Platts - Thursday, June 19, 2003 http://www.platts.com ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--18Jun2003 User fees continue to pay NRC homeland security costs NRC said there is merit to the arguments its homeland security costs should not be charged to licensees through user fees. However, until Congress votes to change the way those costs are recovered, there is nothing the agency can do, NRC said today in publishing its final fee rule for fiscal 2003 in the Federal Register. Last year Congress passed legislation directing that $29.3-million in NRC homeland security costs be recovered from user fees. NRC noted that a bill recently approved by the Senate Environment & Public Works Committee (S. 1043) provides that amounts appropriated for NRC homeland security activities be excluded from the fee base. Exceptions would include certain costs associated with fingerprinting, background checks, and security inspections. NRC said it would separately address issues raised by licensees that have questioned the cost and effectiveness of recent NRC nuclear vulnerability assessments and that have pointed to the overlap and duplication of nuclear security functions at NRC and other federal agencies. ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--18Jun2003 Domenici: easier to build reactor now than 20 years ago Construction of new power reactors will be much easier now than it was 20 years ago, Sen. Pete Domenici (R- N.M.) said today. The chairman of the Energy & Natural Resources Committee, who met with reporters to discuss the Senate's comprehensive energy bill, pointed to the untested streamlined licensing process at NRC that was mandated under a 1992 federal law. The streamlining is expected to help reduce the cost and time needed to build a new reactor. "People, like this senator, have looked back at the era when nuclear power plants took forever and a day and were botched up by anything and everything," Domenici said. "That '92 law cleaned up a lot of that. And if we haven't cleaned it up yet, we have an opportunity to go to conference and clean up some more." He stressed the U.S. cannot meet the projected growth in electricity demand "without something like nuclear power plants." Domenici appeared hopeful that provisions authorizing federal loan guarantees for new reactors, which were attached to the Senate energy bill last week following a 50-48 vote, would not be a contentious item during a House-Senate conference committee. A source said later that Domenici's counterpart in the House--Chairman Billy Tauzin (R-La.) of the Energy & Commerce Committee--has not yet determined what his position will be on the loan guarantees. The House version of the bill does not contain similar provisions. ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--17June2003 Senate may delay action until mid-July on energy bill Senate action on a comprehensive energy bill has been postponed yet again until mid- to late-July, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said today. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici(R-N.M.) had previously indicated he had a commitment from Frist to resume consideration of the legislation (S. 14) when the Senate returns from its Independence Day recess July 7. But Frist told reporters after his party's weekly policy lunch today that the "decision has not been made" exactly when the Senate will return to the energy bill. "My goal is to complete it in July," he said. After spending most of the first two weeks of June on energy, the Senate June 12 agreed to limit the number of amendments that could be offered to it. But Frist bumped the measure from the floor to consider Medicare legislation. "I will talk to [Domenici] to see if we can winnow down the [more than 375] amendments that have been listed as possible," Frist said. "We'll see if progress can be made to get to a reasonable and manageable number and pass it on the floor in July." ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--17June2003 NRC issues draft report on Westinghouse's AP1000 NRC has issued a draft safety evaluation report for Westinghouse's AP1000. According to a June 16 letter to Westinghouse, NRC said there are more than 170 open items that need to be resolved before a final safety evaluation can be issued. The two significant areas that will require review before the final safety evaluation can be issued are liquid entrainment phenomena during certain accident conditions and security, NRC said. In the area of security, NRC has been conducting a review separate from the rest of the AP1000 review and said in the letter that it will issue a supplemental draft safety evaluation report for security. NRC in a pres release said it expects to issue a final safety evaluation report in September 2004 and reach a decision on design certification by October 2004. The agency said the draft safety evaluation report will be available in 14 days, pending Westinghouse's review to ensure that no proprietary information is contained within the document. ------------ Paris (Nuclear News Flashes)--16Jun2003 Iran must resolve nuclear questions to advance trade pact, EU says Iran must implement additional safeguards, the European Union (EU) said June 16. EU foreign ministers, meeting in a General Affairs Council days before the summit that will close the Greek EU presidency in Thessaloniki, linked cooperation on resolving suspicions about an Iranian nuclear weapons program to further progress on a bilateral EU-Iran trade agreement. The ministers said progress on the two issues represented "interdependent, essential and mutually reinforcing elements of EU-Iran relations." Sources said the ministers were troubled by reports that Iran had twice refused access to the Kalaye Electric Co. last week for IAEA inspectors who wanted to take environmental samples in a bid to better understand activities at that workshop, which made parts for centrifuges in Iran's recently declared uranium enrichment development program. ------------