Platts - Thursday, August 19, 2004 
http://www.platts.com

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NRC dismisses three Utah contentions in PFS proceeding

Washington (Platts)--18Aug2004

NRC dismissed three contentions that Utah sought to
litigate in the Private Fuel Storage LLC (PFS)
proceeding. The commissioners issued a decision
yesterday affirming an Atomic Safety & Licensing Board's
ruling on the contentions. Utah had argued that PFS'
environmental report was deficient because it did not
address how defective or leaking canisters would be
repaired. Utah also claimed PFS did not quantify certain
costs such as visual impacts, accidents, and emergency
response. In the third contention, the state faulted the
staff's cost-benefit analyses in its environmental
impact statement. The commissioners disagreed there were
any deficiencies in the staff's work and said that the
licensing board properly concluded the contentions
should not be admitted for litigation.

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NRC denies appeal for hearing on Davis-Besse restart

Washington (Platts)--17Aug2004

The NRC commission denied an appeal for a hearing on the
staff's approval in March for Davis-Besse to restart
operations. In an order issued today, the commission
agreed with an administrative licensing board's decision
that the four petitioners failed to establish standing
and did not offer any admissible contentions. The
petitioners had objected to allowing the reactor, which
had been shut for more than two years, to resume
operations on the grounds it was not in compliance with
fire protection and other licensing requirements. The
licensing panel and NRC said those issues were outside
the scope of a hearing, which was restricted to the
company's self-assessment improvement plans. One
challenger, Paul Gunter of the Nuclear Information &
Resource Service, said he was disappointed with the
decision because his group had raised concerns about
"fire protection violations" months before the NRC
restart panel gave the go-ahead for Davis-Besse to
restart.

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Westinghouse awarded $27-million Seabrook contract

Washington (Platts)--16Aug2004

FPL Energy and Westinghouse Electric Co. announced a
$27-million contract for Westinghouse to provide outage
services at the Seabrook plant in New Hampshire.
Included in the six-year, four-outage contract are steam
generator and reactor coolant pump services, a 10-year
in-service reactor vessel inspection, split pin
replacement, and reactor vessel head penetration
inspections, Westinghouse said today. The company said
it would perform the first outage services work at the
station in spring 2005. George Dillon, vice president of
U.S./Asia operations for Westinghouse Nuclear Services,
said the contract would give Westinghouse the lead time
necessary to plan the work and would provide FPL Energy
with the security of having the support and resources
available.

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