Platts - Wednesday, June 08, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ GE targeting December 2006 for ESBWR design approval Washington (Platts)--7Jun2005 GE Nuclear expects to submit a design certification application to NRC for its ESBWR in August but is trying to beat that schedule, said Steve Hucik, general manager for GE Nuclear's nuclear plant projects. At a session today at the American Nuclear Society's conference in San Diego, Calif., Hucik said the company is targeting December 2006 for receiving final design approval for the reactor. GE is participating in three utility-led teams exploring the potential construction of a new reactor in the U.S. The ESBWR is to be the designated technology in a combined construction permit-operating license (COL) application in the nine-utility NuStart consortium and in another team headed by Dominion. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) also is looking at building an advanced BWR (ABWR) at its Bellefonte site, or might consider moving forward with a COL with the ESBWR as the specified technology, Hucik said. ------------ DOE investigation says USGS studies of Yucca Mt. are sound Washington (Platts)--6Jun2005 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) water infiltration studies of Yucca Mountain, Nev. are technically sound, according to preliminary results of a DOE investigation unveiled today. Still, John Arthur, deputy director of DOE's Yucca Mountain repository project, told NRC officials the department would not use those USGS studies, as is, during repository licensing proceedings. Instead, the information will be replaced, redone, or remediated by outside individuals and/or organizations, Arthur said during a quarterly NRC-DOE meeting on the repository project. The scientific integrity of the work was called into question in March after DOE and USGS revealed some USGS e-mails that indicated at least one USGS scientist may have falsified quality assurance documents associated with water infiltration studies at Yucca Mountain. If licensed, a Yucca Mountain repository would be used to dispose of 70,000 metric tons of utility spent fuel and defense high-level waste. ------------ German utility profits set to explode on nuclear extension:report London (Platts)--6Jun2005 German utilities stand to profit hugely from the change to the nuclear consensus promised by the Christian Democratic Party should they win the general election called earlier than scheduled for this fall, daily newspaper Handelsblatt said Monday. Replacing the 'red-green' (Social Democrat and Green party) coalition, the 'black-yellow' government of the CDU and liberal democrats would extend the running time of the country's nuclear power plants. This would bring energy giant Eon an additional profit, the paper says, of Eur4.6-bil. In addition the utilities would be able to do without investments of at least Eur8-bil. Analysts expect that the share price of the suppliers could rise even more sharply with a change of government. According to Karl Theis, managing director of the association of large power plant operators VGB, should the plants remain longer on the grid, the economy could "even save around Eur10-bil in investment until 2020". Instead that money could be spent on growth and job creating projects, Theis told the paper. More details were published in Platts European Power Alert http://europeanpoweralert.platts.com ------------ Entergy to submit six license renewal applications by 2010 Washington (Platts)--3Jun2005 Entergy anticipates submitting six license renewal applications over the next four years. The company last month told NRC in a letter, posted today on the agency's Adams document system, that it will submit a request for extending Pilgrim's license in January, along with another as-yet unnamed plant. Entergy's next application is expected in July 2006, and then it plans to make filings in January of 2007, 2009, and 2010. Entergy said it has not listed the specific plants for each of the anticipated dates after January 2006 because the order for its submittals could change "as business conditions evolve." NRC posted the company's requested review slots on its Web site (htpp://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications.html).