Platts - Tuesday, March 21, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ Nuclear talks with Iran 'will be led by EU Three': Bush New York (Platts)--21Mar2006 Any negotiations with Iran over the status of the country's nuclear development program "will be led by the EU Three," US President George W. Bush said Tuesday in a televised press briefing. Asked at the hastily arranged press conference in Washington about the pending talks between the US and Iran over the continued instability in Iraq, Bush noted that several months ago he gave US ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad "permission to explain to the Iranians what we didn't like about their involvement in Iraq. I thought it was important for them to hear first hand..." But Bush denied that there were any plans to have those talks include the ongoing standoff with Iran over that country's nuclear development program. "Our negotiations with Iran on the nuclear weapons will be led by the EU Three," Bush said in a reference to negotiations that have been led by the UK, France and Germany. "That's important because the Iranians must hear there is a unified voice that says that they shall not have the capacity to make a nuclear weapon or the knowledge of how to make a nuclear weapon, for the sake of the security of the world.... It's important for our citizens to understand that we have to deal with that issue diplomatically now. And the reason why is because if the Iranians were to have a nuclear weapon they could blackmail the world..." In addition to the European negotiators, both Russia and China are part of efforts to get Tehran to halt its nuclear development program. Separately, Bush was asked whether he agreed with the recent assessment of former Iraqi interim president Iyad Alawi that Iraq is already involved in a civil war. "I do not," Bush said. "There are other voices coming out of Iraq, other than Mr. Alawi.... We all recognize that there is a violence, that there is sectarian violence. But the way I look at the situation is that the Iraqis took a look and decided not to go to civil war..." For more information, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ UK nuke industry must answer basic questions to have future:Wicks London (Platts)--21Mar2006 The UK nuclear industry needs to answer some fundamental questions, if it is to be considered part of the future energy mix, energy minister Malcolm Wicks said Tuesday. Wicks said the nuclear industry must demonstrate that a shorter planning process for new plants, as called for by industry, would not result in a weakening of current safeguards. "I issue a challenge to the nuclear industry," Wicks told the British Nuclear Energy Society and European Nuclear Society Conference in London. "You are calling for greater certainty over licensing. You are calling for shorter planning processes. You are calling for the scope of planning inquiries to be restricted. But my challenge to you then is to show me how this might work in practice. How might you achieve these things while still maintaining the same high levels of scrutiny and safeguards we have now?" The UK's Energy Review, of which the future of nuclear power is an important feature, ends April 14. But Wicks said that even if the review came out in favor of nuclear power, that would not mean a green light for new nuclear build. "This is why we are tackling the issue of nuclear waste through the creation of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, why we will be using the findings of the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management to inform the Energy Review and why we have asked the Health and Safety Executive to examine some of the risks associated with potential new build and their approach to ensuring industry sensibly manages these risks," he said. ------------ NRC establishes task force to investigate titium leaks London (Platts)--21Mar2006 NRC has established a task force to invetigate titium leaks, the agency said today. The task force's formation follows recent reports of unmonitored releases of water containing tritium during the last decade at some plants. "The available information on these releases shows no hazard to the public," NRC Executive Director for Operation Luis Reyes said in a statement. However, he said, NRC needs to conduct an in-depth review to see if additional action is needed. The twelve-member panel, composed of representatives from NRC headquarters and regional offices and a state government official to be named later, is required to complete its review by August 31. The task force will "examine the issue of inadvertent, unmonitored releases of radioactive liquids containing tritium from US commercial nuclear power plants," NRC said. The task force's charter is on NRC's Adams document system under accession number ML060690186. For more news, request a free trial to Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ The UK taxpayers faces a "large and uncertain liability" London (Platts)--20Mar2006 The UK taxpayers faces a "large and uncertain liability" due to the government's 2002 bailout of British Energy, the National Audit Office said today. The government's Department of Trade and Industry took over responsibility for meeting some of British Energy's nuclear liabilities, re- estimated last month at almost 5.3 billion pounds (US$9.3 billion). The department set up a system whereby British Energy contributes about two-thirds of its cash flow each year to pay off these liabilities, which means more money for the fund when the company is doing well. If the current high UK wholesale electricity price persists, said the audit office, the liabilities' fund will benefit "at a level higher than the most optimistic scenarios considered by the department" during British Energy's restructuring between 2002 and 2005. However, much depends on the company's future financial performance, the audit office warned. Such uncertainty "places a significant risk in the hands of the taxpayer," it said. The report is at http://www.nao.org.uk. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ DOE looking for hosts for fuel-cycle facilities Washington (Platts)--17Mar2006 Sites that are interested in hosting fuel-cycle facilities under the Department of Energy's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership initiative should submit expressions of interest by March 31, DOE said today. Public- and private-sector sites are both eligible, DOE said. The department said it anticipates issuing a request for proposals this spring and awarding 90-day site evaluation studies this summer. Spending legislation passed last year provides up to $20 million, with up to $5 million per site, for volunteers offering sites. ------------