Breaking up Areva's T&D not taboo says VP -report

PARIS, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Breaking up the Transmission and Distribution (T&D) unit of Areva (CEPFi.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) currently on sale is not a taboo, Bernard Bigot, vice-president of the supervisory board of the French nuclear power group said.

His comments, published on Monday in an interview with French daily Les Echos, came after Areva Chief Executive Anne Lauvergeon ruled out dismantling T&D at the end of June.

Asked about a potential dismantlement of T&D, Bigot, also head of the state Commission on Nuclear Energy (CEA), which owns 79 percent of Areva, told the French daily: "There is no taboo for me."

French engineering groups Alstom (ALSO.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Schneider (SCHN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) have made a joint bid for the unit and aim to split the assets between themselves.

Areva's T&D unit is the world no.3 after ABB (ABBN.VX: Quote, Profile, Research) and Siemens (SIEGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research) and has a market value estimated between 3.5 billion and 5 billion euros.

T&D designs and builds systems to manage power networks and the distribution of electricity from power stations. It contributed 38 percent of Areva sales in 2008.

Bigot said Areva and other companies such as Alstom needed to co-ordinate their strategies so that elements produced by one were compatible with products produced by the other.

Bigot declined to comment on the bid for the unit from Alstom and Schneider but said the offer had not yet been finalised.

He said the bidders should offer "at the same time an industrial project, a social project and a fair appreciation of value". (Reporting by Astrid Wendlandt, editing by Will Waterman)