Platts - Monday, November 15, 2004 http://www.platts.com ------------ Cogema to supply DOE with MOX technology for Russia Washington (Platts)--12Nov2004 The Department of Energy (DOE) will contract with Cogema to transfer MOX fuel fabrication technology to Russia, DOE announced today. Under the contract, which has yet to be negotiated, Cogema would provide "proprietary intellectual property" and "limited technical support" to the U.S. DOE for construction of a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility in Russia, the department said in a Nov. 12 presolicitation notice. The MOX fuel will be fabricated using some 34 tons of former Russian weapons plutonium as part of the U.S.-Russian plutonium disposition program. Cogema is part of the DCS consortium that plans to construct a MOX fuel plant in the U.S. for plutonium disposition. The contract for work on the project in Russia would run from January 2005 to December 2006, DOE said. The department did not specify a dollar figure for the work. The contract will be negotiated on a sole-source basis because only Cogema can transfer its own MOX technology, DOE said. The presolicitation notice, DE-AC02-05CH11253, is on the Internet: http://www2.eps.gov/spg/DOE/PAM/HQ/DE%2DAC02%2D05CH11253/SynopsisP.html ------------ Westinghouse wins steam generator tubing contract in Korea Washington (Platts)--11Nov2004 Westinghouse won $90-million in contracts for a new steam generator tubing plant in Korea. Westinghouse Electric Co. said it would provide Korea Nuclear Fuel Co. (KNFC) with joint technology development, training, major equipment and installation, and commissioning of the new tube manufacturing plant in the Republic of Korea. The contracts run from 2005 to 2009. The new plant is planned for Daejeon, about four miles from the existing KNFC fuel manufacturing site, Westinghouse said. Once fully operational, the tubing plant is expected to produce in excess of 4-million linear feet per year, Westinghouse said. Westinghouse said it would supply starting materials from its Ogden, Utah plant for eight years, and tubing supplies from its Blairsville, Pa. plant to meet initial KNFC needs. ------------ NRC commissioners decline to rule on DOE appeal Washington (Platts)--10Nov2004 NRC commissioners today declined to rule on DOE's appeal of a licensing board decision that revoked the department's June 30 certification of repository-related documents. The time is not ripe for commission action, the NRC officials said in an order. DOE has said it would recertify the documents when they are all retrievable on the central licensing support network (LSN), a Web-based document retrieval system that would be used as a tool for legal discovery during NRC licensing of a nuclear waste repository. The message from the commission, according to Joseph Egan, an attorney who represented Nevada in the state's challenge of the DOE certification, is that commissioners would look at this issue again if DOE were to claim certification even though all documents had not been electronically linked and made available on the LSN. Such a situation had prompted Nevada's legal action. ------------ Battelle wins $4.8-billion contract to manage new Idaho lab Washington (Platts)--12Nov2004 Battelle Energy Alliance LLC will manage DOE's new Idaho National Laboratory. The lab will merge the Idaho National Engineering & Environmental Laboratory and the Argonne National Laboratory West into a single center focused on nuclear energy R&D, demonstration, and education. DOE said today the 10-year contract is valued at $4.8-billion, and the Battelle team, headed by retired Vice Adm. John Grossenbacher, will take charge of the lab Feb. 1. William Magwood IV, director of DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy, Science & Technology, told reporters in a teleconference that three other "strong" teams competed but Battelle was chosen for its business plan and key personnel it offered. Magwood declined to provide plan specifics. A Battelle official also said more details could not be released until the 14-day appeals process for the losing bidders had passed. ------------