Platts - Thursday, February 10, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ World nuclear generation sets new record in 2004: Nucleonics Week Washington (Platts)--10Feb2005 World nuclear generation in 2004 rose more than 3.7% to a high of 2.686-bil MWh, led by record-setting performance in the US and Sweden, recovery from regulatory ills in Japan, restart of long-laid-up units in Canada, commissioning of new units in Korea and Ukraine, and solid performances in other countries, Platts' Nucleonics Week will report Thursday. The year's top capacity factor of 104.09% was posted by Shikoku Electric Power Co's Ikata-3 in Japan. Germany's Isar-1, operated by E.On Energie AG, generated the most power in 2004, nearly 12.23-mil MWh. The top US performer by capacity factor was Entergy's Indian Point-3, and the top generator, South Texas-2. Nucleonics Week said that while some data was incomplete from Argentina, the UK, China, and Slovenia, the known total had already set a world record. The 2.686-bil MWh exceeded the 2002 record by some 20-mil MWh. That performance was helped by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) commissioning Ulchin-5 and Ukraine's Energoatom starting Khmelnitski-2 and Rovno-4. ------------ Bush announces deputy secretary of energy nominee Washington (Platts)--9Feb2005 Clay Sell will be nominated to be deputy secretary of energy. President George W. Bush announced yesterday his intention to nominate Sell, a former Senate staffer. Sell currently is the president's special assistant for legislative affairs. He previously was the president's special assistant for economic policy. Sell moved to the White House from Capitol Hill, where he was the staff director and Republican clerk for the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy & Water Development ------------ EIA expects slightly less nuclear generation in 2005 Washington (Platts)--8Feb2005 U.S. nuclear plants will produce 785.8 million megawatt-hours (MWH) of electricity in 2005, representing about 19.2% of anticipated total U.S. generation this year, DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected in its short-term energy outlook for February, released today. This represents a decline from 786.9-million MWH in 2004, EIA said. U.S. nuclear generation in 2006 is projected at 792.1-million MWH. Total U.S. electricity demand is expected to increase by 3.4% in 2005 and an additional 2.1% in 2006, following estimated 2004 growth of 1.5%, EIA said. The outlook is available at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/steo/pub/pdf/feb05.pdf. ------------ EU govts extend nuke safety standards debate to end-2006 Brussels (Platts)--8Feb2005 The European Union council of member state governments has set up a working party to look at nuclear safety and waste management in the EU with the aim of reporting conclusions by end-2006, a council official said Tuesday. The European Commission has been negotiating with the council since 2002 to get two EU harmonized nuclear directives--one on safety and one on waste management--adopted under the Euratom treaty. But the talks reached a stalemate last June in the council, where there was not enough of a consensus either to adopt or reject the directives. The council called for "extensive" stakeholder consultation before adopting any new laws. The working party on nuclear safety (WPNS) is an offshoot of the council's working party on atomic questions (WPAQ) which looks at the technical detail of EU nuclear issues. The WPAQ wants the WPNS to produce two reports--one on the results of industry work to harmonize safety rules and one on the availability of adequate funds for decommissioning and for managing spent fuel and radioactive waste safely. This story was originally published in Platts European Power Alert http://www.europeanpoweralert.platts.com ------------ MEP lobbies at EP to extend life span of Hungarian nuke Budapest (Platts)--8Feb2005 Hungarian member of the European parliament Edit Herczog said Tuesday that she will lobby hard at the European Parliament's Energy Committee to get it to agree to the extension of the lifespan of Hungary's sole 1,880MW nuclear power generating facility Paksi, located near the town of Paks in central Hungary. "The management of the Paks plant have taken responsibility to run the plant safely," she said, after meeting with Jozsef Kovacs, CEO of Paksi on Monday. "I am convinced that the atomic power plant is running safely and that there is a need for it in the future," she added. Herczog explained, "I will continue to represent these views at the Energy Committee of the EP." According to Herczog MEPs at the EP raised their eyebrows when she said that the Hungarian Parliament's economic committee supported extending the life span of Paksi. This story was originally published in Platts European Power Alert http://www.europeanpoweralert.platts.com ------------ NRC's 2006 budget request higher than 2005 Washington (Platts)--7Feb2005 NRC is requesting nearly $701.7-million for its fiscal 2006 budget, up from the $669-million allocated for FY-05. The agency's authority to recoup most of its operating costs (currently about 90%) through fees charged to its licensees expires Sept. 30, the end of FY-05. Unless Congress acts to renew the provision, NRC's fee recovery requirement will drop to 33%. The difference would have to be made up through congressional appropriations from the general U.S. Treasury. The $32-million increase in NRC's FY-06 budget reflects an increase in anticipated reactor safety and licensing activities and the rising costs of employee salaries and benefits. Regulatory costs associated with homeland security efforts are expected to increase slightly, from about $43.5-million in FY-05 to $44.6-million in FY-06. ------------ Fenoc nuclear fleet set 2004 generation record Washington (Platts)--4Feb2005 FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co.'s (Fenoc) four-unit nuclear fleet set a generation record in 2004, producing 29.9-million megawatt-hours (MWH), the company said today. The two-unit Beaver Valley also set a plant record by generating nearly 14-million MWH, Fenoc said. Fenoc also operates Davis-Besse, which generated nearly 5.7-million MWH last year, and Perry, which generated 10.2-million MWH. ------------