REFILE-Areva says to form nuclear engineering jv in China

(Fixes typo in headline)

BEIJING, Nov 2 (Reuters) - French nuclear group Areva (CEPFi.PA) will form a nuclear engineering and design joint venture with a Chinese counterpart before the end of this year, a company executive said on Monday.

"We will very soon sign an agreement with the Chinese nuclear industry to join our engineering and design forces," Marc Andolenko, president of Areva's China unit told reporters on the sidelines of an industry forum in Beijing.

"The joint venture will be for future sourcing and design of plants in China and abroad."

He did not disclose which Chinese firm or firms would be involved in the deal.

Areva has been trying to build their business in China after losing out to Toshiba Corp's (6502.T) Westinghouse Electric in the bid to supply the country's first third generation nuclear power plant.

Westinghouse's AP1000 technology will form the basis of China's own third generation reactor after the two sides signed a technology transfer agreement, and Avera's designs were rejected after it refused to transfer the technology.

Areva has since signed a deal to build two of its proprietory EPRs at the Taishan site in southern Guangdong province.

Andolenko said the company was waiting for the Chinese government to decide on four more reactors at the site.

"The Taishan site has been designed for 6 nuclear plants so we will see."

(For a factbox of China's nuclear power plants and plans, please click: [ID:nPEK248165]) (Reporting by David Stanway, Editing by Jacqueline Wong)