The Prime Minister of France, Manuel Valls, recently attended the inaugural ceremony of a new hydraulic forging press at Areva’s Creusot Forge, a supplier of forgings mainly to the nuclear power industry. The 9,000-ton press, which replaces an old press for nuclear forgings at the plant, will be used in conjunction with a 200-ton manipulator to handle steel, alloy and superalloy ingots ranging from 15 to 260 tons. The new press includes automated forging sequences, laser measurement and automatic tool-changing features.

"This highly competitive industry retains a prominent place, unique in the world, in our energy mix and is ??a pride and a pillar of our economy. The state will always be there to support and encourage it in its plans to export,” Valls said.