Platts - Monday, December 08, 2003 http://www.platts.com ------------ Ottawa (Nuclear News Flashes)--5Dec2003 Panel says decision needed soon on future of Pickering A A decision must be made soon on whether to continue the Pickering A restart project, a government-appointed panel said in a report on cost overruns. Three top Ontario Power Generation (OPG) executives were forced to resign following the report's release Dec. 4. OPG is spending (Cdn)$25-million per month on the project, making it critical that the Ontario government make a decision as soon as possible on whether to continue, the panel said. The report said restarting the four Pickering A reactors could end up costing $3- to $4- billion and take five more years to complete. Unit 4 returned in September. Ontario Energy Minister Dwight Duncan said he asked for and received the resignations of OPG Chairman Bill Farlinger, CEO Ron Osborne and Chief Operating Officer Graham Brown. Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary Richard Dicerni has been appointed interim CEO. The panel that authored the report included former federal energy minister Jake Epp and former Bruce Power and British Energy executive Robin Jeffrey. ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--5Dec2003 Licenses extended for McGuire, Catawba The NRC approved extensions of Duke Power's McGuire and Catawba licenses. The operating licenses for McGuire-1 and -2 will now expire in June 2041 and March 2043, respectively, and the licenses for Catawba-1 and -2 will be extended until December 2043. However, the commission said the plants' initial 40-year licensing terms would be reinstated if a pending challenge to the renewal applications wins on appeal. The Glendale Springs, N.C.- based Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League filed a petition for review that is currently before the commission. The commission relicensing decision, announced Dec. 5, was made Dec. 3, nine days ahead of the anticipated schedule. ------------ Washington (Nuclear News Flashes)--04Dec2003 Federal government might pay for radwaste security upgrades The federal government might be willing to pay for any substantial upgrades needed to make spent fuel more secure while in storage at reactor sites, House staffer Jeanne Wilson said Dec. 3. Wilson, a staffer for House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), told a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) board that she believed Rogers would be willing to take those costs on as homeland security. She also suggested funding could come from DOE. The NAS Board on Radioactive Waste Management this week was preparing to begin a six-month, $1-million study on spent fuel security called for in the fiscal 2004 energy and water funding bill. It was apparent at the meeting that that will not be easy as officials from both sides of the nuclear waste debate presented studies with conflicting conclusions on the safety of spent fuel storage. The board, which will release a non-classified version of its report, could become the "scientific arbitrator" on this security issue, board Vice Chairman Charles McCombie said. ------------ Paris (Nuclear News Flashes)--04Dec2003 EPR construction a key EDF goal Construction of an European PWR (EPR) demo unit and strengthening of engineering, R&D and design capacities are key to the "industrial future of the EDF group," Electricite de France (EDF) said in announcing an "industrial and social action plan" Dec. 4. EDF Chairman/CEO Francois Roussely said the project to build a demonstration EPR, together with other utilities and perhaps large energy consumers in a consortium yet to be formed, is an opportunity to develop EDF's own architect-engineering forces. He said EDF would also be interested in playing such a role in Finland, which is negotiating to build an EPR, as well as in China, on the verge of launching a series of reactor orders. Senior EDF officials said the EPR demonstration project would take shape during 2004, but there would be no construction until late 2006 or 2007 and the bulk of the investment would come after then. They said discussions have just begun with potential partners, including German utilities and Italy's Enel. ------------