon a total of 450,376 euros.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nicolas Johnson in Paris nicojohnson@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: September 18, 2005 19:16 EDT