Platts - Thursday, September 23, 2004 http://www.platts.com ------------ No damage from earthquake at Ignalina Stockholm (Platts)--22Sep2004 An earthquake measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale was felt at Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear plant late yesterday afternoon, but plant management said reactor operations were not affected. The epicenter of the quake was in the Russian enclave of Kalliningrad, which borders Lithuania. There are two 1,500-MW RBMK's at the plant; Ignalina-2 is down for maintenance but Ignalina-1 was in operation when the earthquake struck. Seismic monitoring equipment and alarms were installed at the plant in 1999. However, civil preparedness authorities in the Baltic country said they feel general emergency plans need to be improved to deal with earthquakes. ------------ US nuclear plant cost-cutting stalls, 2003 costs hit $16.48/MWh Washington (Platts)--22Sep2004 US nuclear plant owners' cost-cutting appears stalled, with little ground gained since 2000, Platts analysis shows. Median spending for operations and fuel per nuclear megawatt-hour rose almost 50 cents to $16.48 in 2003, according to reports filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Energy Information Administration. The median in 2002 was $16.02/MWh; in 2001, it was $16.68; and in 2000, $16.22. Southern Nuclear Operating Co's Vogtle plant was the most efficient US nuclear generator in 2003 and the only nuclear plant spending less than $12 on producing each MWh. However, with costs of other fuels rising in 2004, nuclear operators' ability to maintain their cost profile made nuclear more competitive. Though uranium prices have also risen, nuclear fuel costs are generally amortized over the years fuel rods are resident in reactors, so effects from recent price rises will not be seen for several more years. All 2003 nuclear electricity cost somewhere between Vogtle's $11.70 and just under $27/MWh, not significantly different from the previous three years. Nuclear operators have warned that costs were being pushed upward by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's security requirements. The Nuclear Energy Institute says the industry has spent more than $1-bil on security in the three years since the Sept 11, 2001 attacks. The industry has had a general goal of getting costs down to an average of $10/MWh.