Platts - Wednesday, September 01, 2004 http://www.platts.com ------------ China to make strategic shift towards use of more nuclear power Beijing (AFP)--1Sep2004 China plans to boost development of its nuclear power industry to help meet the country's growing need for electricity, an official said Wednesday. "Nuclear power is going to be an important pillar in the electricity- mix especially in coastal areas where power demand is high," Zhang Huazhu, vice-minister in charge of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, was cited as saying by Xinhua news agency. The official agency referred to the move as "an important shift in strategy". China is looking to increase cooperation with other countries experienced in nuclear power generation and with foreign companies involved in the industry, the China Atomic Energy Authority added in a statement. No financial figures were provided, but Zhang said that "China is expected to obtain over 4% of its power supply, or 36-mil kW, from nuclear plants by 2020". Nuclear-generated electricity now accounts for only about 1.4% of China's total power supply. Over 90% of China's electricty is generated from coal and hydroelectric plants. About 8.6% comes from oil and natural gas-fired plants. Bottlenecks in coal supplies and a lack of overall generating capacity caused the worst electricity shortages in China in two decades this summer. At the end of June, the State Council, or cabinet, approved a draft of China's energy development program for 2004-2020, the country's first long-term energy policy in almost half of a century. ------------ NRC board faults DOE on HLW document availability Washington (Platts)--31Aug2004 In a stinging indictment of DOE, an NRC licensing board ruled today that the department failed June 30 to meet NRC regulations to make all documentary material available related to its planned Yucca Mountain, Nev. high-level waste (HLW) repository. The ruling, which granted the state of Nevada's motion to strike DOE's June 30 certification of documents, means that the earliest NRC can now docket DOE's Yucca Mountain license application is March 2005. NRC regulations state that the agency won't docket an application for a HLW repository until at least six months have elapsed from the time of DOE's certification that it has made all its documentary materials electronically available. Nevada attorney Martin Malsch called the decision of the three- person Atomic Safety & Licensing Board a "major victory for Nevada." ------------ U.S. nuclear output at record high in first-half 2004 Washington (Platts)--30Aug2004 U.S. nuclear output reached record levels in the first half of 2004, DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) said today. "Total nuclear output in the first half of 2004 (including June) is 3.7 percent higher than in the first half of 2003, and 1.7 percent higher than in the record year of 2002," EIA reported in data released today. U.S. nuclear generation for the first half of 2004 totaled 389,815,067 megawatt-hours (MWH), compared to 375,735,112 MWH in first-half 2003, EIA said. EIA noted that "the data are preliminary" and "much can happen in the remaining six months." EIA's "Nuclear Generation by Month, by Reactor Table" provides output data by month for each U.S. nuclear power plant. The data is on EIA's Web site at http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/whatsnew/newwhatsnew.cfm. ------------ Security meeting on Indian Point planned Washington (Platts)--27Aug2004 NRC has agreed to hold a meeting on security and emergency preparedness issues relating to Indian Point. The meeting will be held sometime in the fourth quarter. In a letter sent last week to a Westchester County, N.Y. official, NRC Deputy Executive for Reactor Programs Ellis Merschoff said the agency has decided to convene a special meeting to support local officials and provide any additional information they may need. Merschoff said the meeting would be held in a central location in Westchester County, where the plant is located. Although NRC routinely provides open meetings on its performance assessments of plants, the agency is receptive to arranging discussions on topics of local interest. Merschoff noted that such a meeting in late April lasted more than five hours, most of which was used to answer questions and take comments from the public. ------------