Platts - Friday, August 04, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ US DOE may sell up to 50 million pounds of uranium: sources Washington (Platts)--4Aug2006 The US Department of Energy Friday unveiled tentative plans to sell roughly 50 million pounds of uranium over the next 10 years. In a closed-door meeting with industry representatives, agency officials emphasized that the sale plans were far from definite. But according to several sources who attended the meeting, DOE said it had several sales goals. In the short-term, the agency wants to sell up to 5.5 million pounds of U3O8-equivalent between now and 2010 to raise money it needs to continue to pay USEC Inc. for its work to clean up DOE uranium contaminated with small amounts of technetium and for use as stock to down blend the 17.4 metric tons of high-enriched uranium the department plans to set aside for an international nuclear fuel bank. Nations that agree to forego their own reprocessing and uranium enrichment could pull fuel from the bank. In the longer term, the source said DOE told them that it is considering selling 12 million pounds of U3O8-equivalent between 2007 and 2015 to help pay for decommissioning of the Portsmouth, Ohio, gaseous diffusion plant. DOE also indicated that a third tranche of some 29 million pounds of U3O8-equivalent also might be sold between 2007 and 2015, sources said. DOE is asking industry to comment on its proposals. -Mike Knapik, mike_knapik@platts.com ------------ US DOE completes final rule on nuclear plant risk insurance Washington (Platts)--4Aug2006 US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Friday said the agency has completed a final rule establishing a process under which utilities building the next six new nuclear power plants in the country can qualify for a portion of $2 billion in federal risk insurance. "Providing federal risk insurance is an important step in speeding the nuclear renaissance in this country," Bodman said. "Companies that take risks and enter the market first after a 30-year hiatus should not be penalized by hold-ups that are not their fault. This risk insurance protects them against bureaucratic and legal issues that delay their start-up." The Department of Energy said the insurance, which was authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, will provide an incentive to begin the licensing and construction of the new nuclear power plants. The risk insurance covers costs associated with certain regulatory or litigation-related delays--that are no fault of the company--that stall the start-up of these plants, DOE said. Up to $500 million in coverage is available for the initial two plants for which construction is started and up to $250 million is available for the next four plants. Events that would be covered by the risk insurance include delays associated with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission review of inspections, tests, analyses and acceptance criteria or other licensing schedule delays as well as certain delays associated with litigation in federal, state or tribal courts. Insurance coverage is not available for normal business risks such as employment strikes and weather delays. Covered losses would include principal and interest on debt and losses resulting from the purchase of replacement power to satisfy contractual obligations. ------------ BNG to sell its Magnox electricity trading arm, ESTL London (Platts)--4Aug2006 BNG is to sell its Magnox electricity trading arm, ESTL, ahead of its own planned sale by parent company British Nuclear Fuels plc next year, a British Nuclear Group spokesman told Platts August 3. Energy Sales and Trading Ltd., or ESTL, sold more than 500 million pounds (US$943 million) of electricity produced by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's four operating magnox stations -- Dungeness A, Oldbury, Sizewell A and Wylfa -- in fiscal year 2005/06 under a contract with the NDA. ESTL also buys the gas for a 160-MW cogeneration plant at Sellafield and sells that plant's power, and trades carbon emissions permits for various NDA sites under the European Union Emission Trading Scheme. The NDA said separately that, at the time ESTL is sold, it intends to enter into a new contract for electricity trading with ESTL's new owner covering the period until the last of the four magnox stations shuts down in 2010. NDA said tenders or requests to participate should be made by August 25. ------------ UniStar places order for 44 forgings for US EPR Washington (Platts)--3Aug2006 UniStar, through its partner Areva, has placed an order for 44 heavy forgings intended for a US EPR. UniStar Nuclear, the joint Areva-Constellation venture to build Areva-designed Evolutionary Power Reactors in the US, announced August 3 the forgings will be manufactured overseas and then made into final components either at BWX Technologies' facility in Mount Vernon, Indiana or Areva's facility in Chalon-St. Marcel, France. The forgings will be used to make the reactor pressure vessel and four steam generators for one EPR unit. Financial terms were not disclosed. UniStar's announcement comes two days after it said it had entered into an agreement with BWXT to revive manufacturing of large reactor components in the US. ------------