Platts - Thursday, May 11, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ Vermont citizens request a berm around fuel storage facility Washington (Platts)--10May2006 Entergy should be required to construct a berm around Vermont Yankee's proposed dry spent fuel storage facility, two groups argued today in a regulatory filing. The New England Coalition and Citizens Action Network asked Vermont regulators to reconsider their April 26 order approving Entergy's plans for the spent fuel facility. In a petition to the Vermont Public Service Board, the groups asserted that a berm or some other type of structural wall "of earth, sand or other similar material" would add protection in case of a terrorist missile attack or aircraft crash. The groups said there is "at least 200 feet between the edge of the proposed concrete pad and the top of the river bank." They argued that Entergy failed to demonstrate why it was not possible to build a berm. For similar news, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucweek.platts.com. ------------ NRC issues EIS for USEC enrichment plant Washington (Platts)--10May2006 NRC has issued the final environmental impact statement (EIS) for USEC's planned centrifuge enrichment plant, saying the expected benefits of the facility outweigh any adverse effects. In the EIS, the NRC says the environmental impacts "are generally small, although they could be as high as moderate in the areas of air quality, socioeconomics and transportation." In a press release today, USEC senior vice president Philip Sewell called the issuance of the document a "major step forward." USEC expects to receive a license for the uranium enrichment plant in early 2007 and begin construction later that year, the release said. The EIS is on the NRC's web site (http://www.nrc.gov /reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1834/index.html#intro). ------------ Kozloduy-5 control rod incident rated INES Level 2 Paris (Platts)--9May2006 Kozloduy-5's control rod sticking incident March 2 was rated Level 2 on the International Nuclear Event Scale (INES), Bulgaria's Nuclear Regulatory Agency said yesterday. The incident, in which 21 of 61 control rods stuck in the upper position as operators tried to restart the VVER-1000 after an outage, was first identified as a basic Level 1 (anomaly) event by an NRA event analysis commission, NRA Chairman Sergey Tzotchev said. This was because the reactor protection system had successfully shut down the reactor and the reactivity-control function was "more than adequate" to cope with any design-basis accidents that might have occurred, he said. The event was uprated to Level 2 (incident) in light of additional factors related to "procedural inadequacies" and "common cause failures," as per the INES Users Manual, he said. Tzotchev said work to clarify the root cause of the control rod sticking is under way. ------------ Florida governor expected to sign broad energy legislation Birmingham, Alabama (Platts)--9May2006 Florida Governor Jeb Bush is expected to sign a sweeping energy bill that would, among other things, make it easier for the state's utilities to build new nuclear plants and establish a nine-member commission to develop both an energy plan and climate action plan. The bill, which was approved by the state Senate late Friday after winning passage in the state House earlier last week, was sent to the governor's desk Monday. A Bush spokesman said the governor will sign the measure once a final version of the bill is presented to him. Among its many provisions, the bill includes language that would allow utilities to recovery the preconstruction and licensing costs of nuclear power plants as they are incurred. The provision is expected to save utilities such as Progress Energy Florida, which intends license application for a new nuclear plant to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, billions of dollars over the life of the plant, a Progress spokesman said. The bill also would exclude nuclear plants from the Florida Public Service Commission bid rules, which require utilities to seek bids for new power resources before they can elect to build their own generation. The energy bill has so many provisions that Progress and Florida Power and Light have yet to evaluate them all and FPL said it would be later this week before it could comment on the legislation. The bill would create a nine-member Florida Energy Commission, whose members would be chosen by the Senate president and House speaker. The commission will develop recommendations for legislation on a state energy policy and a state climate action plan. The bill also would direct the Florida Public Service Commission to consider fuel diversity and reliability in determining the need for a proposed electric power plant. It also would revise current siting laws for power plants and transmission lines to streamline and shorten timelines. Further, the bill would require the PSC to study the state's electric transmission grid. In addition, the legislation would provide financial incentives for renewable energy technologies, energy efficient appliances, solar energy, biomass and biodiesel and ethanol in the bill. For similar news, take a trial to Platts Inside Energy at http://insideenergy.platts.com. ------------ US nuclear industry announces groundwater radiation initiative Washington (Platts)--9May2006 The operators of all US nuclear power plants have agreed to a new "voluntary policy to enhance detection, management and communication about inadvertent radiological releases in groundwater," the Nuclear Energy Institute said Tuesday. The industry initiative was announced at a meeting earlier Tuesday with Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff. "The new industrywide program recognizes that, even though radioisotopes have not been detected off-site" at US nuclear power plants "at levels that would jeopardize public health, the industry should adopt a higher standard of excellence that goes beyond what NRC regulations require," Ralph Andersen of NEI said. By July 31, every company operating or decommissioning a nuclear power plant will have established an "action plan to ensure timely detection and effective response to inadvertent radiological releases in groundwater"; submitted a report to the NRC within 30 days if any sample of on-site groundwater that may be used as drinking water exceeds limits already in place for offsite samples; and notified state and local officials in a timely manner, NEI said. In the wake of tritium leaks at plants in Illinois and New York, the NRC has also established a task force on liquid radioactive effluents, which will report its recommendations by August 31. --Steven Dolley, steven_dolley@platts.com For similar news, take a trial to Inside NRC at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ E.ON UK supports new nuclear plants in the UK London (Platts)--9May2006 The UK government should open the door for new nuclear power plants to be built in the UK in its forthcoming energy review, E.ON UK chief executive Paul Golby said at a conference in London Tuesday. Golby said that E.ON UK would be interested in operating any possible future nuclear plant in the UK, but added that the company would not seek any funding or subsidies from the government for new nuclear plants. "A proven technology like nuclear should not need any government financial support," he said. He