Platts - Monday, August 08, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ US NRC faults DOE review of aircraft threat to waste repository Washington (Platts)--5Aug2005 The US Dept of Energy failed to support with data several of the assumptions it made in its evaluation of hazards aircraft pose to the planned high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. The Yucca Mountain site borders an Air Force base where fighter pilots are trained. If licensed, it would be used to dispose of highly radioactive spent fuel and defense high-level waste. But in a memorandum to Joseph Ziegler, DOE's director of repository licensing, the NRC said its review of DOE aircraft hazard documents found the agency had not included all available Air Force crash data and said DOE assumed if the cause of an Air Force mishap was unknown then Yucca Mountain would not have been affected. NRC staff also balked at DOE's assumption that a pilot outside a no-fly zone would be able to safely land a plane 100% of the time if trouble occurred. NRC staff evaluated the documents as part of a prelicensing review aimed at ensuring DOE will have the information it needs to support a repository license application. "This is a pretty heavy warning," said repository opponent Steve Frishman of the Nevada nuclear waste office. NRC staff, Frishman said, has raised concerns about everything from the databases and methodologies DOE used to evaluate aircraft hazards, to its use of unsupported assumptions. The memo was released Thursday. For more information, take a trial to Nuclear Fuel at http://www.nuclearfuel.platts.com. ------------ NRC extends special oversight of Hope Creek, Salem Washington (Platts)--5Aug2005 NRC has extended its special oversight regime at Hope Creek and Salem. In a July 29 memo to Executive Director for Operations Luis Reyes, Region I Administrator Samuel Collins laid out the reasons for his request for a "deviation" from the oversight normally associated with the plant's levels in the "action matrix" of NRC's reactor oversight process. The memo was approved the same day by Reyes and publicly released today. The original oversight deviation memo was signed Aug. 23, 2004; since then, Collins said, NRC has "not yet observed substantial progress in addressing the underlying issues related to the work environment." He specifically highlighted "continued weaknesses in the implementation of station processes, such as work management and corrective action, causing challenges with equipment reliability which have resulted in several unplanned power changes and forced outages." Collins said that during the plants' end-of-cycle assessment in February 2006, NRC would "re-evaluate" the need for increased oversight but that the effort was budgeted to last a year from now. ------------ IG audit questions use of DOE oversight funds at Yucca Mountain New York (Platts)--4Aug2005 Nuclear utility customers helped pay for work ranging from development of a planned community in Nevada to legal fees after three Nevada counties and the state itself incorrectly used DOE oversight funds for work unrelated to the repository project at Yucca Mountain, Nev., said a DOE Inspector General (IG) report released today. An IG audit questioned the appropriateness of $1.2-mil of the $11.7-mil spent by the state and three counties during fiscal 2003 and 2004, the report said. Oversight funds are to be used for monitoring, testing, or evaluation of activities associated with work at Yucca Mountain. Congress has said the funds cannot be used for lobbying, litigation expenses, or coalition-building activities. But the IG said it found some of the money was used for such things as economic development expenses, official travel unrelated to nuclear waste, and monitoring of the Nevada Test Site, a former nuclear weapons test site that borders Yucca Mountain. The report is at http://www.ig.doe.gov. For more similar news, take a trial to Nuclear News Flashes at http://www.nuclearnews.platts.com. ------------ Planned generic letter on hold while NRC reviews EPRI document Washington (Platts)--4Aug2005 A planned generic letter on butt weld inspections has been "put on hold" while an industry guidance document for such inspections is under agency review, NRC staff said today. At a meeting in March, William Bateman, the chief of NRC's materials and chemical engineering branch, had announced plans to issue the letter. It would have requested information from NRC licensees on their plans for inspecting and managing potential degradation of alloy 82/182 welds between dissimilar metals, such as ferritic steel and stainless steel. But at a meeting today at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md., Bateman cited a new document--which was the main subject of the meeting--by the Electric Power Research Institute's Materials Reliability Program on "inspection and evaluation" guidelines for butt welds in primary system piping. Although NRC staff raised a number of questions during the meeting, and Bateman indicated there were likely to be additional ones after they had reviewed the document more thoroughly, he said he was "pleased" with the industry effort. ------------ Groups can't join in former Davis-Besse worker's NRC proceeding Washington (Platts)--3Aug2005 Two advocacy groups don't have standing to intervene in the case of Andrew Siemaszko, the former Davis-Besse worker who was penalized by the NRC, an NRC Atomic Safety & Licensing Board ruled yesterday. The board said the Union of Concerned Scientists and Ohio Citizen Action would not "suffer a concrete and particularized harm" if the penalty imposed on Siemaszko were upheld. Siemaszko was banned from involvement in NRC-licensed activities for five years as a result of his alleged role in activities connected with the degradation of the Davis-Besse reactor head. The board said the groups could apply by Aug. 15 for "discretionary intervention," meaning that their input could aid the NRC in making decisions even if they don't meet requirements for standing. ------------ Russia's nuclear power output up 12.6% to 11.28TWh in July Moscow (Platts)--3Aug2005 Russia's nuclear power plants produced 11.28TWh in July, 12.6% more