Platts - Friday, August 12, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ NDA to clean up all its sites, but cost estimates have risen Washington (Platts)--11Aug2005 UK national nuclear cleanup cost estimates have jumped from 48- to 56-bil pounds (U.S.$86- to $100-bil) in three years, public cleanup body Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said today. NDA said the figures increased as it prepared its comprehensive plan for decommissioning and cleanup of the 20 civilian nuclear sites under its control. Costs could rise further once the higher hazard facility costs have been better explored, it warned. Any decision to reclassify plutonium and other nuclear materials as waste would increase the cleanup budget by "seven billion pounds," it said. But new approaches to decommissioning and innovative ideas could eventually drive the total baseline cost down again, it noted. NDA plans to have cleaned up all its 20 UK sites in 75 years, Anthony Cleaver, chairman of public cleanup body Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) told a London press conference today. This would mean 11 magnox reactor sites cleaned up within 25 years instead of the currently planned 125, and the massive Sellafield reprocessing complex decommissioned within 75 years instead of the more than 100 currently expected. Cleaver spoke at the launch of the publication of NDA's draft strategy, which is now going to be the subject of public consultation until Nov. 11. Although the magnox sites would be "available for alternative use" after 25 years, according to the draft strategy document, Sellafield "would be retained under indefinite institutional control." For more information, take a trial to Nuclear News Flashes at http://www.nuclearnews.platts.com. ------------ Nevada to sue EPA if proposed Yucca Mt. standard finalized Washington (Platts)--10Aug2005 Nevada made it clear it will sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) if the proposed Yucca Mountain standard the EPA unveiled yesterday is finalized. Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval called the proposed 1-million-year radiation protection standard for a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. "obscenely lax and dangerous." It's as though EPA "threw up their arms and gave the project a pass," Sandoval said. In a joint statement issued yesterday, Sandoval and Gov. Kenny Guinn said the proposal would allow Nevada's future residents to receive 100 times more radiation exposure than what the federal government now permits for residents near nuclear power plants. The proposal applies a far stricter standard when the repository is not leaking than when radiation releases would occur, they said. ------------ Tension builds as Iran brings key nuclear plant on line London (Platts)--10Aug2005 International concerns over Iran's nuclear program built further Wednesday as Tehran brought its Isfahan uranium conversion plant back on line. Iran's move to resume uranium conversion brought swift condemnation from the US, which believes Tehran is trying to build nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies. But despite the heightening tension, it appeared that the European Union, which persuaded Iran in November to suspend its fuel cycle work while negotiations continued on a deal that would reward Tehran with trade incentives, had not yet given up on hopes of a mutually acceptable solution to the crisis. It also appeared that the US, which had threatened Iran with a referral to the UN Security Council, was willing to allow diplomacy to try to end the impasse. Iran Monday rejected an EU package of proposals aimed at persuading Tehran to abandon its plans for uranium enrichment. "We urge Iran to give serious consideration to the EU's proposals," said a spokesman for the US mission to international organizations in Vienna, quoted by AFP. The 35-member governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, began emergency talks Tuesday in Vienna but broke for a day Wednesday as diplomats met behind closed doors to try to work out a response to the Iranian move. AFP reported that a draft resolution presented to the IAEA by the EU urges Tehran to cease all uranium enrichment-related activities but does not call for Iran to be referred to the Security Council to face possible sanctions. AFP also quoted diplomats saying that Wednesday's meeting of the governing board had been canceled because non-aligned states, led by Malaysia, had opposed the draft resolution as it risked causing a backlash from Tehran. Germany, which along with Britain and France had negotiated the temporary suspension of Iran's nuclear activity late last year, said Berlin was encouraged by comments from Iran's new president Mahmood Ahmadinejad Tuesday expressing interest in continuing talks with the EU and pledging new proposals once he had formed a government. The German government was "very concerned" over Iran's rejection of the EU proposals, said a German government spokesman quoted by AFP, but "hopes Iran will nevertheless take the path of reason and will now review the EU-3 offer for negotiations seriously and constructively and return to the so-called status quo ante." Analysts, meanwhile, discounted the likelihood of any international sanctions that would include an oil embargo being imposed on Iran because of record-high oil prices which touched $64.60/bbl in New York earlier Wednesday. "I don't think anyone is in a position right now to make a credible threat of oil sanctions against Iran," said Julian Lee, senior energy analyst at the Center for Global Energy Studies in London. "The hard economic facts are that right now the world can't do without Iranian oil." Iran currently produces around 4-mil b/d of crude and is OPEC's second-biggest producer behind Saudi Arabia. It is a major supplier of crude to Europe and Asia, but not to the US, which maintains its own embargo on the country. For more information, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucweek.platts.com. ------------ German, French spot power spreads widen by 534% y-o-y in August London (Platts)--10Aug2005 The difference between French and German spot power spreads in the OTC market during August widened by 534%, versus the same period of 2004 on