Platts - Tuesday, September 13, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ TVO lays cornerstone for Olkiluoto-3 Stockholm (Platts)--12Sep2005 Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oy (TVO) laid the cornerstone for Olkiluoto-3 today in a ceremony that Areva Chairman Anne Lauvergeon said "launches the third-generation era" of nuclear power. Areva's Framatome ANP is supplying the nuclear island and coordinating the project; its partner Siemens AG is supplying the conventional island. Seven groups of notables, covering the industrial and political spectra, as well as Finland's nuclear safety chief, placed trowels full of mortar under the foundation for the main coolant pump building at the site, where TVO already operates two BWRs. Former prime minister and current Speaker of Parliament Paavo Lipponen served as "head mason" for the ceremony. Lipponen said history was being made at Olkiluoto-3, a 1,600-MW EPR that will be the fifth reactor in Finland. The unit is slated to go on line in May 2009. ------------ Renewables must drive hydrogen future: EU Parliament London (Platts)--12Sep2005 Renewables and not nuclear must drive the coming hydrogen economy, a cross-party group of European parliamentarians, including President Josep Borrell, said Monday in a manifesto calling for more support for 'green hydrogen'. "Hydrogen has to be one of the EU's major priorities in the coming years," Spanish Conservative Alejo Vidal Quadras told journalists. The manifesto calls for any future hydrogen economy to be based on renewables and not fossil fuels or nuclear power. It also calls for fiscal incentives and financing schemes to boost renewables and hydrogen infrastructure and to have tighter energy efficiency and savings standards while moving from a fossil fuel economy to a green hydrogen economy. "It is absolutely essential to improve energy efficiency...insulate our buildings and invest in sustainable energies in a major fashion," Spanish Socialist Borrell said. "We must guide this and not leave it to market forces." The manifesto is high level and the parliamentarians plan to come forward with a more detailed roadmap by end-October/November, said Luxembourg Green Claude Turmes. "We'll bring together US and EU experts to work on the details, such as what kind of tax incentives we need," he said. EU environment commissioner Stavros Dimas said that his department was very much in favor of research and development of hydrogen technology. "It is clear that we need a fundamental change in the way we use energy," he said. EU commissioners under President Romano Prodi agreed in 2003 to work toward creating a sustainable hydrogen economy in Europe as soon as possible, and approved a hydrogen and fuel cell technology platform to promote and coordinate research. For more information, take a trial to Platts European Power Daily at http://europeanpowerdaily.platts.com. ------------ Austrian party, Greenpeace protest against east-Europe nuke plan Freiburg (Platts)--12Sep2005 Austrian politicians belonging to the Green party and local environmental group Greenpeace have spoken out against nuclear plans of countries neighboring Austria. The Green party slammed plans by Hungary, which plans to extend the life of its Paks nuclear unit by 20 years, while Slovenia plans to build a new unit at Krsko and Slovakia at Mochove. "Expansion plans would be a fatal decision under both security aspects as well as under energy-political ones," said the Green party. "The expansion of dangerous nuclear power must not be the answer to horrendous oil prices and more power demand." Nuclear power should be rejected categorically because of the high danger potential and the unsolved question on nuclear waste, the party said. Greenpeace meanwhile protested against the "nuclear Renaissance," saying all three countries could forgo nuclear power through renewables and higher efficiency. Hungary's Paks was initially scheduled to be decommissioned in 2012-2017 after its 30-year lifespan ran out. For more information, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ NRC commissioners authorize license for PFS project Washington (Platts)--9Sep2005 Private Fuel Storage LLC's (PFS) proposed project in Utah cleared the last NRC regulatory hurdle today, paving the way for the eight-utility consortium to receive a license to construct and operate a spent fuel storage facility by month's end, an NRC spokesman said. In an order issued today, the commission rejected Utah's final appeal of PFS' application to build a 4,000-cask facility on an Indian reservation. The commission also agreed in a 3-1 decision, with Commissioner Gregory Jaczko dissenting, to authorize NRC staff to issue the license. PFS, which filed its application with the NRC in June 1997, still needs to get approvals from the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Land Management. PFS officials said they would begin marketing the facility and start construction once they receive the license from NRC. The earliest the facility would begin operations is 2008, PFS said in a statement. ------------ NRC rejects Utah appeal of nuclear waste storage site Washington (Platts)--9Sep2005 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Friday rejected Utah's final appeal of an application of an eight-utility consortium to build and operate a spent fuel storage facility on an Indian reservation in Utah's West Desert. In a 3-1 decision, the commission also authorized NRC staff to issue a license to Private Fuel Storage LLC (PFS) to build the facility, which is the first-ever, stand-alone private storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in the US. NRC Commissioner Gregory Jaczko cast the dissenting vote. PFS filed its application with the NRC in June 1997. NRC issued its final environmental impact statement in January 2002 and a Consolidated Safety Evaluation Report in March 2002. The nuclear utility consortium plans to build a 4,000-cask above-ground facility on 100 acres of land owned by the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes, about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. PFS still needs approval from other federal agencies, including the Dept of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management and the Surface Transportation Board, before it can begin construction. The facility will be built on land leased from the Skull Valley Band of the Goshute Indians over strong protests from the state because the area is used for training by the US Air Force from nearby Hill Air Force Base and the chance of a crash releasing radiation was too high. Utah petitioned for NRC review of a Feb 24 decision by the Atomic Safety and Licensing Boad, which rejected the state's assertions. NRC's memorandum and order also dismisses as moot petitions by PFS and the NRC staff for review of portions of an earlier ASLB ruling. "Our decision today concludes this protractd adjudication, which has generated more than 40 published Board decisions and more than 30 published Commission dcisions," NRC said in its memorandum and order. "The adjudicatory effort, plus our staff's separate safety and environmental reviews, gives us reasonable assurance that PFS's proposed [storage facility] can be constructed and operated safely," it said. The facility is being built by seven US utilities, led by Xcel Energy in Minnesota. For more information, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucweek.platts.com. ------------ Southern Nuclear might build two new reactors at Vogtle Washington (Platts)--8Sep2005 Southern Nuclear Operating Co. may build up to two new reactors at its Vogtle site, company officials said today. It has been looking at Westinghouse's AP1000 and GE Energy's ESBWR. The company wants to have new nuclear baseload generation operating in 2015 in time for the summer peak demand period, Southern Nuclear officials told NRC staff at a meeting today at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. The company hasn't made a final decision on whether to build new nuclear and, if so, the number of units. But it discussed with NRC staff its plan to submit an early site permit application in August 2006 and a combined construction permit-operating license application in March 2008. Vogtle currently houses two 1,215-MW Westinghouse PWRs. ------------