Platts - Friday, June 30, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ Senate takes first step in approving US-India trade Washington (Platts)--29Jun2006 A Senate panel voted 16-2 June 29 for a proposed nuclear deal with India, the first step in Senate approval of the plan. The bill approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was generally similar to legislation the House International Relations Committee adopted June 27. The bill would allow nuclear trade with India even though New Delhi does not accept IAEA safeguards on all of its nuclear facilities. Many of the senators who had pressed for improved nonproliferation controls and a stronger congressional role than the Bush administration had originally proposed said the current bill was much better than the earlier version. Delaware's Joseph Biden, the top Democrat on the committee, also said, "There is a limit to how much we can push the administration, let alone India." ------------ US Senate Appropriations approves FY 2007 energy spending bill Washington (Platts)--29Jun2006 The US Senate Appropriations Committee approved an energy spending bill that would direct $24.7 billion to the Department of Energy, a $658 million boost over President Bush's budget request. The House passed a bill that approved $24.4 billion for DOE, but varies substantially from the Senate bill, establishing what could be a difficult negotiation between the two chambers. The bill, which totals $30.7 billion, also funds water projects. It launches a new approach to handling nuclear waste by directing states to work with the federal government to find interim or temporary storage sites for nuclear waste, while DOE attempts to get the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada up and running. The bill also would specify that its passage would satisfy concerns over the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's waste confidence determination, which is critical to opening and relicensing nuclear plants. The provisions of this section, along with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act provides "sufficient and independent grounds for further findings by the NRC that spent nuclear fuel will be disposed of safely for purposes of licensing civilian nuclear power reactors," the committee report said. The bill increases the president's request for energy supply programs by $370 million to $2.29 billion to support the president's Advance Energy Initiative; increases the administration request for science spending by $139 million to $4.24 billion and boosts funding for Energy Policy Act initiatives by $380 million over the president's request. Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Pete Domenici, Republican-New Mexico, said the committee would "show Americans what we have done for ethanol, for cellulosic, for battery technology ... they were not funded by the administration; we went and picked them out." Domenici lamented the absence of funding for coal-to-liquids technology, but said it would be a top priority in the fiscal 2008 spending bill. "Especially in the conversion of coal we have some enormous projects awaiting resources," Domenici said. The committee cut $159 million from the nuclear nonproliferation account and $59 million from the National Nuclear Security Administration. ---Daniel Whitten, daniel_whitten@platts.com For more news, request a free trial to Platts Inside Energy at http://insideenergy.platts.com or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=23_33&products_id=61 ------------ UK's NII decides on two-phase approach to new reactor licensing London (Platts)--29Jun2006 UK regulator NII has decided on a two-phase approach to new reactor licensing according to a report published June 28 by Nuclear Installations Inspectorate's umbrella organization, the Health and Safety Executive. The first phase would concentrate on a generic reactor design separate from site and operator considerations. The second phase would be development of "a generic site envelope," which would reflect conditions found at likely sites for new nuclear construction in the UK, said NII Chief Inspector Mike Weightman. NII would then expect the vendor or whichever organization or consortia interested in constructing a reactor "to provide a case that demonstrates the adequacy of safety of that (reactor) design against that (site) generic envelope," he said. Once a specific site is proposed for that reactor design, then NII would need to make sure that site fit within the site generic envelope, he said. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=22_41&products_id=67 ------------ OPG asks CNSC next step for Pickering B renewal Washington (Platts)--28Jun2006 Ontario Power Generation has asked the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to outline its environmental review requirements, the first step in the refurbishment process for Pickering B?s four units. A June 28 statement by OPG said the environmental assessment of the project is part of the business case for a feasibility study of the life extension of the four 23-year-old, 516-MW units. OPG asked the CNSC to determine if an environmental assessment is required as part of the refurbishment project. OPG spokesman John Earl told Platts that an environmental assessment could be completed by the end of 2007 and would allow the company?s board to decide the following year on whether or not to proceed with refurbishment. ------------ US DOE may work with Congress on interim storage issue: Bodman Washington (Platts)--28Jun2006 Licensing as many as 31 storage facilities for utility spent nuclear fuel, as proposed in a Senate appropriations bill, "would be a formidable undertaking," Department of Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday. Speaking at the Platts Energy Podium, Bodman said that while DOE would be interested in working with Congress on the issue of interim storage, he continued to believe that the repository project at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, "is a very important project" and that he believes it will be successful. The interim storage provisions were included in a $30.73 billion energy and water funding bill for fiscal 2007 that a Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved Tuesday. Under the bill, away-from-reactor storage facilities could be sited in every one of the 31 states with nuclear power plants or as regional storage facilities. Under the bill, spent fuel would be stored there for up to 25 years before being reprocessed and recycled or shipped to Yucca Mountain for disposal. DOE and Bodman see this "as a construction effort to increase the expansion of nuclear power in this country," DOE spokesman Craig Stevens said. ---Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com For more information, listen to the 4-part podcast with Secretary Bodman at http://www.platts.com/energypodium/podcasts/2006/june/bodman1.mp3 http://www.platts.com/energypodium/podcasts/2006/june/bodman2.mp3 http://www.platts.com/energypodium/podcasts/2006/june/bodman3.mp3 http://www.platts.com/energypodium/podcasts/2006/june/bodman4.mp3 ------------