Platts - Tuesday, November 01, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ Climate change efforts need concensus, cooperation: Beckett London (Platts)--1Nov2005 UK environment minister Margaret Beckett Tuesday called on nations to cooperate in search of a response to the challenge of climate change, at the opening of a one-day informal ministerial meeting in London. Speaking to the press at the start of the meeting, Beckett said the challenge was to better use technology to reduce the impacts of climate change and to satisfy the demand for cleaner energy worldwide. The meeting, billed as an informal exchange of views in the run-up to the United Nations' Conference and Meeting of parties to the Kyoto Protocol in Montreal later this month, was meant to expand on the work of the UK-led G8 meeting at Gleneagles, Scotland earlier this year, and gathered ministers from developing countries as well as the G8. "We need something on which the whole world will agree, and which will cut emissions," Beckett, said, referring to the growing debate on building a post-Kyoto system to combat climate change. She went on to explain that the various bilateral agreements that have been reached--notably the UK's agreement to develop carbon capture and storage technology with China--are all working to the same end as Kyoto, namely the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Beckett stopped short of saying that developing nations such as China or India were ready to take on binding limits to their emissions in the next round of climate change action after 2012: "The purpose of this meeting is to listen and to learn from each other; it's not about a successor to Kyoto." The minister also defended Prime Minister Tony Blair's stance on climate change, saying that he had not shifted in his view that climate change action needed concensus. Despite reports emanating from New York this summer that Blair was no longer in favor of specific reduction targets, Beckett said, "What matters now is what comes after 2012. We need a new, legally-binding arrangement." ---alessandro_vitelli@platts.com For more information, take a trial to Emissions Daily at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ Progress Energy considering second new nuclear plant Washington (Platts)--1Nov2005 Progress Energy said Tuesday that it has told the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission it is preparing an application for a second combined construction permit-operating license (COL) for a possible new nuclear plant. The company announced in August plans for the first COL application. A COL would allow the company to construct a new plant if it decided to do so. Progress Energy said it has not committed to build a new nuclear plant. Citing increased demand for baseload generation in the company's utility services areas, Progress Energy said Tuesay that it intends to file a COL application for a site in North Carolina or South Carolina and another in Florida. The company already operates five reactors: Brunswick-1 and -2 and Harris-1 in North Carolina; Robinson-2 in South Carolina and Crystal River-3 in Florida. The company said it expects to submit both COL applications to the NRC by 2008. If plans move forward, construction could begin as early as 2010 and plants could be on-line around 2015, Progress Energy said. ---Tom Harrison, tom_harrison@platts.com For more information, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucweek.platts.com. ------------ Transformer fire keeps Hatch-1 off line Washington (Platts)--31Oct2005 Hatch-1 remained down today following a fire Oct. 29 in a transformer outside the turbine building, Southern Nuclear Operating Co. said. Initial work has begun to move the damaged transformer so an on-site replacement can be put in place, said Southern Nuclear spokesman Steve Higginbottom. He declined to discuss the unit's estimated return to service, citing competitive reasons. The cause of the fire is still being assessed, he said. The fire initially was extinguished by the transformer's automatic fire suppression system after a couple of minutes, he said. It reflashed about two hours later, so fire suppression was continued, he said. Southern Nuclear said it declared a notification of unusual event, the lowest of NRC's four emergency classifications, on Oct. 29 at 1:40 p.m. local time; the notification was terminated at 12:50 a.m. yesterday. ------------ Nuclear power a renewable energy source: UK government minister London (Platts)--31Oct2005 Nuclear power is a renewable energy source, a UK government minister said in a debate on energy security in the House of Lords last Thursday, according to 'The Times' newspaper Monday. Lord Sainsbury of Turville, the Science and Innovation Minister, was asked whether he would reclassify nuclear as renewable energy. "Lady O'Cathain offered the opportunity of... agreeing that nuclear is a renewable source of energy--it clearly is so," he said. In his speech he said that nuclear power raised safety and environmental problems, but that the government's energy review must consider the problem of running down nuclear stations while working to reduce carbon emission, the paper said. Last