Platts - Wednesday, April 06, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ US nuclear waste at risk from terrorists, analysis needed: study Washington (Platts)--6Apr2005 Spent nuclear fuel stored in pools at some of the 103 operating power reactors in the United States may be at risk of terrorist attacks, according to a National Academies Board on Radioactive Waste Management committee report Wednesday. The report--the public version of a classified report sent to Congress, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Dept of Homeland Security in July 2004--called on the NRC to conduct additional analyses of potential risks. "Because potential threats may differ according to a specific plant's design, the committee recommended that plant-by-plant vulnerability analyses be performed," the National Academies said. The report drew its conclusions from a detailed review of security analyses done by the NRC, Homeland Security Dept, nuclear industry, and independent experts, the academies said. "The committee noted that many security improvements have been instituted at US commercial nuclear power plants since the events of Sep 11, 2001," the National Academies stated. "On several important questions, however, it was unable to obtain enough information from the NRC to access their effectiveness." As a result, the committee recommended an assessment of those measures be conducted by an organization independent of both the NRC and nuclear industry. "Our findings were unanimous," said committee chair Louis Lanzerotti, a professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark. "While the committee identified several terrorist attack scenarios that could have potentially severe consequences if carried out successfully, we also identified two relatively simple measures that could be implemented immediately at vulnerable plants to greatly reduce the risks." To reduce the risk of large releases of radioactive material, the committee recommended the location of spent fuel assemblies in the storage pools be reconfigured to more evenly distribute decay heat loads. It also said water-spray systems should still be operational to cool the fuel "even after the pool or the building in which it is housed is damaged." This story was originally published in Platts Electricity Alert http://www.electricityalert.platts.com ------------ German ENBW recounts life and death of Obrigheim reactor London (Platts)--6Apr2005 German utility ENBW Wednesday announced the final closure of the country's oldest nuclear power plant in line with the government's plan to phase out all nuclear power by 2020. "The shutdown of the 357MW Obrigheim reactor after 36 years of service marks a radical change in the country's energy mix," the Baden-Wuettemberg company said. ENBW plans to remove the plant from the grid at the turn of the month and dismantle the unit in three stages by 2020. It added the plant had produced 90TWh of emissions-free electricity in its lifetime, if compared with the typical output of a coal-fired plant. Nuclear power accounts for a third of German power production. This story was originally published in Platts European Power Alert http://www.europeanpoweralert.platts.com ------------ Italy will be obliged to use nuclear power: Eni's CEO Mincato Trieste (Platts)--6Apr2005 Italy will almost certainly be obliged to turn to nuclear sources to meet its power needs, according to oil and gas company Eni's CEO Vittorio Mincato. "Considering the energy situation in Italy, the choice of nuclear power is almost obligatory," Mincato was quoted as saying in Wednesday's edition of daily news paper "La Repubblica." Italy ruled against nuclear power in a referendum in 1987, in what was seen largely as a public backlash against the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine. "You can't stop flying just because one airplane crashes. Chernobyl should not be the benchmark," said Mincato. The nuclear debate was reopened in January when Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi hinted that the country would begin to re-examine the nuclear option. Italy's largest power company Enel has started to approach nuclear projects in both France and Slovakia, with the backing of the government. However, Mincato was adamant that Eni would not be involved "Our focus is on petroleum and gas," he told the paper. This story was originally published in Platts European Power Alert http://www.europeanpoweralert.platts.com ------------ House panel wants independent probe of Yucca Mountain allegations Washington (Platts)--5Apr2005 A House government reform panel will call for the creation of an independent special commission to investigate allegations that a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) hydrologist falsified Yucca Mountain documents between 1998 and 2000. Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.), who chairs the Subcommittee on Federal Workforce & Agency Organization, said at a subcommittee hearing today which he envisioned a commission would be modeled after the Kemney Commission that investigated the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island-2. Porter repeated the state's assertion that the DOE repository project at Yucca Mountain, Nev. should be halted until the outside probe is complete and said he would recommend to House appropriators that the program's fiscal 2006 funding reflect a halt in all work. The allegations, which surfaced in a review of USGS e-mails, involve quality assurance documentation on USGS water infiltration and climate studies at the site. USGS scientists involved in the allegations will testify at a subcommittee hearing April 13. ------------ Arizona House OKs bill allowing Palo Verde guards to use force Portland, Maine (Platts)--5Apr2005 Guards at the 3,810MW Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Wintersburg, Arizona, would be justified in using deadly force against suspected terrorists under a bill passed by the Arizona House on a 52-3 vote Monday. The bill, SB 1214, passed the Senate in an unanimous vote Feb 17 and has been sent to Gov Janet Napolitano for her signature. It would expand the ability of armed nuclear security guards to use physical and deadly force and would allow the guards to detain people suspected of committing specific offenses at a commercial nuclear generating station, a summary of the bill said. The bill exempts plant guards from civil liability for various acts, including using deadly force to prevent kidnapping, arson, armed robbery and terrorism. The Palo Verde station is operated by Arizona Public Service Co, a utility subsidiary of Phoenix-based Pinnacle West Capital Corp. This story was originally published in Platts Electricity Alert http://www.electricityalert.platts.com ------------ IG says DOE should re-evaluate FFTF closure plan Washington (Platts)--4Apr2005 DOE should re-evaluate its closure plan for the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF), including the costs and final end state for the FFTF, DOE Inspector General (IG) Gregory Friedman said in a special report released today. DOE's decision in 2003 to switch contractors for the deactivation work and to award a contract before determining how it will decommission the shuttered sodium-cooled test reactor have complicated cleanup plans, the IG said. Although an environmental impact statement won't be completed until August, DOE has contracted for the reactor to be entombed, which entails leaving parts of it on site in a safe state. The department told the IG that if it decided instead to demolish the reactor, the cost would increase by $20-million. ------------ Nuclear fuel safety study deal reached Washington (Platts)--31Mar2005 Staffs of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the National Academy of Sciences reached agreement today on an unclassified version of an NAS study on the safety and security of spent fuel storage at US nuclear plants, NRC spokesman Eliot Brenner said. Brenner called the agreement conditional on management approval by both NRC and NAS. If agreed to, a public version of the report could be published by NAS next week, Brenner said. The classified version of the study was completed last July. Since then, the agency has been in talks with NAS over what information should be withheld from public disclosure, and controversy has simmered over whether the study's findings indicate enough risk for plant spent fuel pools that NRC should require utilities to expand dry cask spent fuel storage. Brenner said NRC agreed with most points NAS raised in the report and wanted only to ensure that no information made available was useful to terrorists. ------------ EIA charts boom in US uranium Washington (Platts)--30Mar2005 US uranium exploration, production, and employment all increased in 2004, the first such increases since 1998, according to the US Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration. In a report posted late March 29 on its Web site (http://www.eia.gov), EIA said that US uranium production in 2004 was 2.3-million pounds U3O8, a 14% rise over the 2003 level. Employment in 2004 also increased in the uranium production industry to 420 person-years, a 31% increase over the 2003 total, EIA said, and companies spent about $10.6-million directly on exploration and drilling activities in 2004. EIA withheld the 2003 and 2002 figures for drilling expenditures because fewer than three companies reported that information, but said in 2001, about $2.7-million was spent on uranium drilling.