increased French nuclear production, Platts data showed Wednesday. The average spread from Aug 1 to Aug 9, calculated by taking the daily French market mid price from the German market mid price, which is the more expensive, was Eur5.42/MWh in 2005. The 2004 figure for the same period was only Eur0.85/MWh. The largest spread seen was Eur10.13/MWh on Aug 5 when the French price dropped to Eur20/MWh for a Saturday contract. Since mid-July, French nuclear generation capacity increased significantly because EDF returned more of its mainly baseload producing units to the grid. The market has speculated the company purposefully took off plant before the summer so that it could be returned in time to cover high summer demand. Heat waves can cause price spikes because nuclear capacity, France's main power generation type, has to be taken offline if high temperatures incur cooling water problems. This can combine with water shortages that affect hydro-production. But cooler than expected summer weather this year has pushed French prices well below German ones. Since interconnector capacity to France's neighbors is limited, excess capacity in France cannot always flow abroad and has to be sold in France. For more information, take a trial to Platts European Power Daily at http://europeanpowerdaily.platts.com. ------------ EPA proposes two-tiered radiation standard for Yucca Mtn. Washington (Platts)--9Aug2005 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a two-tiered standard under which radiation releases from a repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev. would be regulated for 1-million years. The proposal unveiled today would maintain the EPA's existing 10,000-year radiation protection standard for the site as the first tier, limiting maximum releases to 15 millirem (mrem) a year from all pathways and maintaining a separate groundwater protection standard of 4 mrem/yr. Post-10,000 years, the limit would be 350 mrem/yr and a separate groundwater limit would no longer exist. "It is an unprecedented scientific challenge to develop proposed standards today that will protect the next 25,000 generations of Americans," said Jeffrey Holmstead, EPA assistant administrator for air and radiation. If it becomes final, the proposed regulation would replace the 10,000-year standard a federal court remanded to the agency last year because it did not comply with the National Academy of Science's recommendation that it be long enough to cover the peak radiation dose, which DOE has projected could occur more than 400,000 years after the repository is sealed. ------------ US NRC team to inspect emergency generators at Brunswick nukes Houston (Platts)--9Aug2005 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Tuesday said it is sending a team to inspect the emergency diesel generators at Progress Energy's 895-MW Brunswick-1 and -2 nuclear reactors in North Carolina. The two nuclear plants were shut down over the weekend after the plant operator encountered startup problems and declared the four generators inoperable. Under NRC regulations, a plant must be shut down if its emergency generators are not working. The conditions of the generators meet the "unplanned degraded conditions involving possible adverse generic implications," according to an NRC spokesman. No estimate is available for returning the units to power. For more information, take a trial to Platts Megawatt Daily at http://megawattdaily.platts.com. ------------ NEI says energy bill gives industry "tools" for new plants Washington (Platts)--8Aug2005 The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) hailed the energy bill as moving the U.S. toward greater energy independence. NEI's Frank "Skip" Bowman, who witnessed the bill's signing today in New Mexico, said the measure promised an expansion of more "environmentally friendly" energy production. Bowman downplayed what critics called subsidies in the bill. He said that provisions in the legislation give the industry the "tools" to spur new construction. "With the limited investment incentives for new nuclear power plant construction, authorization for nuclear energy research and development and other provisions, the law positions the United States to continue its global leadership role in addressing the energy needs of the 21st century," Bowman said in a statement. ------------ President Bush signs US comprehensive energy legislation into law Washington (Platts)--8Aug2005 US President George W. Bush Monday signed into law comprehensive energy legislation designed to boost domestic energy supplies, encourage conservation and bolster the nation's electricity grid. Bush signed the legislation at Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico, home state of the Republican chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, Pete Domenici, and the top Democrat on the committee, Jeff Bingaman. The bill, the first comprehensive change in US energy laws in 13 years, follows four years of work by the Congress, which passed the legislation at the end of July. The energy law includes about $14.5-bil in tax incentives, with nearly 60% earmarked toward mature energy industries like oil, gas, coal and nuclear. Critics of new law question why these industries are getting tax breaks when energy prices are at historic highs and they decry the law's failure to address climate change through mandatory carbon dioxide limits and growing oil demand through more stringent fuel efficiency standards. Proponents of the law say it will help boost energy supplies by streamlining some federal permitting processes and encouraging both new drilling and the development alternative energy sources through tax relief. One controversial proposal not included in the energy bill was the proposed opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling. However, Domenici has said his chamber will vote Sep 13 to include ANWR drilling in the fiscal 2006 budget reconciliation bill. Budget reconciliation bills establish broad US spending guidelines for the following fiscal years. Only a majority vote is needed for passage of a reconciliation bill in the Senate. For more news on the energy bill, see the Platts feature at http://www.platts.com/Oil/Resources/News%20Features/energybill/index.xml ------------