Platts - Wednesday, July 05, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ UK BE says nuke safety questions 'essentially not news' London (Platts)--5Jul2006 Reports Wednesday that government nuclear inspectors have raised serious questions over the safety of UK's nuclear power plants are "essentially not news," British Energy spokesman Martin Pearce said. Pearce said BE had already published the issues raised in the reports in its shareholder report in 2004, and that the company had always anticipated that it would see cracks in the graphite bricks that form the reactor cores at its Advanced Gas-cooled Reactors. The cracks in the cores were the subject of press reports over nuclear safety concerns. The "Guardian" newspaper said that documents obtained by Greenpeace under Freedom of Information legislation "show the Nuclear Safety Directorate (NSD) has issued warnings over the deterioration of reactor cores at Hinkley Point B in Somerset and other British nuclear plants." But BE said that the documents "reflect are only a fragment of the on-going dialog that British Energy has with its regulator the NII." The UK's nuclear industry is regulated by the Nuclear Industries Inspectorate, while safety issues are under the purview of the Health and Safety Executive's NSD. Pearce said "The bottom line is that we can't run a reactor unless the NII approves the safety case." The papers are from an HSE safety assessment of Hinkley completed in April. But in a statement released Wednesday, the HSE said: "Matters have moved on since April and British Energy has provided new evidence in support of the reactor core safety case. If HSE were not confident in the safety of the reactor cores we would not allow the reactors to operate." Greenpeace published a report Wednesday by engineering consultant John Large, who analyzed the documents. He said it was "quite clear that the graphite cores of Hinkley Point and at least a further 6 reactors, possibly all 14 AGR reactors, have developed and continue to develop structural damage to individual bricks in the fueled section of the reactor." Large added that the damage was "not fully understood by both NSD and BE." But BE said "It is accepted by the NII and the industry in general that cracks will occur in some of the bricks as part of the normal ageing process within the graphite reactor core. This is a phenomenon known about and anticipated for within the safety case." The nuclear operator said that reactor cares are "tolerant to such cracking" and added that the cracks had not changed "the fuel and control rod channel profiles" at Hinkley Point B. It said "This is after 30 years of safe, reliable generation." Stephen Tindale, executive director of Greenpeace called for the reactors to be shut down. "It is clear that Tony Blair should shut these dangerous reactors down," he said "Yet it's almost as if he feels that having to turn off AGR nuclear plants to prevent a nuclear accident might be problematic just before he formally announces his staggeringly irresponsible plan to build even more nuclear plants." Greenpeace cited John Large's report as evidence of the need to shut down the plants. In his conclusion, Large said: "In view of the increased risk presented by continued operation of these nuclear plants, the reactors should be immediately shut down and remain so until a robust nuclear safety case free of such uncertainties has been established." But when asked about this claim by Platts, BE's Pearce said "He is absolutely right, which is why we have a robust safety case in place, which has already been approved by the NII." HSE spokesman Martin Wheeler said "We do not gamble with public safety." He added that HSE refutes Greenpeace's claims that there were any political moves to reduce scrutiny, and said that the executive is an independent body. "We take a great deal of regulatory scrutiny ... It is incorrect to say that no one is doing anything about it. We have put pressure on BE to review the safety issue," he said. Wheeler said that HSE inspector's views, as given in the safety assessments, had been "taken out of context." "The point the inspector was trying to make is that the longer the reactors operate without confirmatory inspections, the less certainty there is in what the rate of cracking is," he added. But BE has taken actions to improve the safety situation further since April, Wheeler said. The nuclear operator is now doing "online monitoring" of its reactor cores, meaning that the cores were being checked even while plants were in operation. The risks involved are not as great as might be thought, either. Wheeler said: "The potential event is not a meltdown, but impairment of a single control rod or increased heat in the fuel." For similar stories, take a trial to Platts Power UK at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ Swiss funds for safe end of nuclear power total $3.26 billion Freiburg (Platts)--5Jul2006 The operators of Swiss nuclear power plants have a total of SF4.014 billion ($3.26 billion) in their common fund for the disposal of nuclear power plants, the Swiss federal office for energy BFE said Wednesday. The country has one fund for waste disposal and another for decommissioning. The waste disposal fund was created in 2000 and the four operators of the five nuclear units started to contribute to it in 2001. The amount an operator pays depends on their expected costs of disposal. At the end of 2005, the amount in the fund came to SFr2.762 billion, up from SFr2.092 billion at the end of 2004. The fund for decommissioning was founded in January 1984. It covers the cost of decommissioning, demolition and the disposal of waste produced from that process. At the end of 2005, it totaled SFr1.252 billion, up from SFr1.055 billion at the end of 2004. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Power in Europe at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ UK PM says energy prices, environment changed his nuclear stance London (Platts)--4Jul2006 UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has changed his mind in favor of nuclear power since the government's Energy White Paper was published in 2003, amid soaring energy prices and increasing environmental concerns, he told a Commons committee Tuesday. Blair said that while his stance had shifted in favor of nuclear power, the government's upcoming energy review would be every bit as "radical" in its stance on renewables and energy efficiency as it was with nuclear power. But he denied that he had already made up his mind to push ahead with a new generation of nuclear power plants before commissioning the government's new energy review in early 2006, the findings of which are to be published later this month. "I believe that, because of the way that the changes have happened, I couldn't see how we were going to be able to meet our targets both on energy security and on climate change without going back to the nuclear option," he said. "But of course if the review were to prove that that would be the wrong thing to do then that wouldn't be the thing that we do." "In the end, people have to make their minds up. I know people always want to take refuge in decision making in the process... Its the answers that you have to come up with at some point, when you are sitting in my seat anyway." There are two things that have pushed energy policy to the top of the agenda of every single major western country, he told the committee. "One is the fact that energy prices have something like doubled or trebled in the last few years. And, if you see what is happening in China and the Chinese economy, then this is going to become an even bigger issue in the years to come. And the second thing is climate change." "Unless someone can show through energy efficiency and renewables you're going to be able to cure the whole of this problem then I think that nuclear power goes back on the agenda," he said. Blair rejected one MP's suggestion that the government's new energy review, expected this month, was really just a nuclear power review and would ignore energy efficiency and renewables. "I think people will be quite surprised at some of its conclusions on energy efficiency and renewables and will deal with them every bit as radically as anything to do with nuclear." Energy has surged to the top of the agenda in most major western economies as a result of soaring prices and security of supply concerns, the UK premier said. "It will dominate the G8 that we are going to have in a few days time," he said. "The reason for that is that things have changed." For similar stories, take a trial to Platts Power UK at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ Lithuania to import electricity from Russia when Ignalina-2 down London (Platts)--3Jul2006 Lithuania will import electricity from Russia when Ignalina-2 goes down for maintenance later this summer, officials at national utility Lietuvos Energija said June 30, because it is cheaper than producing power in the Baltic country's conventional power plants. The 1,500-MW reactor supplies most of Lithuania's electricity. But the officials said that importing large quantities of power is not expected to be economic once the unit is shut down, which is scheduled for the end of 2009, because Russian supplier Inter RAO UES is likely to raise its prices when its current contract with Lithuania expires in that year. The RBMK is to be shut as part of Lithuania's accession agreement with the European Union. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ New NRC chairman to take oath Washington (Platts)--30Jun2006 Dale Klein was expected to be sworn in as the new chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission over the July 1-2 weekend. The former Department of Defense official has had several transition briefings recently and has scheduled his first formal meeting with NRC senior managers on July 3, an NRC official said. Klein is expected to temporarily keep in place staffers from outgoing chairman Nils Diaz's office, according to NRC sources, who said at least one member of Klein's team will come from outside the agency. Diaz, whose term expired June 30, was working to clear out his office and held meetings "up to the last minute," an NRC spokesman said. ------------