Platts - Friday, July 28, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ US NRC fines FPL unit for security failures at Seabrook plant Washington (Platts)--28Jul2006 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has fined the FPL Group unit responsible for operating the Seabrook nuclear plant in New Hampshire $65,000 for a violation related to security requirements at the facility. The agency late Thursday said it sent a special inspection team to the plant after a routine security inspection uncovered issues in May 2005. The fine stems from the inspection and additional follow-up, NRC said, adding that FPL too immediate actions to correct the problems and NRC inspectors have since found the company to be in compliance. As a result of the inspection, NRC cited the company for failing to maintain complete and accurate records of test results. A second violation, attributed to inadequatea management oversight, was characterized by NRC as being of low to moderate security significance and did not draw an additional fine. FPL has 30 days from receiving the notice of violation to either pay the penalty or protest it. 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 ------------ Areva first half sales revenue up 5.7% to Eur 5.036 billion London (Platts)--28Jul2006 Buoyant sales in uranium, reactors and services boosted Areva's first-half 2006 sales revenue, which rose 5.7% to Eur 5.036 billion (about US$6.4 billion), the company reported July 27. However, overall sales for nuclear operations rose only 1.6% compared to the similar period last year, due to a 14.4% drop in sales for the group's Back End division, primarily in reprocessing. The volume of uranium delivered in first-half 2006 rose sharply to 6,800 metric tons U and higher prices under long-term contracts contributed to a 39.8% rise in Areva's Mining sales, adjusting for accounting methods and foreign exchange rates. Enrichment services were also up by 15.4% over the first-half 2005 figure, with "significant growth" in Asia, Areva said. It reported first-half sales revenue in Reactors and Services up 2.7% to Eur 1.1 billion, with a 14.8% increase in sales for the Plants business unit thanks to new projects in China and France. Areva said it expects "a sharp increase in revenue" from Reactors and Services for the full year compared to 2005. However, Areva already warned July 12 that the cost of delays in the Olkiluoto project in Finland would cut deeply into Areva's 1H sales revenuprofits and curb cash flow in first-half 2006. ------------ Japan orders inspection of No 2 unit at Hokuriku nuclear plant Singapore (Platts)--28Jul2006 Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has ordered an inspection of No 2 unit at the Hokuriku Electric nuclear power plant because the unit uses the same type of turbine blades as Chubu's affected unit. Chubu Electric shut down its Hamaoka nuclear plant's No. 5 unit in mid June due to cracks found in the vanes of its turbine. Hokuriku Electric shut the 1.359-GW Shika No. 2 unit on July 5 for checks and announced July 25 that it found cracks in 146 out of the 560 blades checked. The unit has a total of 840 blades from three turbines. The company has not said how long the unit will remain shut. Meanwhile, the 540MW Shika No. 1 unit remains in operation, according to information on the company's website. Hokuriku Electric's Shika No.2 unit only entered commercial operation on 15 March but was already plagued by other problems apart from cracks in its turbine blades. The Kanazawa district court had ordered the Shika-2 unit to suspend operation on the grounds that doubts existed about its earthquake resistance, but the unit was permitted to remain running until an appeal by the company is heard. The Shika nuclear power plant supplies roughly half its output to two other Japanese utilities Kansai Electric and Chubu Electric, according to industry sources in Japan. Chubu Electric, which itself is suffering from the shutdown of the 1.38 GW No. 5 reactor at its Hamaoka nuclear plant, has already been actively seeking spot LNG cargoes to boost its gas-based generation to compensate for the loss of nuclear output. As of last week, the company was heard having bought, or in advanced negotiations to buy, three to five spot LNG cargoes from Algeria, Qatar and Oman for August and September delivery, according to traders. Chubu Electric reportedly agreed to prices in the range of $8 to $9 plus per MMBtu, depending on the cargo origin, for the shipments on a delivered basis. A Chubu source this week declined to provide an update on the status of company's spot LNG purchases, except to say it was still trying to secure more supplies. Another company source said it was investigating the impact on its LNG requirements from the loss of power supplies from Hokuriku Electric. "The impact would depend on the temperature, among other factors," the source said. Japan