said that the company is well placed to operate nuclear plants in the UK because its parent company E.ON of Germany already operates several plants elsewhere and has "solid balance sheets." Golby also said that the UK should be careful not to pursue a single technology in its future energy mix. It is not the job of the government to pick a single energy solution, he added, because industry itself would make the decision naturally in response to the regulatory system. He said that the government should be careful not to inhibit this by "blocking technologies, or subsidizing a single technology or sector." UK energy minister Malcolm Wicks, who was also speaking at the conference, told delegates that there is a planning stream as part of the government's energy review, and said that the government is aware that planning permission for new power plants can take a long time. "We are looking at limiting local planning considerations to local issues, so you don't have people going over the arguments about competing technologies for every planning application," he said. For similar news, take a trial to Power in Europe at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ BNG signs first new MOX fuel order in four years London (Platts)--9May2006 British nuclear group has signed its first new MOX fuel order in four years, the company said today. The contract is with German utility EnBW Kernkraft GmbH, or EnKK, for Neckarwestheim-2. The order is seen as "very important" to BNG in that it "confirms that our customers want mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel from the Sellafield MOX Plant," said Jeremy Rycroft, BNG's director of spent fuel services. The contract includes a commitment by EnKK to convert all the separated plutonium from the fuel it is having reprocessed at the adjacent Thorp plant at Sellafield. A BNG spokesman said he was unable by press time to supply figures for the tons of MOX fuel involved or the contract value. BNG's previous most recent MOX supply contracts included with Sweden's OKG in 2001 and Germany's EON in 2002. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ US House Republicans push gas-use limits, big nuclear expansion Washington (Platts)--8May2006 To prevent a crippling US energy crisis, two House Republicans Monday floated contentious proposals to restrict natural gas use by the electricity sector, rely primarily on nuclear power and increase fuel economy standards, saying the time had come for Congress and the White House to make "difficult choices" that have been put off for decades. In a report concluding a series of hearings held in 2005, House Government Reform Committee leaders said the current US energy situation was unlike any other because it was being driven by demand and that "market forces" often touted by members of their own party were insufficient to assure adequate supplies. "In our view, the energy crisis is potentially an economic and national security threat of such a magnitude that governmental action is needed to 'provide for the common defense' and the 'general welfare' of the United States," wrote Committee Chairman Tom Davis of Virginia and Darrell Issa of California. As part of this, they said "natural gas must not be squandered on baseload and new electricity generation," but rather should be "reserved for industries that use it as a feedstock or for primary energy." They recommended that nuclear power be made the primary generation source, saying it would bring cheaper electricity and cleaner air. The congressmen also maintained that Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards must be strengthened to reduce growing US oil demand. "By not upgrading standards [over the last 20 years], the government has contributed to American manufacturers losing the competitive edge against foreign competition," they said. For similar news, take a trial to Platts Inside Energy at http://insideenergy.platts.com. ------------ DOE issues rule on risk insurance for new nuclear reactors Washington (Platts)--8May2006 The Energy Department has issued an interim final rule intended to speed new nuclear plant construction by offering financial assurances that government obstacles or private litigation will not delay the work. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 authorized the DOE program, which provides up to $500 million in insurance for each of the first two new advanced reactors to be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and up to $250 million for the next four. Dennis Spurgeon, assistant secretary for nuclear energy, told reporters Monday the rule is intended to "remove regulatory uncertainty" for sponsors of new plants. The idea, he said, was to "reward the pioneers of the nuclear energy renaissance rather than punish them." A final version of the rule is due in August. The interim final rule, issued Saturday, establishes a two-step process for obtaining risk insurance. First, a sponsor would enter into a conditional agreement with DOE after it has applied to NRC for a combined construction and operating license. Once NRC issues a license, the sponsor and DOE would enter into a contract providing the insurance. The DOE rule identifies events that would be covered by the risk insurance, including delays associated with NRC's review of inspections, tests, analyses and acceptance criteria. Other types of covered events include certain delays associated with lawsuits in state, federal and tribal courts. For similar news, take a trial to Platts Inside Energy at http://insideenergy.platts.com. ------------ Entergy first quarter earnings beat last year's performance Washington (Platts)--8May2006 Entergy Nuclear's first quarter 2006 earnings of $81.5 million were up from $78 million in the same three-month period last year, parent Entergy reported May 2. The company attributed the results to increased generation from a combination of uprates and no refuelings. That compares to 20 days for refuelings in first quarter 2005, Entergy said. Entergy said higher prices for generation from its plants also boosted earnings. The company said in a statement that the increased generation and higher electricity pricing helped offset higher operation and maintenance expenses, which it said were "due to the absence of refueling outages in the current period. Operation and maintenance expense decreases during outages as resources working the outage are deferred and subsequently amortized into expense over the next 18 to 24 months." Entergy Nuclear, the company's merchant nuclear subsidiary, operates five nuclear units -- FitzPatrick and Indian Point-2 and -3 in New York, Pilgrim in Massachusetts, and Vermont Yankee in Vermont. Entergy's other nuclear units -- Arkansas Nuclear One-1 and -2, Grand Gulf, River Bend, and Waterford-3 -- are part of its "Utility, Parent & Other" business. The Utility unit's earnings were $113.2 million compared to $91.8 million in first quarter 2005. Entergy reported overall earnings of $190.2 million up from $173.4 million from the same period in 2005. Those figures include one-time charges. The company said it was still feeling the impacts of two hurricanes that passed through its service territory last year. It said the storms "reduced retail sales and pushed interest expense higher as borrowings increased to fund storm costs." For similar news, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucweek.platts.com. ------------