Platts - Monday, October 13, 2003 http://www.platts.com ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--13Oct2003 WGI enters new credit line arrangement WGI said it has entered into a $350-million, 48-month credit line with a financial syndicate led and arranged by Credit Suisse First Boston. Washington Group International (WGI) said the new credit line replaces the one that the company entered into in January 2002. Interest expense under the new credit line is expected to be about $9-million a year lower than under the old one, WGI said. WGI said it will write off the remaining $9.8-million of debt issue costs associated with the old credit line, which will result in a $5.9-million after- tax charge to fourth quarter earnings. WGI, a Boise- based engineering and construction firm, holds several cleanup contracts at DOE nuclear sites. ------------ Paris (Nuclear News Flashes)--13Oct2003 Nuclear group head warns safety slipping A "terrible disease" threatens nuclear operating organizations that can, if not detected, lead to "a major accident" that will "destroy the whole organization," Hajimu Maeda, chairman of the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), warned utility chiefs Oct. 13. Maeda told the WANO biennial general meeting in Berlin that recent industry problems have been caused by "loss of motivation to learn from others...overconfidence....(and) negligence in cultivating a safety culture due to severe pressure to reduce costs following the deregulation of the power market." Those factors, if ignored, "are like a terrible disease that originates within the organization" and can lead to its downfall, he warned. Maeda said WANO needs more resources to help utility members in its four regions diagnose and resolve organizational and safety culture problems. WANO members must also be "more transparent" to their peers in exchanging information, he said, a wish echoed by several speakers at the meeting but which industry executives said was far from being fulfilled. ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--10Oct2003 LOCA guidance could have unintended consequences Current guidance used to determine the potential for sump blockage at PWRs during a loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) could result in plant modifications that have "unintended consequences," such as installation of larger containment sump screens that could "compromise other aspects of plant design and operation," the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) said in a report delivered to NRC Oct 10. In a letter accompanying the report, NEI said the use of fracture mechanics in determining the pipe break size would "provide a more realistic representation of one aspect of debris generation modeling (break size) while maintaining an overall conservative representation of debris generation potential of postulated breaks." ------------ Paris (Nuclear News Flashes)--10Oct2003 MOX production delays affects half-year results A delay in production at Melox this year was due to the transfer of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel production from Cogema's other MOX fuel plant at Cadarache, now closed, a spokesman said Oct. 9. Cogema parent Areva earlier this month reported a "slight delay" in MOX assembly production that affected its first-half 2003 financial results. But a spokesman said the delay had "nothing to do with" either Cogema's Japanese MOX business, which is dormant, or actions by Greenpeace to call attention to plutonium oxide shipments to Melox which obliged Cogema to reorganize its shipment plan. The spokesman said the company's deliveries had not been affected so far, but it wasn't yet certain the delay could be fully compensated by year's end. ------------