Platts - Tuesday, June 24, 2003 
http://www.platts.com

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London (Platts)--24Jun2003

UK publishes draft bill on $80-bil nuclear clean-up
authority

The UK government Tuesday published a draft bill setting
out its plans to set up a Nuclear Decommissioning Agency
to take on the GBP48-bil ($80-bil) task of cleaning up
the legacy of Britain's civil nuclear program. 

The bill sets out the statutory framework for the NDA,
the government said. It provides for assets and
liabilities to be transferred to the NDA, and for the
restructuring of British Nuclear Fuels. And it is
intended to allow for competition in nuclear clean up.
Energy minister Stephen Timms said the size of the clean
up task "cannot be underestimated." He said it was
"essential" to set up "a single publicly accountable
body to take strategic management control." He expressed
hopes that the NDA, the first of its kind in Europe,
would allow the UK to become a center of excellence in
nuclear decommissioning, offering further employment
opportunities in the future. The government committed to
legislation on the topic in the Queen's Speech November
2002. 

Civil nuclear liabilities account for 85% of the total
UK nuclear liabilities. The NDA will take responsibility
for cleaning up nuclear sites currently managed by BNFL
and the UK Atomic Energy Authority. These include the
UKAEA Dounreay, Windscale, Harwell and Winfrith sites
and the BNFL Sellafield, Drigg, Capenhurst sites in
addition to BNFL's magnox power plant fleet. Annual
expenditure is expected to be over GBP1-bil/year in each
of the next 10-15 years. The NDA should be operational
by April 2005 and will be located in Cumbria. Parties
that want to comment on the draft legislation need to
contact the government by Sep 16, 2003. 

This story was first published in European Power Alert.

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Stockholm (Nuclear News Flashes)--23Jun2003

BNFL pressed to suspend Tc-99 processing at Sellafield

British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) plc will be asked to stop
technetium-99 processing at Sellafield for nine months
to allow time for further research into a method for
preventing Tc-99 discharge into the North Atlantic, U.K.
Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Margaret Beckett said June 20. Beckett's request comes
after Nirex, a consultant to the U.K. government on the
issue, reversed its opinion of the so-called TPP
abatement process, which chemically precipitates certain
radioactive materials. Nirex now says it believes the
process could work. Norway has claimed the discharges
hurt the Norwegian fishing industry and seaweed exports.
Norwegian Environment Minister Boerge Brende called the
move "a partial victory" for Norway. The discharges from
BNFL's Sellafield plant are expected to be high-priority
item on the agenda at the meeting of Ospar, countries
bordering the North Atlantic that signed a convention on
protecting the marine environment.

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Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--23Jun2003

NRC begins special inspection at Quad Cities-2

NRC began a special inspection June 23 at Quad Cities-2
to review cracks discovered in the unit's steam dryer.
Exelon found the cracks June 12 in a portion of the
steam dryer located inside the reactor vessel above the
steam separator and the reactor fuel, NRC said.
Inspectors will review the causes of the dryer cracks
and will evaluate Exelon's repair plans, NRC said. Quad
Cities-2 has been down since June 11 after Exelon
discovered higher-than-normal moisture carryover from
the reactor to the turbine.

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