Platts - Monday, June 12, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ Norwegian minister says no to nukes;2.6bn renewable fund launched London (Platts)--12Jun2006 Nuclear power is not considered an option for resolving the predicted power crisis in Norway, energy minister Odd Roger Enoksen told Platts Monday, as he launched a NOK20 billion (Eur2.57 billion) fund to back increased production of renewable energy. Critics have recently called for the introduction of nuclear power to Norway, the sixth largest hydro power producer in the world, as a response to increased consumption and a power supply shortage in mid-Norway that has been predicted to occur in the near future. But Enoksen said nuclear power was not considered an option by the government. "We don't need it," Enoksen told Platts at the Eurelectric annual convention and conference in Oslo. "We have a large potential in renewables and hydro power, CO2 capture and gas fired plants," he said. At the Oslo conference, Enoksen launched an "ambitious" NOK20 billion fund to support increased production of renewable energy in Norway, which he said would strengthen the security of power supply. "This is an ambitious move which confirms Norway's position as a leading nation within the development of renewable energy. The initiatives will contribute to strengthening the security of energy supply in Norway, and it's a considerable contribution to reaching the government's target of a more environmentally friendly and diverse energy system," Enoksen said in a statement. The fund, which will be managed by Enova, will contribute to the government's target of increasing production of renewable energy by 30 terawatt hours from 2001 to 2016. Meanwhile, Norwegian utility Nord-Trondelag Elektrisitetsverk (NTE) has won a license to go ahead with the development of the 249 megawatt Ytre Vikna wind farm in mid-Norway. The farm will consist of about 99 wind turbines, with an estimated annual production of 879 gigawatt hours. "Ytre Vikna wind power farm is an important contribution to strengthening the security of supply in Norway," Enoksen said. For similar stories, request a free trial to Platts Power in Europe at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ Oyster Creek license renewal advances Washington (Platts)--9Jun2006 No environmental impacts preclude Oyster Creek license renewal, NRC staff said in its draft generic environmental impact statement on Exelon's application to extend the plant's license 20 years to 2029. "The NRC staff's preliminary recommendation is that the Commission determine that the adverse environmental impacts of license renewal for [Oyster Creek] are not so great that preserving the option of license renewal for energy-planning decision makers would be unreasonable," NRC staff concluded. The draft EIS, released today, is on the NRC web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr1437/supplement2 8/. Public comments will be accepted until September 8. ------------ Two industry officials cautious on outlook for US nuclear revival london (Platts)--9Jun2006 The US nuclear resurgence that the industry has been touting may be slower or smaller than some recent projections have suggested, two nuclear utility executives said in featured speeches at an industry conference this week. The comments by Dale Atkinson, Energy Northwest's vice president for nuclear generation, and James Malone, the vice president for nuclear fuels at Exelon Generation, were echoed, to varying degrees, by some of the other participants at the World Nuclear Fuel Market's June 5-6 annual meeting in Seattle. Neither Exelon, which has the largest US nuclear fleet, nor Energy Northwest, which has one reactor, has announced plans for building potential new reactors. In his opening address, Atkinson said he thought that new plants would be built, but not on the "aggressive timeline" and in the "massive numbers" that some officials have suggested. Industry officials have discussed various number and timeframes. NRC Chairman Nils Diaz said last month that about 16 utilities were considering applying for licenses to build as many as 25 new units (NW, 25 May, 12). Many of those units would be targeted for operation in the 2015-2016 timeframe. The WNFM meeting, which focused on the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle, was titled, "Fueling a Brighter Future ? Are We Keeping Pace?" Malone's presentation included a slide with a heading, "Not so fast!" A possible limiting factor in nuclear construction, he said, is the current lack of infrastructure in the US for building large components, such as pressure vessels. Such facilities eventually will be built, but the process will take time, and the market "needs to understand the timescale before reacting to presumed increased demand," he said. Several speakers said another concern ? for both the power-generation and fuel-cycle parts of the industry ? is ensuring adequate numbers of qualified personnel. Although, the speakers' comments suggested, the problem may be less acute in Europe than in the US, panelists from both areas emphasized their recruitment and training efforts. Robert Jordan, the director of nuclear fuel supply for Constellation Energy, highlighted the need to retain young workers. Today, he said, such workers often have "higher expectations" for the work environment than their predecessors did. How to make sure such workers don't leave after only a few years is "a problem we don't have a solution for" at the moment, he said. But Jordan expressed confidence that in the end, "we'll be fine." He said questions about the nuclear resurgence were largely about the timing. After the first "one or two" new reactors, utilities will "start looking to the future," he said. The process can then move fairly rapidly because designs will be much more standardized than they have been in the past, he said. Constellation and Areva last year formed a joint venture to market and deploy the US EPR. Another panelist, Remy Autebert, the senior executive vice president of the Areva sector covering mining, chemistry and enrichment, expressed more optimism than Energy Northwest's Atkinson, saying there was a "clear need" for new plants in the US and elsewhere. It is "our role and responsibility" to "make that possible," he said. Areva is pushing all its segments to make sure they have the capacity to meet the needs of customers who want to build new reactors, he said. In an interview, he added that if the customers' programs gear up more slowly, then his company could wait because it has a "core of plants" with "expandability." In his presentation, Autebert described Areva's uranium-enrichment and -conversion facilities as "modular." David Culp, the nuclear fuel manager for Duke Power, said in an interview that the observers who questioned the more optimistic projections for US nuclear construction "have a basis for being somewhat skeptical," in part because it has been so long since a new reactor was built. Another issue, he said, is the untested licensing process now in place. But he said the skeptics may not fully appreciate the "resolve" of US utilities to move ahead. While Duke has not made a "firm" decision to build a new plant, the company is "working aggressively" so that, if it decided to build one, the reactor would be operating in 2015 or 2016, he said. ------------ Oskarshamn-3 gets approval for 250-MW uprate Stockholm (Platts)--8Jun2006 The Swedish government today approved a 250-MW increase at Oskarshamn-3. The application for the increase at the 1,200-MW BWR was referred to the government in March by an environmental court, which also said it was of the opinion that armed guards were needed at the Oskarshamn plant. In a statement announcing the approval, the government did not specifically comment on the guard issue. ------------