Platts - Monday, April 11, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ USEC, Constellation sign $200-mil warhead uranium supply deal Washington (Platts)--11Apr2005 USEC Inc said Monday it has inked a $200-mil contract with Baltimore-based Constellation Energy Group to supply recycled Russian warhead uranium to fuel Constellation Generation's five nuclear power reactors. Under the deal, Bethesda, Maryland-based USEC will continue to supply the utility with the uranium through the Megatons to Megawatts program, a joint program between USEC and the US Dept of Energy that converts surplus highly enriched uranium into low-enriched uranium fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. The contract covers deliveries from 2007 to 2012, but USEC has been a supplier to Constellation Generation for more than a decade, the company said. "This new contract extends USEC's strong partnership with Constellation and underscores our commitments to nuclear power and global security," said Robert Van Namen, USEC's senior vice president. According to the Megatons to Megawatts Web site, the program stems from a 1993 US-Russia nonproliferation agreement to convert highly enriched uranium taken from dismantled Russian nuclear warheads into low-enriched uranium fuel for power plants. USEC, as a US executive agent for the program, purchases the fuel for its customers' nuclear power plants. This story was originally published in Platts Electricity Alert http://www.electricityalert.platts.com ------------ French anti-nuke group gears up for a week of protests Paris (Platts)--11Apr2005 French anti-nuclear campaigners are gearing up for a week of protests across the country from Apr 23 to mark the nineteenth anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, the group "Sortir du nucleaire" said Monday. Protests are planned at nuclear sites, including the Fessenheim and Golfech nuclear power plants, town halls and government buildings. The group expects 10,000 people to form a "human portrait" in Nantes, west France on Apr 23, spelling out the words "nuclear kills the future." Campaigners will lay flowers across France to honor all those who died and those who have suffered or who are still suffering today, from the Chernobyl catastrophe. On a list of demands, the group calls for sanctions against those in the nuclear industry who, it says, have sought to hide the real consequences of the deadly explosions at the Ukraine plant on Apr 26, 1986. This story was originally published in Platts European Power Alert http://www.europeanpoweralert.platts.com ------------ Bill offered to allow hydrogen facility near nuclear plant Washington (Platts)--8Apr2005 Legislation introduced this week would allow siting of a hydrogen production facility next to a nuclear power plant, says the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI). Reps. Albert Wynn (D-Md.) and co-sponsor John Shimkus (R-Ill.) offered a bill (H.R. 1482) that would provide for research and development of an advanced nuclear reactor, as well as for solar and wind technologies capable of co-producing hydrogen. John Kane, NEI senior vice president of governmental affairs, said the measure would advance the U.S. efforts toward developing a hydrogen economy. Kane said "the use of clean nuclear energy to produce hydrogen is a big plus for the environment because there will be no air emissions in the production phase." Bulgarian government green-lights new 2,000MW nuclear plant London (Platts)--8Apr2005 The Bulgarian government Thursday gave consent to the building of a 2,000MW nuclear plant, to come onstream by 2011, a government statement said. "The decision gives us the green light to undertake all necessary actions for the implementation of the project," said Miroslav Sevlievski, the minister for energy and energy resources. The Belene nuclear power plant will be a light water reactor. Government approval was essential for allowing a tender to be announced for the supplier and constructor of the new plant. "The decision reached today by the government became a fact thanks to ... the concerted efforts of all those fighting criticism and accusations that Bulgarian nuclear energy is not safe enough," Sevlievski said. Bulgaria already has a nuclear plant, Kozloduy, whose output enables Bulgaria to be a net exporter of electricity to other countries in the region. Building work on Belene is due to begin this year. The plant has been discussed for several years. This story was originally published in Platts European Power Alert http://www.europeanpoweralert.platts.com ------------ DOE prefers off-site disposal of Moab U tailings Washington (Platts)--7Apr2005 Off-site disposal of uranium mill tailings at Moab, Utah is among DOE's preferred alternatives for dealing with the waste. DOE announced today that off-site disposal of the tailings pile and other contaminated material and groundwater remediation will be included in the department's final environmental impact statement now being prepared. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said she welcomed "the decision in favor of moving millions of tons of radioactive uranium processing waste off the banks of the Colorado River, which is a major source of drinking water for Southern Californians, as well as residents of Utah, Nevada and Arizona." ------------ NAS report makes security recommendations for U.S. reactors Washington (Platts)--6Apr2005 Plant-by-plant vulnerability analyses should be performed on the 103 operating nuclear reactors in the U.S. to determine which ones might be at risk from terrorist attacks, according to a report a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee released today. The committee found that an attack that partially or completely drains a reactor's spent fuel pool might be capable of starting a high-temperature cladding fire that could release large quantities of radioactive material. However, because of the site-specific nature of the pools, the panel was unable to say how many might be at risk and recommended that an organization independent of NRC and the nuclear industry conduct the assessment. The report also recommended two steps that could be taken immediately to reduce the potential for such fires: reconfigure where spent fuel is in the pool to more evenly distribute decay-heat loads, and use water-spray systems that would continue to cool the fuel even after the pool or building in which it is housed is damaged. The report is the public version of a classified study NAS sent to Congress, NRC, and the Department of Homeland Security last July. The report is on the NAS Web site at (http://www.nationalacademies.org). ------------