Platts - Tuesday, July 11, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ UK plans energy white paper for new nuclear at turn of year London (Platts)--11Jul2006 The UK government unveiled its energy review on Tuesday including a widely-anticipated move to facilitate the building of new nuclear power stations in the country. The government said it planned to carry out a consultation process into measures to make it easier to build new nuclear plants. Measures could include streamlining the licensing process and clarifying the strategy on decommissioning and nuclear waste, the government said as it released the conclusions of its energy review after six months. The consultation will lead to an energy white paper around the turn of the year. Trade and industry minister Alistair Darling said it would be for the private sector "to initiate, fund, construct and operate new nuclear plants." The private sector would have to "cover the cost of decommissioning and their full share of long-term waste management costs," he said. If the UK does nothing to replace ageing nuclear plants, nuclear power's share of current energy output will drop from "just under 20%" now to 6% in 15 years' time, Darling said. Darling said that although it was "more likely than not" that some of the drop in nuclear's share of the energy mix will be replaced by gas, new nuclear plants "could make a significant contribution" to future energy supply. Nuclear developers might gain some certainty for their investment from the government's commitment Tuesday to a "continuing carbon price signal." The mechanism for this would be a strengthened European Union Emissions Trading System, which currently runs only until 2012. Having a price for carbon imposes a cost on fossil fuel power generation but helps nuclear and renewables. Renewables will also be boosted by an increase in the renewables obligation, which compels supplies to source a minimum percentage of power from renewable sources. The renewables obligation is currently at 6.7%, due to rise to 15.4% in 2015/2016. Under current policy the obligation would remain at that level until 2027. The government now plans to increase the minimum level to 20%, which it said could be "achievable" by 2020. A coal forum will be set up between generators, coal producers, trade unions and others to secure a long-term future for coal-fired generation and coal production in the UK. The government will also seek to increase North Sea oil and gas output, and plans to launch a task force with the industry on developing infrastructure in the West of Shetland region. Gas looked in short supply last winter in the UK, and the government will review the effectiveness of security of supply arrangements, and will also consult this autumn on the planning process for gas infrastructure. Beyond generation, the government's energy review also called for greater energy efficiency, and said it would press for the European Commission to bring road transport into the EU Emissions Trading System. For more news, request a free trial to Platts UK Gas Report at http://ukgasreport.platts.com or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=3_39&products_id=45 ------------ France needs extra investment in electric generating capacity London (Platts)--11Jul2006 France needs additional investment in electric generating capacity by 2015 despite the anticipated gain of 16-19 terawatt-hours of annual supply when the Eurodif gaseous diffusion enrichment plant is retired around 2012, French industry ministerFrancois Loos said July 10. Loos spoke to journalists after promulgating the country's second Pluriannual Investment Plan, or PPI, for electricity supply/demand, covering the decade 2005-2015. The plan foresees the need for 5.2 gigawatts of additional capacity, half in semi-baseload and half in peaking capacity, which could cost between Eur 1 billion and Eur 5 billion (between US$1.3 billion and $6.4 billion), he said. The analysis underpinning the plan showed that Electricite de France's Flamanville-3 EPR, expected to come online in 2012, will be competitive at a capacity factor of only 57% but will likely operate more than 7,000 hours a year, exceeding a capacity factor of 80%, because reaching the target for renewables' contribution in 2015 (21% of total supply) will be very difficult. For more details, request a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ NRC staff recommends extension of shelf life of KI tablets Washington (Platts)--10Jul2006 NRC should extend the shelf life of potassium iodide (KI) tablets that some states have stockpiled in case there is a severe accident near a nuclear plant, the agency staff recommended in a newly released paper, Secy 06-142. The staff also recommended replacing KI tablets that have already been distributed to people within the 10-mile emergency planning zone of a reactor, the paper said. NRC decided in 2001 that it would fund an initial supply of KI to the 34 states that were eligible for the tablets. However, it made no commitment at that time to replenish the tablets, which have a shelf life of five years. The supply of tablets issued in 2002 to 21 states will expire in 2007. The staff said the Food and Drug Administration has issued guidance for a process to extend for two years the shelf life of the drug if the tablets were stored "under controlled conditions" in state stockpiles. The NRC staff said this program option