Platts - Thursday, October 30, 2003 http://www.platts.com ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--29Oct2003 House approves motion on nuclear security The House Oct. 28 approved a motion to instruct energy conferees to strengthen nuclear security provisions in a comprehensive bill now under House and Senate negotiation. The motion, introduced by Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), urges conferees to insist on language in the House-passed version of the energy bill. Markey called the language that is in the latest draft of a conference report a "weakening of critical antiterrorism protections." Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the House Energy & Commerce subcommittee on energy and air quality, said on the floor last week that he would not oppose the motion but that it was unlikely the nuclear security provisions would be reopened. Markey's legislative director, Jeff Duncan, said Oct. 29 that Markey hopes that the conferees will heed the instructions, which reflect a majority of the House. The motion passed 346-59, with 29 other members not voting. ------------ London (Nuclear News Flashes)--29Oct2003 BE warns reactor problems will impact finances British Energy (BE) warned that problems at three reactors would impact materially on finances, principally as a result of the need to replace approximately 0.8 terawatt-hours of aggregate lost output that had previously been sold forward. BE said in a stock exchange announcement Oct. 29 that its Sizewell B PWR would likely return to service by mid-November following its statutory refueling outage begun Oct. 4. Additional tests carried out on welds on the reactor's turbine steam system after some unusual indications had been found during ultrasonic testing showed it unlikely invasive repairs would be required, it said, hence the possible mid-November return. Also, it said, both Heysham A reactors shut down Oct. 28 following a failure of a seawater cooling pipe within the turbine hall. "The leak in the pipe has now been stopped and the water has been removed from the turbine hall," it said. The pipe is currently being repaired and the cause of the fault is being investigated. Heysham A should also start generating electricity again by mid-November, it said. ------------