month UK Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain would have to consider a new generation of civil nuclear power plants if it wanted to address the twin issues of energy policy and global warming. For more nuclear news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ Constellation executive gives details on new-reactor plans Washington (Platts)--28Oct2005 Constellation Energy plans to submit an early site permit (ESP) application in 2007 and a combined construction permit-operating license (COL) in 2008, Michael Wallace, the company's executive vice president, told Platts today. The company yesterday announced with Areva Inc., its partner in the UniStar Nuclear joint venture, that it would seek a COL. It has not yet selected a host site for a potential new U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor, but that site will be the same as the one identified in the ESP application, Wallace said. There are only a few locations under consideration, Wallace said, including Constellation's Nine Mile Point and Calvert Cliffs. ------------ EU leaders agree to work on common European energy policy ideas Brussels (Platts)--28Oct2005 European Union leaders have agreed to do more work together in the energy sector, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters at an informal EU summit in Hampton Court near London Thursday. "There was an agreement to take forward work in the energy sector, including how we try to establish a common European grid," said Blair, as president in office of the EU Council of member state governments. Energy, like research and development, was an area where there was broad agreement that the European institutions--the European Commission, EU Council and European Parliament--had to do more, he said. "It is important that energy policy is something that we work on together as an EU," said Blair, citing rising import dependency for oil and gas. The leaders also broadly agreed with the EC's proposals for future EU economic and social policy, which included a call for a long term and coherent energy policy, encompassing energy use, secure and diverse supplies, and links to other policies such as research, agriculture and the environment. EC President Jose Manuel Barroso told reporters he thought citizens wanted to see EU leaders focussed on getting results in specific areas, such as a common approach to energy, and how the EU could boost research and innovation so that it can be competitive globally. The aim is provide outlines of the energy sector and R&D work at the formal EU summit in December, and conclusions at the March 2006 summit. The UK had always opposed until now the idea of a common European energy policy because it feared the EC would regulate North Sea oil and gas, Blair said. "If that was a European common energy policy, it wouldn't be worth having." However, a common policy which improved the competitiveness and efficiency of European business, reduced prices for consumers and helped to achieve the best interconnection of the European energy grids--"that is absolutely the type of thing that we should be looking at," said Blair. "If you take into account the fact that we are going to import such huge amounts of our energy, it matters, doesn't it, how and on what terms we do that," he said. "And for Europe to have some common ideas on that, it seems to me sensible." A common energy policy could also explore common issues in nuclear research, science and technology for those member states that either have or may have an interest in nuclear power, he said. ---Siobhan_Hall@Platts.com For more indepth energy news, request a free trial to Platts Energy Economist at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ Constellation Energy will prepare a COL for possible new reactor Washington (Platts)--27Oct2005 Constellation Energy said today it will prepare a combined construction permit-operating license (COL) for a new reactor at possibly its Calvert Cliffs or Nine Mile Point sites. The company did not say when it planned to file the COL application with the NRC, but it does have a meeting scheduled with agency staff on Nov. 2. Constellation said the development of an application would be done under a joint venture it formed last month with Areva Inc., UniStar Nuclear. The venture's business plan calls for the deployment of a fleet of Areva's Evolutionary Power Reactor, a 1,600-MW advanced PWR. Constellation said in a news release that a COL would be "the first step in a multi-phase process" that could lead to construction of a new reactor. ------------ Hurricane Wilma spares FP&L units but NRC restart approval needed Washington (Platts)--27Oct2005 Florida Power & Light's St. Lucie and Turkey Point stations did not suffer any major damage from Hurricane Wilma's sweep across the Florida peninsula Oct. 24, but three of the four nuclear units require approval by NRC and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) before they can be restarted. St. Lucie-1 was shut down Oct 16 for refueling and is not affected by the restart requirements since there are no plans to immediately bring the unit back into service. However, NRC and FEMA must review the off-site and emergency