Platts - Friday, February 04, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ Duane Arnold nuclear plant owners to sell station in auction Washington (Platts)--4Feb2005 The 583-MW Duane Arnold nuclear power plant is to be put up for sale in a competitive auction, its owners said Thursday. All three stakeholders in the Iowa plant--Interstate Power and Light Co, Central Iowa Power Cooperative and Corn Belt Power Cooperative--will sell their stakes after Interstate convinced the other two to join it in disposing of the plant. Interstate, an Alliant Energy Corp unit, said Dec 22, 2004 it wanted to sell its stake in the plant. The co-owners hope to agree a deal with the winning bidder by June 30. Concentric Energy Advisors has been retained to serve as the auction manager and financial advisor. The deal "allows CIPCO the chance to re-evaluate our long-term power supply portfolio and may offer a viable opportunity to further optimize our generation mix," CEO Dennis Murdock said. "By participating in the process, Corn Belt will keep abreast of the options open for its share of the Duane Arnold Energy Center, which will ultimately hold down costs for our member cooperatives," its General Manager Dale Arends said. This story was originally published in Platts Electricity Alert http://www.electricityalert.platts.com ------------ U.S. nuclear generation set record in 2004, NEI says Washington (Platts)--3Feb2005 U.S. nuclear plants had record output and stable costs in 2004 according to preliminary data, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) said today. U.S. plants generated a record 786.5-million megawatt-hours (MWH) in 2004, breaking the 2002 record of 780-million MWH, NEI said. In a presentation to Wall Street analysts in New York City, NEI President/CEO Joe Colvin said NEI's figures put the 2004 average net capacity factor at 90.6%, trailing only the 91.9% achieved in 2002 and the 90.7% in 2001. The slightly lower capacity factor, despite the higher output, occurred because nuclear operators nationwide have been uprating their units to squeeze more power out of them. Colvin also introduced his designated successor, Adm. Frank L. "Skip" Bowman, who urged the audience to analyze nuclear power "factually and unemotionally." ------------ Xstrata ups bid for WMC Washington (Platts)--2Feb2005 Swiss-based Xstrata is taking a new run at WMC, upping the offering price for the Australian uranium-copper producer to (Aust)$7.20 a share, or about $8.4-billion. WMC had rejected Xstrata's October 2004 offer of $6.35/share. WMC told its shareholders today "to take no action in relation to Xstrata's [latest] offer until WMC has considered the offer in the context of all available alternatives." The Australian government's Foreign Investment Review Board is also looking at the implications of the sale to Xstrata. Federal Treasurer Peter Costello has ultimate authority to decide on behalf of the government whether Xstrata's ownership of WMC would be in "the national interest." Costello said that if the bid is consistent with the national interest, it would be allowed, and then shareholders would make the final decision. Costello indicated that a government decision would be made soon. WMC shares closed Feb. 2 on the Australian Stock Exchange at $7.65/share, up 45 cents. ------------ NRC: Plant meltdown via Internet keystroke `entertaining fiction' Washington (Platts)--1Feb2005 A nuclear plant meltdown cannot be initiated by a keystroke from the Internet, NRC said on its "For the Record" Web site. The agency was responding to an episode of the Fox TV show "24" that aired last night. NRC called the episode "entertaining fiction," saying it "centered around the use of a `black box' that could remotely operate all 104 U.S. nuclear power plants via the Internet. For the record, there is no such black box or suitcase for controlling nuclear power plants. Control systems at the plants are not accessible via the Internet." ------------ Entergy Nuclear reports increased 2004 earnings Washington (Platts)--31Jan2005 Entergy Nuclear reported today earnings of $245-million in 2004 compared to the previous year's earnings of $196.9-million. Results do not include one-time items. Entergy attributed the higher earnings to price increases in its energy contracts and to additional revenues from a service contract at Cooper. For this year, the company said it expects its five-unit northeast nuclear fleet to pull in additional revenue from a combination of a $1 increase per megawatt-hour in the pricing of power purchase agreements and from the completion of power uprates. Refueling outages are planned this year at three of the company's merchant units--Indian Point-3, Pilgrim, and Vermont Yankee. ------------