Platts - Monday, November 21, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ Industry planning ahead to meet needs for new plant construction London (Platts)--21Nov2005 The industry is taking action now to ensure critical elements will be in place to support the safe and reliable continued operation of existing nuclear power plants while meeting the needs to construct and operate new reactors, said the Nuclear Energy Institute's (NEI) Thomas Houghton. The critical infrastructure is three-pronged, said Houghton, a project manager in NEI's risk regulation division. Speaking at the American Nuclear Society's winter meeting in Washington, D.C., Houghton said there were financial, physical, and workforce considerations. He described the financial requirements as "investment stimulus" or "protection" against delays over which the project developer has little control. The new energy policy act has provisions to aid with the financing of new plants and offers insurance protection against unanticipated delays, he said. The law provides up to $500-million for each of the first two new plant projects that encounter delays due to litigation or licensing issues, and up to $250-million for the next four projects for 50% of the delay costs following a six-month period. The law provides for debt service or purchased power costs, Houghton said. The workforce challenges are impacting the industry and government agencies. Houghton said a new plant construction project could attract around 2,400 workers. He said that approximately 14,000 workers would be needed if there were seven plants in construction at the same time. To operate the plant, between 400 and 700 skilled employees would be needed, he said. An NEI workforce issues task force is addressing the labor issues, he said. Another industry task force was established in early August to tackle issues dealing with physical infrastructure, meaning the key components and commodities, Houghton said in his Nov. 15 talk. The task force, comprising vendors, architect engineers, utilities, and representatives from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, and Electric Power Research Institute, will assess the infrastructure gaps in a study to be conducted next year. The study will look at vendor construction schedules and estimate demand for long-lead components. It will focus on the fabrication capabilities, and whether there would be qualified suppliers for equipment and materials, he said. In his presentation, Houghton showed estimates of the lead times needed to fabricate more than a half-dozen large components, including about 50 months for reactor vessels and steam generators, roughly 40 months for reactor vessel internals, pressurizers, and turbine generators, and approximately 30 months for accumulators and heavy component supports. Houghton said the "good news" for the industry is that there is time to prepare for new construction. But he said that orders for long-lead components will need to be made in 2008 if construction is anticipated to begin in 2010. He said if there is a boom in nuclear construction, it could "rejuvenate" the U.S. heavy manufacturing sector. He also said that the demand could be met if existing facilities are retooled with "state-of-the-art" manufacturing technologies and if the industry looks worldwide to fulfill orders, not just within the U.S. For similar news stories, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ Bush nominates new members for TVA's board Washington (Platts)--18Nov2005 President George W. Bush sent to the Senate today the names of five nominees for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) board of directors. TVA's full-time, three-member board is being changed to a nine-person, part-time board. Susan Richardson Williams was nominated for an existing seat last held by Glenn McCullough, who was board chairman. Williams is owner and manager of SRW & Associates, a public relations and government relations group in Knoxville. TVA spokesman John Moulton said the board would elect its new chairman after at least three new members take office. The four other nominees are slated for new positions. Dennis Bottorff of Tennessee and Robert M. Duncan of Kentucky were nominated for terms expiring May 18, 2011. Bottorff is chairman of Council Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Nashville. Duncan is chairman/CEO/director of Community Thrift Holding Co., chairman/CEO of Inez Deposit Bank, and a partner in the law firm Duncan & Duncan. William Sansom of Tennessee was nominated for term expiring May 18, 2009 and Howard Thrailkill of Alabama for a term expiring May 18, 2007. Sansom is chairman/CEO of The H.T. Hackney Co. grocery wholesaler in Knoxville, and Thrailkill is president/chief operating officer of Adtran Inc., a network access equipment supplier company in Huntsville. ------------ Honeywell investigating cause of UF6 leak Washington (Platts)--17Nov2005 Honeywell International Inc. is investigating the root cause of a small release of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) at its uranium conversion facility in Metropolis, Ill., NRC said in today's morning event report. The UF6 leak occurred Nov. 15 in the basement of the plant's feeds material building. There were no injuries to personnel or release of radioactivity to the environment, the report said. "At the time of the release, personnel were performing maintenance on a valve on a flush pot line for a UF6 vaporizer," the report said, and the plant was in standby condition. "In response to the release, maintenance personnel re-tightened the valve bonnet, which isolated the release," it added. Honeywell said it has resumed normal operations. ------------ Higher prices, production boost OPG's nuclear segment earnings Washington (Platts)--17Nov2005 Ontario Power Generation (OPG) reported third quarter income and revenues from its nuclear segment increased from a year ago, driven by higher sales price and electricity production. Nuclear income before interest, income taxes and extraordinary items was (Cdn)$65-mil, versus a loss of $71-mil a year ago, OPG said Nov. 11. Nuclear revenues were $662-mil, up $114-mil from a year ago, the utility said. Year-ago income was mainly hurt by lower realized prices, along with lower production. Also, third quarter 2004 operations, maintenance and administration (OM&A) expenses included $62-mil for returning Pickering-1 to service. Due to a regulatory change, Pickering-1-related expenses were deferred in 2005. Without the change, an expense of $57-mil would have been recognized during the most recent quarter. Revenues benefited from the introduction of rate regulation effective Apr 1, with sales prices in the just-ended quarter exceeding average spot market prices the same time last year. The average electricity sales price for nuclear generation was 4.9 cts/kilowatt hour(KWH), up from 4 cts/KWH in third quarter 2004, OPG said. Nuclear generation increased to 11.9 terawatt-hours (TWH) from 11.5 TWH the same time last year, OPG said. The increase was due to fewer planned outage days at Pickering B (units 5-8), the utility said. All three OPG nuclear stations' capability factors were up during the third quarter from a year ago: Darlington's was 98.2%, up from 97.9%; Pickering A's (units 1-4) was 78.8%, up from 77.5%; and Pickering B's was 85%, up from 72.4%. At Pickering A, only units 1 and 4 are operating. All four Pickering A units were shut down in 1997; unit 4 returned to service in 2003 and unit 1 earlier this month. OPG announced this summer it would not return units 2 and 3. OPG's nuclear OM&A expenses (excluding those related to the Pickering A restart project) were $453-mil in the third quarter, up from $399-mil a year ago. OPG said the increase was partly due to the write-off of $22-mil of excess inventory as a result of not returning Pickering-2 and -3 to service. OM&A expenses for nuclear maintenance and repairs increased by $45-million over third quarter 2004, OPG said. The expenditures relate to improvement projects and ongoing maintenance costs to address plant condition and regulatory requirements, it said. OPG reported third quarter net income of $181-mil, up from a $15-mil net loss the same time last year. Favorable impacts on earnings included an increase in gross margin from electricity sales, mainly due to higher average sales prices during the quarter, OPG said. For more information, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucweek.platts.com. ------------