Luc Oursel has announced he is taking a leave of absence from AREVA for medical reasons.
" I must now fight a personal battle against the illness, but all of my thoughts remain with the teams at AREVA. I have been happy and proud to mobilize them in the difficult context for the turnaround of the company, for the benefit of the country, and I am convinced that they will succeed," Oursel said, without specifying the nature of the illness.
Just last week Oursel chaired a conference session at the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris.
AREVA's chairman of the board, Pierre Blayau and Bernard Bigot, vice-chairman, stated that their first thoughts were with Oursel for his recovery, but were meeting today to continue managing the company in his absence.
It is an unsettled time in the French nuclear industry. The government has recently established a formal plan to reduce nuclear power dependence to 50% by 2030.
Media reports state that the French government will replace Henri Proglio, CEO of EDF, the nuclear-power based, state-controlled national utility, by Jean-Bernard Levy, chief executive of defence firm Thales.
Picture: Oursel at Creusot Forge in June 2014. Picture: Alain Bollery, from http://creusot-infos.com/