response capabilities of the other units before they can return to operation. Federal regulators have to verify that evacuation routes are passable and the siren systems are operational. If the sirens are not working, compensatory measures must be in place for alerting citizens near the plants in case of an emergency, said NRC Region II spokesman Ken Clark. FP&L spokeswoman Rachel Scott said Oct 25 that her company expected the units to be restarted soon, although she did not have a date. She said crews were completing assessments of storm damage, which did not appear to be significant, and going over startup procedures. FP&L also was waiting for NRC and FEMA to complete their on- and off-site inspections, Scott said. NRC and FEMA inspectors began surveying Oct 25 the conditions within the 10-mile emergency planning zones at both FP&L plants. Clark said he did not know when they might complete those inspections. Wilma touched down about 6:30 a.m. Oct 24 near Marco Island along the southwestern Florida coast and then headed east across the state. FP&L shut down St. Lucie-2 shortly after midnight Oct 24, and shut down Turkey Point-3 and -4 after 7 a.m., Scott said. The hurricane passed between the plants, which are on the eastern coast, without directly striking either. Both plants have been directly in the path of hurricanes in the past. Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, passed over Turkey Point in 1992. Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne, Category 2 and 3 storms, respectively, moved directly over St. Lucie last year, Scott said. Hurricane-force winds, moving at 74 miles per hour (mph) or higher, never reached either plant site. But Turkey Point did experience tropical storm-force winds of about 72 mph for a short period of time, Scott said. FP&L reported to NRC hours after Wilma passed through that the start-up transformers at Turkey Point were inoperable because of degraded switchyard voltage. Scott said the substation was back to normal operation Oct 25. FP&L separately reported to NRC that it had lost the computer trains to the emergency response data acquisition and display system at St. Lucie on Oct 23. However, there was a backup communications system in place for getting information to NRC, Scott said. Progress Energy's Crystal River-3, located near the western coast of Florida, about 90 miles north of Tampa, was well north of Wilma's path and unaffected by the storm. The unit has been operating at less than full power for the past two weeks, and was at about 84% power the day of the storm, because it has been coasting down for a scheduled refueling, said plant spokesman Rick Kimble. For more information, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucweek.platts.com. ------------ EDF to uprate power output at three nuclear stations Paris (Platts)--27Oct2005 Electricite de France (EDF) will increase the electrical output capacity at five units at three nuclear stations in 2008-2010 by replacing turbine rotors, the first uprates of older reactors ever undertaken by the French utility. The replacement rotors are expected to add about 30 megawatts electric to each of the 900-MW-class units. The replacement, of fretted rotors with welded rotors, has been undertaken at individual units for technical reasons, but gaining capacity was not previously a stated goal. The turbine modifications are part of a planned 40-bil euro (about US$48-bil) investment program over the next five years, announced this week as part of a "public service" commitment to the French government, in the framework of EDF's share sale that is scheduled to begin Oct 28. While many other nuclear utilities in the world have rushed to take advantage of large safety margins to squeeze more megawatts out of existing reactors, EDF officials have said up to now that they preferred to use those margins for other purposes, such as load-following operation or burning mixed-oxide fuel. In addition, EDF had ample capacity to meet demand, both domestic and for export, and generating costs for its nuclear plants were already low enough to compete aggressively on the open market. The only official uprate of nuclear units so far, applied to the four N4 PWRs at Chooz and Civaux, was due not to new equipment but to more precise (and less conservative) calculations of reliable output made after those units had been operating for several years. But an EDF official said this week that market "conditions have changed," with higher prices for electricity promising better and shorter-term returns on investment in power uprates. EDF said turbine modifications would be made at Gravelines, Dampierre and Blayais, but didn't say which units would be affected. All those sites have 900-MW-class PWRs of EDF's first long series, built in the 1980s. EDF said the total power increase would be 150 MW, and another EDF official said that capacity would be reached by modifying the turbines at five units to gain 30 more MW at each. Both EDF officials said the uprates would not involve any changes in the nuclear side of the plants, only the secondary side. For more information, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucweek.platts.com. ------------