Platts - Tuesday, July 12, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ German nuclear output dips 14% in May on previous month London (Platts)--12Jul2005 Output at Germany's 18 working nuclear power reactors was 11,971,760MWh in May 2005, down by over 14% from April, the latest figures from producers' association VGB show. The biggest producer was again Eon's Isar-2, which generated 1,078,830MWh, up from 1,065,209MWh in April. RWE's Biblis A had no output in May, as in April, while it had planned maintenance work. ENBW's Obrigheim, which began its permanent closure in early May, produced 43,479MWh, down from 159,549MWh in April. The average load factor of the 18 reactors in April was 77.72%, down from 91.52%. For more information about nuclear power, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucweek.platts.com. ------------ Westinghouse, INET to pursue NGNP project Washington (Platts)--11Jul2005 Westinghouse and the Institute of Nuclear & New Energy Technology (INET) will jointly promote a pebble bed design for the next generation nuclear plant (NGNP), a DOE project to build an advanced nuclear reactor designed to produce electricity and hydrogen. Westinghouse Electric Co. announced today that it and INET at Tsinghua University in China had signed a memorandum of understanding to form a cooperative relationship for bidding on and participating in the NGNP. Westinghouse said INET would cooperate with it in pursuing contracts from DOE for design, supply and construction of the NGNP based on pebble bed modular technology. Westinghouse said it is already acting as leader of an NGNP project team with members PBMR (Pty) Ltd. of South Africa, Sargent & Lundy LLC, and the Shaw Group. INET has built and operates a 10-MW (thermal) pebble bed test reactor in Beijing; PBMR Ltd. plans to build a pebble bed modular demonstration reactor at Koeberg, near Cape Town. Senate appropriators recently said the goal is to begin testing of the NGNP at DOE's Idaho National Laboratory in 2017. ------------ German opposition party CDU presents election manifesto Freiburg (Platts)--11Jul2005 Germany's opposition party, the CDU, wants to measure the life of the country's nuclear power plants by their individual safety standards, it said in its election manifesto Monday. The profits obtained by the nuclear power plant operators through longer lives of the units should then be used to reduce power prices, it said. "Decommissioning nuclear power plants is devastating environmentally as well as technologically," the 2005-2009 manifesto says. Should nuclear be decommissioned, the resulting lack of capacity would have to be replaced through fossil-fired generation, and that would mean more emissions--which is against climate aims. The CDU spoke out for a "safe, competitive and ecologically compatible energy supply", including the economic use of energy as well as a broad energy mix of oil, coal, gas, nuclear, and biomass, hydro, wind and solar power." The party stuck by its aim for renewables to reach a share of at least 12.5% in German power demand by 2010. The party slammed current energy policy as ideological and said "ideological blinkers throw Germany back in international comparison." German environmental groups Greenpeace and Bund slammed the manifesto, saying that in addition to extending lifespans of existing plant, the party wanted to build new nuclear units in Germany. "The (CDU) plan to use nuclear power in the long term is nothing other than the first plan to build new nuclear power plants in Germany," said nuclear expert Thomas Breuer of Greenpeace. The environmental group referred to the CDU's support of the energy resource thorium--which needs a different kind of nuclear plant than the ones operating in Germany. "This proves the party is debating a new generation of nuclear units in Germany." Greenpeace also criticized the CDU for not considering terror attacks on nuclear units. Greenpeace wants all parties, no matter which one wins in the election expected this September, to realize that Germans do not want nuclear power plants. For more information about nuclear power, take a trial to Platts Nuclear Fuel at http://nuclearfuel.platts.com. ------------ EDF's IPO still on schedule for fall Paris (Platts)--8Jul2005 Electricite de France's (EDF) initial public offering (IPO) is still on for this fall, French economy minister Thierry Breton confirmed today as the government's decree allowing EDF equity to be held privately was published in the Official Journal. Hailing the successful IPO of shares in Gaz de France (GDF) on the first day of their trading, Breton said EDF shares would be offered this fall as planned "provided market conditions permit." The GDF offer was heavily oversubscribed and the share gained nearly 23% in its first day of trading today. The CGT labor union condemned the privatizations, saying they were designed only to bring money into the state's coffers, and promised protests this fall. The government decree stipulates that the state will keep 70% of EDF, and a portion of the shares is to be reserved for EDF