Platts - Friday, February 25, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ NRC panel sides with PFS in fuel storage case Washington (Platts)--24Feb2005 Private Fuel Storage LLC (PFS) won a long-fought legal victory in a 2-1 decision handed down today by an NRC Atomic Safety & Licensing Board (ASLB) panel. The ASLB rejected Utah's argument that there was too high a risk of a radiation release from an accidental F-16 military jet crash into the casks at the proposed spent fuel storage facility. The eight-utility consortium PFS applied in June 1997 for a license to construct a 4,000-cask aboveground storage facility on the Utah reservation of the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes, which is about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The majority on the ASLB found the probability of a crash causing the breach of a spent fuel canister was less than one in a million per year, thereby meeting NRC's regulatory standards. The case now moves to the five NRC commissioners, who will decide whether to issue a license. The parties have 15 days after receiving the decision by mail to file an appeal with the commission. ------------ Owners of 583-MW Iowa nuke plant seek potential bidders for sale Portland, Maine (Platts)--24Feb2005 The owners of the 583-MW Duane Arnold Energy Center (DAEC), a nuclear generating facility in Palo, Iowa, are seeking potential bidders on the plant with an eye to completing a deal by the end of the year, according to Concentric Energy Advisors, a Marlborough, Massachusetts-based consulting firm managing the sale. The plant's owners, Alliant Energy subsidiary Interstate Power & Light, Central Iowa Power Cooperative and Corn Belt Power Cooperative, aim to receive bids on the plant by mid-June, according to a Feb 18 letter from Concentric. The sale provides a "significant and unusual" chance to buy a well-run power plant in the emerging MISO market, Concentric said. The plant, which set performance records in 2004, is slated to gain 15 MW in April through an uprate during a refueling outage, the letter said. Interested bidders must return a confidentiality agreement and a request for qualifications as soon as possible to Concentric, the letter said. This story was originally published in Platts Electricity Alert http://www.electricityalert.platts.com ------------ Siemens-Westinghouse to replace Cook-1's three turbine rotors Washington (Platts)--23Feb2005 Siemens-Westinghouse will replace Cook-1's three low-pressure turbine rotors, American Electric Power (AEP) said today. Siemens-Westinghouse will receive about $45-million to supply and install the rotors during the unit's fall 2006 refueling outage, during which the unit's vessel head also will be replaced, AEP said. The replacement will increase the 1,089-MW PWR's output by about 41 MW and help prevent blade cracking, AEP said. AEP spokesman William Schalk said today the company has no plans to replace the rotors on unit 2. Exelon's Limerick set 2004 station production record Washington (Platts)--22Feb2005 Exelon's Limerick plant set a station production record in 2004, generating 20,151,700 megawatt-hours (MWH) of electricity, Exelon Nuclear said today in a press release. The previous record for Limerick-1 and -2 was 20,028,900 MWH in 2003. Limerick-2 had the highest BWR capacity factor in the U.S. and fourth worldwide last year, Exelon said, citing Platts data. Limerick-1 returned to service Monday after maintenance, NRC said in its daily status report. The unit shut down Feb. 18 to replace five leaking safety relief valves, and was at about 70% power early this morning, NRC said. ------------