Platts - Thursday, September 08, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ DCS' request for MOX fuel fabrication facility license delayed Washington (Platts)--7Sep2005 DCS' request to NRC for an operating license for a MOX fuel fabrication facility is now targeted for third quarter 2006, a company official said today. Duke Cogema Stone & Webster (DCS), the DOE contractor that is to build and operate the mixed-oxide (MOX) facility at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, had previously said it planned to submit the application in fiscal 2005. The delay will allow DCS to make changes to the design before sending in the application, DCS Vice President/Regulatory Affairs Manager Richard Sweigart said at a meeting with NRC staff at agency headquarters in Rockville, Md. Earlier this year, NRC issued a construction permit for the facility, but construction has not yet begun. For more information, take a trial to Nuclear News Flashes at http://www.nuclearnews.platts.com. ------------ Regulators support Oskarshamn-3 uprate Stockholm (Platts)--7Sep2005 The Swedish government should approve operation of Oskarshamn-3 at increased power, Swedish regulators said today. In October 2004, unit owner OKG applied to the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI) for a 250-MW uprate at the 1,200-MW BWR. SKI has already advised the government to okay uprates at Ringhals-1 and -3, which the cabinet is expected to do later this month. ------------ Ukraine to build spent fuel storage facility without Framatome Paris (Platts)--6Sep2005 Framatome is "incompetent" and Ukraine will build a spent fuel storage facility for Chernobyl fuel without the French vendor, Ukraine's Deputy Minister for Emergency Situations, Tatyana Asomova, said today. She told Platts at an international conference in Vienna that Framatome's proposal to finish the fuel facility in 2010, instead of 2005 as originally contracted, and at three times the original cost, was "unprofessional" and "unacceptable" for Ukraine. Donors to the International Chernobyl Fund managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development have postponed a decision on how to proceed on the spent fuel project, now projected to cost 232-million euros (U.S.$289-million), until the end of the year. ------------ NRC plans to hire 350 new workers next year Washington (Platts)--2Sep2005 NRC says it will be aggressively recruiting new employees next year and plans to hire a total of 350 entry-level and experienced workers. The agency is preparing for several new reactor licensing applications expected in 2007 and 2008 while bracing for staff retirements. NRC says it will look for qualified job candidates at more than 40 recruiting events at colleges and universities in 2006 and will highlight American University's ranking of NRC as among the 10 best places to work in the federal government. The Partnership for Public Service and the Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation at American University will release the full list of rankings on Sept. 14. ------------