ATOS SE "It's out of the question that this control-command system for nuclear power plants could go who knows where. It must remain under the control of the public authorities," the French Finance Minister told Europe 1.
A month ago, the French government sent a letter of intent to the French IT group, which has embarked on a far-reaching restructuring to overcome its financial difficulties, with a view to acquiring its strategic activities - supercomputers, cybersecurity and everything to do with military activities, as Bruno Le Maire pointed out.
But "there remains one very important element, what we call the control-command of French nuclear power plants", he added.
"I will make sure that the command and control of nuclear power plants, which (...) [is] not yet within the perimeter we have secured, is within the perimeter we have secured, which will remain under the control of the public authorities", declared the Minister of the Economy.
"It could be EDF or a company close to EDF that takes over control of strategic activities. I can confirm that all Atos' strategic activities will remain under public control", he said.
The daily Les Echos reported in early May that Worldgrid, which designs nuclear power plant control systems for EDF, was in the process of being sold.
According to Les Echos, Worldgrid could be valued at up to 300 million euros, even though its book value on the Atos balance sheet at the end of 2022 was 32.3 million euros.
(Written by Jean-Stéphane Brosse, edited by Blandine Hénault)