would cost the agency about $400,000 each in fiscal 2007 and 2008. ------------ Bush administration wants US-India nuke deal passed before recess Washington (Platts)--10Jul2006 US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that the Bush administration is pushing the US Senate and House of Representatives to vote "yea" on the US-India Civil Nuclear Cooperation Initiative "this month, before the summer recess." Citing legislation passed by both houses of Congress recently despite what she called "overwhelming partisan margins," Rice told the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin and the Asian-American Hotel Owners Association in Washington that she was lobbying for the legislation with the help of the India Caucus. "Our work is not yet done," she said. A major goal of the initiative is easing India's "reliance on hydrocarbons from unstable sources like Iran," Rice said. "This is good for India and it's good for the US," she said. "Our civil nuclear initiative will elevate our partnership to a new strategic level." "This initiative will create...American jobs," she said, adding that it would bring in "thousands of new jobs, directly and indirectly. "By helping India's economy grow, we will thus be helping our own," she said, adding that the initiative would bolster world stability. "The US unequivocally supports the international nuclear nonproliferation regime, the cornerstone of which is the [Nuclear] Nonproliferation Treaty," she said. "Let me be clear; we do not support India joining the [Nuclear] Nonproliferation Treaty as a nuclear weapons state." The goal is to include India in the global nonproliferation regime by requiring India to place two-thirds of its existing and planned nuclear reactors "under the watchful eye of the International Atomic Energy Agency," she added. The UK, France and Russia all support this goal, she said. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://nucweek.platts.com or subscribe now at http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=22_41&products_id=67 ------------ Japan's Chubu to buy crude to cover nuclear shutdown: sources Tokyo (Platts)--10Jul2006 Japan's Chubu Electric Power is expected to buy more crude as it restarts thermal power generation units to cover the unexpected shutdown of a nuclear unit in mid June, industry sources said Monday. "I expect Chubu will boost buying of Nile Blend crude because most of the crude Chubu procures is Nile Blend," said a source from one refiner. Chubu's 1.38 GW No 5 reactor at the Hamaoka nuclear plant was shut down automatically June 15 after vanes from a turbine fell off. On Monday the company announced the launch of a task force to prepare for possible heat-related spike in demand during the summer. The planned restart schedule of the No 5 reactor is unclear, a Chubu spokesman said. "As a countermeasure for the shutdown of Hamaoka No 5, we are considering to restart No 3 and No 4 thermal units at Taketoyo plant to cover the lack of electricity output. We may also buy electricity from other utilities," the spokesman said. The Taketoyo units burn crude or fuel oil. "We still don't know when we will restart the two thermal units. It totally depends on electricity demand," he said. Chubu currently operates two nuclear units with a total capacity of 2.237 GW, or 44.7% of its total nuclear power generation capacity of 4.997 GW. The Nagoya-based utility bought 248,755 barrels of crude but no fuel oil in May, according to the latest data released by Federation of Electric Power Companies. For more news, request a free trial to Platts Power in Asia at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ EU states should individually decide whether to use nuclear power London (Platts)--10Jul2006 Whether to use nuclear power should continue to be up to individual European Union states, Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said in a speech to the Business Leaders Convention in St. Petersburg July 7. He said that energy issues will be key both for the upcoming G8 summit and during the Finnish presidency of the EU. Finland assumed the European Union presidency at the beginning of the month. The G8 summit is scheduled for July 15-17 in St. Petersburg. Vanhanen said that, while the choice of nuclear or other types of generation should not be a blanket EU decision, the EU still has "a crucial role to play in building a real internal market in energy." For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ NRC staff supports early site permit for North Anna Washington (Platts)--7Jul2006 NRC should issue an early site permit for Dominion's North Anna, the staff concluded in a preliminary recommendation July 6. The staff's recommendation was detailed in a supplemental draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and was based on a revised environmental report from Dominion consultations with other federal, state, and local agencies, and the staff's review. The staff reached the same conclusion in its original draft EIS, but had to revise the document after Dominion changed its application to increase the power level for the possible future units 3 and 4 and made changes to the cooling system for the proposed unit 3. The staff review schedule targets finalizing the EIS in late December and issuing a final supplemental safety evaluation report in mid-November. A commission decision is targeted for December 2007. ------------