Platts - Thursday, April 01, 2004 http://www.platts.com ------------ Diaz initiates major reorganization at NRC Washington (Platts)--31Mar2004 Top NRC officials are changing jobs under a major reorganization initiated by NRC Chairman Nils Diaz. The top manager, Executive Director for Operations William Travers, will switch positions with Region II Administrator Luis Reyes. Deputy Executive Director for Reactor Programs Sam Collins is to become Region I administrator when Hub Miller retires in June. Ellis Merschoff, now chief information officer (CIO), will take Collins' post. Merschoff's deputy, Jacqueline Silber, was tapped as CIO. Deputy Executive Director for Materials, Research & State Programs Carl Paperiello will take over as head of the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES), while RES Director Ashok Thadani becomes a newly created director of international research & development projects. Paperiello is being replaced by Martin Virgilio, currently director of the Office of Nuclear Materials Safety & Safeguards (NMSS). Jack Strosnider, deputy head of RES, becomes head of NMSS. John Craig, an associate director in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, will become the RES deputy. ------------ Dounreay fuel plant to begin decommissioning London (Platts)--31Mar2004 The U.K. Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) announced the end of an era of Dounreay fuel manufacture today as the last batch of research reactor fuel cleared its D1202 fuel fabrication plant. The fuel is an outstanding order from SCK-CEN, operator of the BR2 research reactor at Mol, Belgium. D1202 was the first "active" facility to start operating at Dounreay, the former fast reactor and specialized reprocessing complex on the northern Scottish coast. "Tomorrow, work will start to clean out and decommission the plant," said owner UKAEA, noting the cost of decommissioning will be around 3-million pounds (U.S.$5.5-million). The task should be completed around 2008. The plant manufactured a total of some 10,000 fuel elements for a variety of research reactors around the world, including Dounreay's Material Test Reactor, now closed. Fuel manufacture began in 1957. In 1998, UKAEA decided not to seek any new work for D1202. ------------ Consortia to pursue licensing for new U.S. plants Washington (Platts)--30Mar2004 Two utility-vendor consortia will pursue construction-operating licenses (COL) for a new plant in the U.S. Announcement of one consortium's intent could come as early as tomorrow, sources said. Both plans depend on cost-sharing with DOE the expenses involved in obtaining a combined COL from NRC. Utility members of the consortium which may announce tomorrow--Exelon, Entergy, Southern, and Constellation--have not decided what plant to build, the AP1000 or the ESBWR, but vendors Westinghouse and General Electric, along with EDF International, are part of the team. The second team consists of Dominion and Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd. which will pursue licensing for AECL's advanced Candu, the ACR-700, sources told Platts. ------------ Russia delaying fuel delivery for Iranian reactor Washington (Platts)--30Mar2004 Russia won't supply the initial fuel load for Bushehr before next year and the Iranian reactor won't be commissioned until "well after that," Under Secretary of State for Arms Control & International Security John Bolton said in his prepared testimony for a House International Relations Committee hearing today. Speaking to reporters afterward, Bolton said the U.S. government has had "ongoing discussions" with Russia on the topic of Iran's nuclear program-- which Bolton and other U.S. officials have repeatedly said they view as aimed at weapons production--and that the Russians have "kept us informed" of their negotiations with Iran. In the testimony, Bolton characterized the Russian decision to push back the Bushehr schedule as "significant." ------------ Honeywell begins restart Washington (Platts)--29Mar2004 Honeywell has begun the first stage of restart for its Metropolis, Ill. uranium conversion plant. ConverDyn, the joint Honeywell-General Atomics company that markets the uranium hexafluoride (UF6) produced by the plant, announced in a press release today that the processing of uranium concentrate began yesterday. NRC, whose inspectors are monitoring the plant, gave its approval March 26 for Honeywell to proceed with the first of the three key phases of restart. The plant has been out of service since Dec. 22 in response to a UF6 leak. ------------ OKG's profits up in 2003 Stockholm (Platts)--29Mar2004 OKG'S after-tax profit increased 11% in 2003, compared with 2002, company management said today. OKG operates the three-unit Oskarshamn plant, which has a total installed capacity of 2,229 megawatts. Profit was 8-million kronor (U.S.$1- million) in 2003, on revenues of 3.2-million kronor, compared to profit of 7.2-million kronor and revenues of 2.9-million kronor in 2002. Production from Oskarshamn increased slightly in 2003 to 13.8 terawatt-hours (TWH), compared to 13.4 TWH in 2002. OKG is majority owned by E.On and minority owned by Fortum.