I met one of the guys from Areva after the announcement last week. We had a good discussion. It seems logical enough to me. Areva is a huge player with no deployed nuclear reactors in North America (I think this is true). They see the Americans serious about using nuclear power – Obama has already agreed to provide loan guarantees to at least one new plant in Maryland and has talked about many more. New Brunswick has a site that was designed for more nuclear reactors and is in the backyard of the US.
It seems to me that Areva is looking at New Brunswick as a beachhead for their North American nuclear strategy.
Makes sense to me.