Areva signs $500 mln U.S. fuel supply contract

PARIS Jan 4 (Reuters) - French nuclear company Areva has signed a $500 million contract with Xcel Energy in the United States to supply its Monticello nuclear power plant with fuel and services.

The contract covers uranium, conversion, enrichment, fuel design and fabrication, Areva said in a statement on Wednesday. It is the first of a kind awarded by a nuclear utility to a fuel supplier in the country in several decades, it said.