personnel. Previous ministers said the IPO could raise Eur 8- to 11-billion. ------------ US nuclear O&M costs continued to decline in 2004 Washington (Platts)--8Jul2005 US nuclear plant operators continued to hold the line on costs in 2004, inching median spending slightly downward to 1.61 cts/kWh, with Southern Nuclear Operating Co's Vogtle--for the second year running--the only plant to report spending less than 1.2 cts/kWh on operations and maintenance, including fuel. The figures come from utility filings on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Form 1 and Dept of Energy's Energy Information Administration Form 412, filed for 2004 by utilities reporting costs for the 39 of 65 nuclear sites still subject to rate regulation. The available reports cover 60% of sites and 61.2% of 2004 generation. From those filed, the average 2004 US cost for a nuclear kilowatt-hour was 17.22 mils and the median, 16.11 mils. In 2003, with 42 stations reporting, the figures were 18.59 and 16.67 mils, respectively, and in 2002, with 45 stations, 22.37 and 16.02. Average spending per reporting station rose to $201.4-mil from the $199-mil average in 2003. Despite the increased outlays, the efficiency numbers improved in parallel with the US industry's record output in 2004, which meant increased profit potential at US spot power prices. Overall, 36% of plants generated power at a cost of below 1.5 cts/KWH in 2004, up from 29% in 2003, and 80% produced for under 2 cts, up from 71% in 2003. No plant reported spending more than 3 cts/kWh to produce power. For more information about nuclear plants, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucweek.platts.com. ------------ NRC sends inspectors to FitzPatrick Washington (Platts)--7Jul2005 NRC sent a three-member special inspection team to FitzPatrick today to examine Entergy Nuclear's ongoing repairs of small crack found below the waterline of the torus, which prompted the unit's shutdown July 1. Separately, Entergy later discovered a 6.5-inch crack on a shutdown cooling line, said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan. He said the inspection team would be reviewing Entergy's evaluations of the causes for the cracks and the corrective actions taken. Sheehan said there was no regulatory hold preventing the plant from returning to operation, but NRC would examine Entergy's work prior to the unit's restart. ------------ DOE to transfer depleted uranium to BPA Washington (Platts)--6Jul2005 DOE has agreed to transfer up to 8.5-million kilograms of depleted uranium to the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) for re-enrichment by USEC Inc. and use in Energy Northwest's (EN) Columbia BWR over the period 2009 to 2017. DOE has some 700,000 metric tons of depleted uranium but only a small percentage are at assays above 0.4% U-235 and therefore clearly economical in today's market to re-enrich, according to a source familiar with what he described as this "pilot" program. He said that if all 8.5-million kg were re-enriched, it might generate about 1.9-million kg of natural UF6, and could save EN millions of dollars in fuel costs if today's UF6 prices remain at current market levels (about $87.25/kgU as UF6). But the actual feasibility of recycling DOE's depleted UF6 for use in a commercial reactor has not been tested, he said, given questions over how much of the depleted uranium is contaminated with unwanted radioactive isotopes. This pilot project will provide DOE with the information to support a decision regarding any subsequent action to reuse any of the remaining DUF6 inventory, he said. Costs of the project will be paid by EN and include DOE's handling fees and a fee paid to the U.S. Treasury based on the amount of uranium successfully processed. BPA, which is part of DOE, provides funding for the operation, maintenance and debt service for Columbia and in return receives the entire electrical output of the station. NRC to take limited role in DOE's prep of EIS for GTCC waste Washington (Platts)--6Jul2005 NRC commissioners decided the agency will participate in a commenting role only during DOE's preparation of an environmental impact statement (EIS) for a disposal facility for greater-than-Class-C (GTCC) low-level radwaste (LLW). In voting comments released June 30, NRC commissioners rejected a staff recommendation to become a cooperating agency, saying they wanted to avoid any perception that NRC was not acting as an independent regulatory role. DOE has responsibility for disposal of GTCC waste, the most radioactive of NRC's four LLW categories. NRC would license a GTCC disposal facility. As a commenting agency on the EIS project, NRC participation and information will be limited to public comment periods and observations during public scoping meetings, the staff said in a paper to the commissioners. In a cooperating agency role, NRC could have participated directly in the development and information flow during all phases of the DOE EIS, it said. For more information about the NRC, take a trial to Platts Nuclear Fuel at http://nuclearfuel.platts.com. ------------