than in July 2004, Rosenergoatom, the country's nuclear power operator, said Wednesday. In the first seven months of the year, nuclear power output rose 3.7% year-on-year to 83.90TWh. Russia's total power output amounted to 67.2TWh in July, up 3.7% from June, according to Russia's energy and industry ministry. From January through July, the country's power output rose 2% on the year to 547TWh. For more European power stories, take a trail to Platts Power in Europe at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ Bush to sign energy bill into law next week Washington (Platts)--2Aug2005 President Bush is expected to sign the energy bill into law Aug. 8 in a ceremony to be held at Sandia National Laboratories. New Mexico's two Senators, Energy & Natural Resources Chairman Pete Domenici and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, the highest ranking Democrat on the committee, will likely be attending the signing ceremony. "It is fitting that it will be signed in New Mexico, where energy of all types is so important to our state," Domenici said in a prepared statement today. ------------ S&P sees modest public power benefits from Energy Policy Act New York (Platts)--2Aug2005 The Energy Policy Act of 2005 is going to be relatively positive for public power ratings, though any benefits will be modest and slow to be realized, Standard & Poor's said Tuesday. Incentives for natural gas production, nuclear, and renewable energy could boost supply and hold down power costs in the long run--but with little upfront benefit, added Director Peter Murphy. The Snohomish County, Washington, Public Utility District (rated A+, outlook stable), and other Western power purchasers affected by market manipulation in the 200-01 energy crisis, could benefit soon from a narrowly-drawn provision giving the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission jurisdiction to determine if purchasers must make termination payments for power not delivered by a seller found to have manipulated wholesale electricity markets, i.e., Enron, S&P noted. For more similar news, take a trial to Platts Electric Utility Week at http://electricutilityweek.platts.com. ------------ Germany approves restart of 806MW Brunsbuttel nuke Tuesday Freiburg (Platts)--2Aug2005 Germany's 806MW Brunsbuttel nuclear plant came back online Tuesday after the German government late Monday gave permission for the restart, the ministry for social, health, family, youth and seniors said. Brunsbuttel, which is owned by Vattenfall Europe and Eon, had been offline for annual maintenance since Jul 4. During the maintenance period, 84 fuel rods were refueled and checks and works were carried out, said the ministry. Brunsbuttel started commercial operation in 1977. Germany's current government plans to phase out the operation of its nuclear plants over the next two decades. Under the current decommissioning plan, Germany is to decommission Biblis-A, Neckarwestheim- 1, Biblis-B and Brunsbuttel in the upcoming legislative period. However, this is subject to change if the government changes in the likely election on Sep 19. More nuclear stories are available in Platts Nuclear Fuel. Request a free trial at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ IAEA plans safeguards at Iranian enrichment plant Bonn (Platts)--1Aug2005 The IAEA told Iran it cannot apply safeguards on a uranium conversion plant at Esfahan until at least "some time next week," in response to a diplomatic note sent by Iran earlier today. The note informed the IAEA that, effective Aug. 1, Iran is ending its suspension of its uranium enrichment program. Iran agreed to the suspension in November, in parallel with resumed negotiations with the European Union (EU) on a comprehensive EU-Iran cooperation agreement including nuclear trade. Iran's note today informed the IAEA it planned to resume conversion of uranium oxide to UF6 at its plant at Esfahan. Under Iran's safeguards agreement with the IAEA, the agency is obliged to apply safeguards to that plant. The IAEA told Iran that it would need several days to put into place additional surveillance equipment to safeguard the conversion plant. According to Iranian media reports today, Iran reacted to the IAEA request for a delay by giving the agency two days to safeguard operations at the plant. During that time, diplomatic sources said, the EU will likely formally propose in detail terms of a cooperation agreement with Iran. In parallel, the sources said, members of the IAEA Board of Governors will prepare to convene an emergency meeting of that body, if members conclude that Iran will in fact resume uranium processing at the plant. Sources said that, if convened, the governors would table a draft resolution, prepared in advance by the EU and some other states, warning Iran that, should it go through with its plans to terminate the suspension, Iran would face possible further action by the United Nations Security Council. US would report Iran to UN Security Council as last resort: State Washington (Platts)--1Aug2005 The US would, as a last resort, haul Iran to the United Nation's Security Council to face sanctions if it continues with plans to reopen its nuclear processing plant in Isfahan, a State Department spokesman said Monday. "Our policy has been clear: If Iran does follow through on its threat to break the suspension, we'll be working with the EU-3 [France, Germany, UK] and others as a first step, and we'll be consulting with the [International Atomic Energy Agency] Board of Governors after that," he said, based on a transcript of his remarks. He noted "our position has long been that, should that occur, that Iran should then be reported to the UN Security Council." Iran agreed Monday to a two-day delay in reopening the plant after receiving a request from the head of the UN's atomic watchdog agency, the Associated Press reported. AP, citing spokesman for Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei asked Tehran for a "maximum of two days" to send its inspectors to Iran's nuclear facility to oversee the dismantling of UN seals. For more similar news, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucleonicsweek.platts.com. ------------