Platts - Thursday, May 15, 2003
http://www.platts.com

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Paris (Nuclear News Flashes)--14May2003

French lawmakers push for action on EPR

France must move ahead "now" with the construction of
the first EPR, the French parliament's technology
assessment office (OPECST) said in a report released
today. Lawmakers Claude Birraux, the office's president,
and Christian Bataille, rapporteurs for the 230-page
report, said that an order for a Framatome ANP advanced
European PWR (EPR) "demonstration" unit must be
authorized this year in order to ensure the unit will
have operated long enough to resolve any problems by the
time Electricite de France (EDF) needs to replace its
existing 900-MW reactors, starting about 2020. They said
the French government "shouldn't be afraid" of
supporting the project, citing a proposal by U.S. Sen.
Pete Domenici involving development aid for new U.S.
reactors. In France, such measures could be included in
the energy policy bill the government plans to submit to
parliament this fall, they said.

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Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--14May2003

NRC staff: siting applications must reflect security
orders

The NRC staff has advised the three potential applicants
for early site permits (ESP) to use two agency orders on
security matters in the development of their submittals.
In letters sent last week to Entergy, Exelon, and
Dominion, NRC's James Lyons said the companies should
consider the February 2002 order on interim compensatory
measures and the April 29 order requiring compliance
with the updated design basis threat. Lyons, director of
the New Reactor Licensing Project Office, told the
utilities they needed to discuss how specific site
characteristics, such as cliffs or open waterways, might
require measures to prevent adversaries from getting too
close to the facility. Also, the letter said, they
should look at nearby facilities and physical land
characteristics as part of implementing a physical
security program. He said the commission would decide
whether any additional security design requirements
would apply to ESP applicants.

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Washington (Platts Inside EnergyEXTRA)--14May2003

US DOE calls 'dirty bomb' report flawed

The Energy Department today disputed a General
Accounting Office report criticizing US Department of
Energy's ability to identify, control and dispose of
low-level nuclear materials that could be used in "dirty
bombs." DOE issued a statement calling the GAO report
"flawed" because it did not "fully consider" the
department's "substantial progress as well as a major
interagency initiative" with the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission to reduce such risks. The report, released
Tuesday, asserts that securing such nuclear materials --
which were used in medicine, agriculture, research and
industry in the United States -- is "not a priority" for
DOE and "not even fully funded" by the department. DOE
in conjunction with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
has recovered and secured 6,000 sources of such
material, including 1,600 sources in FY-03. DOE said
both before and after the Sep 11 terrorist attacks, when
fears heightened that a fanatic might combine explosives
and nuclear materials, the department recognized the
need to step up protective efforts for security reasons.
"Since September 11th, the Department of Energy has
significantly enhanced its efforts to aggressively
secure and recover radioactive sources. In fact, since
September 11th, DOE has recovered 4,451 sources while in
the entire four years leading up to September 11th, only
1,594 sources were recovered," DOE said. The GAO report
is available at http://www.gao.gov.

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