experienced rather mild summer temperatures for the past two weeks because of a longer-than-usual rainy season, which reduced the demand for electricity for air conditioning, according to trading sources. "There was a lot of rain last week, so we had cooler temperatures than usual," said one trader. Apart from Chubu Electric, most other Japanese utilities are currently facing high LNG inventories because of low power demand, traders said. This means Chubu Electric may be able to get LNG supplies from other Japanese utilities through swapping or borrowing, thus reducing the need to source for spot cargoes from the global market, they said. -- KimFeng Wong, kim_f_wong@platts.com For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/ ------------ NRG Energy plans to order major components for ABWRs by 2007 Washington (Platts)--27Jul2006 NRG Energy plans to order major components, including the nuclear steam supply system, by 2007 for two new General Electric ABWRs it plans to construct in Texas, according to information provided NRC July 27. In a presentation to NRC, representatives of STP Nuclear Operating Co., which will interact with NRC in the licensing process, said the goal is to have the new units online by 2014-2015. NRG holds a 44% stake in the two-unit South Texas Project, which is operated by STP Nuclear. STP Nuclear said it plans to submit a combined construction-operating license to NRC for the new units -- South Texas Project-3 and -4 -- in the latter part of 2007. Separately, Amarillo Power has made public in a newly released letter its plans to also build two ABWRs in the vicinity of Amarillo, Texas and has told NRC that it will work with STP Nuclear on a standard ABWR design to submit to NRC. ------------ Senate Energy panel to examine DOE nuclear waste bill on August 3 Washington (Platts)--27Jul2006 A key US Senate committee is set to examine the Department of Energy's proposed nuclear waste bill during a hearing August 3, setting in motion the legislative process on a bill the department has said is central to its ability to begin operating a repository in 2017, officials said Thursday. The 10 am EDT hearing of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee will be in room 628 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building. No information was available immediately on how far through the legislative process committee Chairman Pete Domenici hopes to move the bill before Congress adjourns in early October. Domenici, Republican-New Mexico, co-sponsored the DOE-crafted bill in the Senate. Domenici's counterpart in the House, Joe Barton, Republican-Texas, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Committee and who introduced the bill in the House, has not publicly committed to holding hearings on the bill in 2006, but has indicated there might be time to consider it. Meanwhile, there is growing speculation that Congress will return for a lame duck session after the mid-term elections in November. 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 ------------ Russia won't import foreign-origin spent fuel Washington (Platts)--26Jul2006 In a reversal of policy, Russia won't import foreign-origin spent nuclear fuel, the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, Rosatom, confirmed July 26. Sergey Novikov, a spokesman for Rosatom, told Platts the Russian nuclear industry had decided to focus on international business in uranium and uranium enrichment sales as well as building up a nuclear power plant fleet at home. Legislation approved in June 2001 by the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, allows Russia to take in for long-term storage and reprocessing, foreign-origin spent nuclear fuel. About 80% of the spent fuel in target markets is under US control. Thus, US approval would be needed for the predicted $20 billion spent fuel reprocessing and management business to materialize, but securing such approval would involve complex negotiations. Novikov said Russia now has different priorities and will concentrate on building more nuclear power plants at home and developing its nuclear industry. ------------ TVA board expected to approve nuclear-related contracts Washington (Platts)--25Jul2006 The Tennessee Valley Authority's board is expected to approve nuclear-related contracts totaling $402 million when it meets July 28. A contract with Louisiana Energy Services LP for enrichment services for TVA's Sequoyah-1 and Watts Bar-1 is valued at $192 million. A contract supplement with Areva NP Inc. for nuclear fuel fabrication and related engineering services for Sequoyah-1 and -2 is valued at $100 million. Another contract supplement, with Pinkerton Government Services for security services at all TVA's nuclear plants, is valued at $65 million. The last contract, with Areva NC Inc. for purchase of uranium hexafluoride for use in nuclear fuel, is valued at $45 million. ------------