Platts - Monday, November 28, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ EDF's 'safety benefits' analysis shows many backfits unjustified London (Platts)--28Nov2005 Nearly all the safety benefit of plant modifications envisaged for the 30th-year outages of Electricite de France's (EDF) oldest reactors is attributable to only nine modifications that altogether cost less than one-third of expenditures projected for the total potential backfit package, EDF found in applying a new method of cost/benefit analysis. Moreover, the analysis showed, several backfits to which EDF has already committed, including in agreements with safety authorities, fall into the group of low-priority actions as determined by EDF's calculation of safety benefit. The analysis showed that sometimes a relatively simple modification, such as planned automation of reactors' fuel handling systems, makes a major contribution to safety by reducing the probability of human error. Conversely, a planned major (and expensive) seismic upgrade at the Bugey PWR plant, EDF's second-oldest, was found to have relatively low safety benefit, said Alain Dubreuil Chambardel of EDF's Septen basic design department. However, he said, EDF will carry out the seismic upgrade anyway because it is one of several backfits the utility agreed on with regulators in the runup to the 30th-year outages. "We aren't going to go back on our commitments," he told Inside NRC. The 30th-year outages at EDF's 900-MW-class PWRs are scheduled to start in 2009 and end in 2020, covering a total of 34 units. Their success is critical to EDF's strategy of operating its reactors for 40 years or longer. EDF developed the new approach at the prodding of nuclear regulatory authority DGSNR, which has said it is open to risk-informed approaches to safety backfits provided they are justified in a rigorous way (Nucleonics Week, 6 June '03, 5). Under the French nuclear regulatory system, EDF is required to do safety reassessments of its reactors every 10 years and to specify a package of modifications to be implemented during each unit's decennial outage. (EDF tries to maintain as much standardization as possible across a series, despite smaller changes over the years that tend to differentiate between reactors in the same series.) Safety authorities must sign off on the proposed backfit package. For the 900-MW plants, the 30th-year backfit package is currently under study by nuclear regulatory agency DGSNR and its technical support organization (TSO), the Institute of Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety. Dubreuil Chambardel presented results of the safety benefits/costs analysis of the proposed backfit package to the Eurosafe meeting sponsored by French, German and Belgian TSOs in Brussels. His paper was co-authored by Jean-Pierre Roux of EDF's nuclear generation division and N. Gimet-Meca of its center for engineering of operating plants, CIPN. This story was published in full in Platts Inside NRC. Request a free trial at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ Regulators approve replacement of Diablo Canyon steam generators London (Platts)--25Nov2005 Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (PG&E) received the go-ahead from California regulators late last week to spend up to $815-million replacing eight steam generators at the two-reactor Diablo Canyon station. The authorization the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued Nov. 18 allows PG&E to avert an early shutdown of the 2,323-MW nuclear power plant. PG&E has said the station likely would have to shut down around 2014, only 29 years after unit 1 began operating, if it could not replace the steam generators. The change-outs are slated for 2007 and 2008 (NW, 23 Sept. '04, 3). Spanish nuclear parts manufacturer Equipos Nucleares is scheduled to deliver the replacement generators, which will be fabricated at its factory in Santander in northern Spain, between 2007 and 2008. The replacement generators will have tubes made of corrosion-resistant alloy 690, rather than the alloy 600 used for the plant's existing steam generator tubes, the company said. In a separate, but related move, PG&E plans to seek California regulators' approval next month for a $19-million study on the feasibility of renewing the NRC operating licenses for Diablo Canyon-1 and -2. The request will be part of a general rate case request that the utility plans to send to the CPUC in December (NW, 4 Aug., 4). Without the renewal, the licenses for Diablo Canyon-1 and -2 would expire in 2021 and 2025, respectively. This story was originally published in Platts Nucleonics Week. Request a free trial at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ Uranium prices continue climb Washington (Platts)--23Nov2005 The spot price of uranium continued to rise during the past week. TradeTech raised its spot indicator to $34 a pound U3O8 Nov. 18, up 50 cents from the week before. And Ux Consulting raised its spot U3O8 price Nov. 21 to $34.25/lb, up 30 cents from the week before. Market activity is continuing at moderate to high levels this year, Ux Consulting said. In past years, activity has slowed as the year-end holiday season approaches, Ux Consulting noted. Analysts attribute the increased activity to more off-market buyers, such as hedge funds. ------------