Platts - Monday, June 20, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ German spot jumps on nuclear supply squeeze, strikes, carbon London (Platts)--17Jun2005 German spot power prices firmed by over Eur5/MWh in Monday baseload and Eur10/MWh in peakload Friday on news another German nuclear power plant would start annual maintenance work from Saturday, uncertainty on the restart of four reactors and lack of information on capacity cuts next week during strike action in France. Monday baseload traded as high as Eur50.50/MWh, while peakload traded at Eur65/MWh before the EEX data came out. Phelix prices for Monday leapt Eur16/MWh to Eur56.40/MWh baseload and by over Eur30/MWh to Eur78.62/MWh peakload. Monday peakload traded as high as Eur80/MWh on EEX strength, but closed at Eur75/MWh. "I'm not sure this is just due to the strike; it seems that nuclear availability is the lowest it's been this year," a trader said. There was a squeeze in superpeaks on the exchange, traders said. Hours 1000-1400 CET traded over Eur100/MWh, while hour 1200 traded as high as Eur150/MWh. One trader said this was due to lower hydro-power production of late. The weekend was steady to slightly softer, however, thanks to a warmer forecast. Week-ahead baseload traded at Eur42.50/MWh, while week 26 and week 27 baseload traded at Eur43.50/MWh and Eur44/MWh. Week-ahead peakload traded at Eur61.50/MWh, compared with Eur63.75/MWh and Eur67/MWh in the following weeks. Spot strength, along with a new record in the emissions market of Eur21.25/mt and slight gains in Brent crude oil prices, pushed up the curve and July was said to be volatile. July baseload traded around Eur45/MWh, a euro higher than Thursday's close, while peakload was traded at Eur64/MWh, up Eur2.30/MWh. Peakload was heard voice traded at Eur65/MWh, traders said. Other marked gains on the curve were seen in August, September and Q3 2005 peak of Eur1.40/MWh, Eur1.60/MWh and Eur1.75/MWh, and in Q1 2006 peak of Eur2.25/MWh. The rise in Cal 06 baseload was unabated and the product reached another new high of Eur41.25/MWh, up 40 euro cents on Thursday. The contract attracted volumes of 370MW, traders said. This story was originally published in Platts European Power Alert http://europeanpoweralert.platts.com ------------ Nuclear accident hoax panics Hungarians Budapest (Platts)--16Jun2005 Reports of a serious nuclear accident spooked Hungarian residents this week, causing panic buying of iodine tablets. "This is now the second time that hoax reports of a nuclear accident or accidents, propagated by e-mail or mobile telephone, have caused unnecessary alarm among the population of Hungary," the Hungarian Atomic Energy Authority (HAEA) said in a statement. Authorities in neighboring countries had reported no problems, the HAEA said, and Hungary's own measuring systems indicated only normal background radiation. Panic was reported in the town of Tatabanya, where residents stormed pharmacies for iodine tablets at the urging of e-mail and text messages, according to the news portal Origo. Initial reports several days ago claimed radiation at Ukraine's Chernobyl plant was even higher than in 1986; later reports said a nuclear accident had occurred in Slovakia or in the Czech Republic. One pharmacy reported a fistfight between customers over iodine tablets, according to Origo. ------------