Platts - Tuesday, July 29, 2003 
http://www.platts.com

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Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--28Jul2003

Grossenbacher nominated as NRC commissioner

President Bush officially nominated John Grossenbacher
to the NRC July 25 and asked the Senate to approve a
nearly six-year term for him. In paperwork sent to the
Senate, Bush requested that Grossenbacher be allowed to
fill the remainder of the term vacated by former NRC
Chairman Richard Meserve, which expires on June 30,
2004, and that he simultaneously be reappointed to a
full five-year term expiring in 2009. Bush already has
said he plans to designate the retiring U.S. Navy
admiral as chairman once he is confirmed. There is
precedent for an NRC candidate to come on board with the
question of reappointment already settled. When James
Asselstine joined the commission in May 1982, there was
slightly more than a month left in the term of Peter
Bradford, whom Asselstine was replacing. Asselstine
completed Bradford's term and then served a full five-
year term.

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London (Nuclear News Flashes)--28Jul2003

BNFL proposes test to remove Tc-99 at Sellafield

British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) on July 28 suggested a
technetium-99 (Tc-99) removal "trial," instead of a
processing halt, in order to cut Tc-99 discharges from
the Sellafield reprocessing complex into the northeast
Atlantic. Norway claims such discharges could hurt its
exports of fish, lobster and seaweed and has been
vigorously lobbying the U.K. for a moratorium. In June,
the U.K. government asked BNFL to put a nine-month hold
on processing the medium-active concentrate (MAC), from
which the Tc-99 arises. The MAC comes from reprocessing
operations and is stored in tanks downstream until it
can be processed in the Enhanced Actinide Removal Plant
(EARP). BNFL spokesman Jamie Reed told Platts that the
company would like to carry out a trial in October to
see if it can add the chemical TPP to the EARP process
to enable the Tc-99 to be removed from the discharge
stream and stored as a solid product. "If successful,"
he said, "the trial will achieve the aims of a nine-
month moratorium."

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Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--25Jul2003

Bruce increases TransCanada, Cameco earnings

Bruce Power operations contributed a total of (Cdn)$24-
million after tax to earnings of TransCanada Corp. and
Cameco Corp. during the second quarter, the companies
said July 25. TransCanada and Cameco each own 31.6% of
the Bruce Power Limited Partnership, which is leasing
the Bruce reactors from Ontario Power Generation.
TransCanada said its Bruce share contributed $13-million
to its second quarter net income of $202-million.
Results fell by $3-million from second quarter 2002 due
to lower earnings from the transmission segment,
TransCanada said. Cameco said Bruce contributed $11-
million to its second quarter results. Cameco will
release full second quarter results July 31.

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Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--25Jul2003

Seabrook adds to FPL Energy earnings

Seabrook's "strong performance" contributed to FPL
Energy's increased second quarter earnings, parent FPL
Group said July 25. FPL Energy, the company's
unregulated wholesale energy subsidiary, reported
earnings of $51-million, versus $37-million for second
quarter 2002. Results do not include one-time items. FPL
bought an 88.2% interest in the 1,194-MW Seabrook PWR in
November 2002. More than 340 MW of new wind projects
also "significantly contributed" to FPL Energy's
earnings growth, FPL Group said. The parent company
reported net income of $241-million, compared to $249-
million in second quarter 2002. FPL Group's utility
subsidiary Florida Power & Light Co. reported income of
$199-million, down from $205-million in second quarter
2002. Results were impacted by milder weather and higher
operations and maintenance expense, among other factors,
FPL Group said.

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