Platts - Wednesday, August 09, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ UK's OCNS monitored 27 counter-terrorist exercises in 2005/6 London (Platts)--9Aug2006 OCNS inspectors monitored 27 counter-terrorist exercises in the UK in fiscal 2005/06 ending March 31, the UK's security regulator, the Office for Civil Nuclear Security, said in its annual report to the government's Department of Trade and Industry August 8. The terrorist attacks July 7, 2005 on London's underground transport system "were a salutary reminder of the enduring need for vigilance,"?OCNS director Roger Brunt said in the report. He said site security plans required main nuclear site operators to conduct annual counter-terrorist exercises at their sites. All 27 exercises last year were "meticulously planned," he said. The exercises tested command and control arrangements, and "put staff through a number of possible scenarios," he said. Where possible, local emergency services had also been involved, either as exercise players or observers, he said. Debriefings were held afterward?so that lessons could be learned and applied, he said. ------------ Entergy Nuclear earnings up in second quarter Washington (Platts)--8Aug2006 Entergy Nuclear's earnings increased to $63.4 million in the second quarter from $58.3 million a year ago, parent Entergy Corp. said August 8. The increase was due to higher pricing in energy contracts and the additional output from the March completion of an uprate to Vermont Yankee, Entergy said. Those improvements were offset somewhat by higher operation and maintenance expenses for outages, it said. There were two refueling outages in second-quarter 2005 and only one in the 2006 period, but the outage in this year's second quarter was at a larger unit, Entergy said. ------------ US court rejects Nevada's request for review of waste site EIS Washington (Platts)--8Aug2006 A US appeals court Tuesday rejected the state of Nevada's request that it review the Department of Energy's final environmental impact statement on the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The state, which has been fighting DOE's efforts to build a spent fuel disposal facility at the site, roughly 95 miles outside of Las Vegas, had alleged that the final EIS was procedurally flawed and violated the National Environmental Policy Act. It also challenged DOE's record of decision on the selection of a rail corridor to the site. But the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that some of Nevada's claims were not ripe for review and that others were without merit. Some of the state's claims would be affected by decisions the department has not made yet, the court said. --Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com ------------ GE, STP Nuclear sign pact to begin licensing work on new ABWRs Washington (Platts)--7Aug2006 GE and STP Nuclear Operating Co. signed an agreement to begin licensing activities for two ABWRs proposed at the South Texas Project site. The project development agreement, announced August 7, is between GE Energy's nuclear business and STP Nuclear, acting on behalf of NRG South Texas, whose parent NRG Energy Inc. has a 44% stake in the operating company. GE's Advanced BWR design was certified by NRC in 1997, but none has been built in the US. Four ABWRs are operating in Japan and there are plans to build another unit there. Two other ABWRs are under construction in Taiwan. GE says that there is a "greater degree of certainty about ABWR project costs" because of the data available from previous construction projects. GE also says it has "an established global supply chain" to meet utilities' construction schedules. ------------ BNG to hire 300 new staffers at Sellafield reprocessing complex London (Platts)--7Aug2006 BNG is hiring 300 new staffers at the Sellafield reprocessing complex as it accelerates efforts to clean up hazardous wastes at the site and boost production rates at the remaining operational facilities, a British Nuclear Group spokesman told Platts today. Those being hired include specialists in safety analysis work and systems control, quality assurance inspectors, process workers, program control and health physics experts, and cost engineers, he said. "There's a possibility of 400 more jobs coming up," he said. BNG CEO Lawrie Haynes said recently at a conference that his company has been making "dramatic" changes in its management of Sellafield in anticipation of the site management being put out to competition in 2007 by the site owner, the state-run Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. BNG is to be sold by parent British Nuclear Fuels plc as part of Sellafield's site management competition. NDA has said the buyer of BNG will also get a five-year deal managing Sellafield worth "in excess of 5 billion pounds." ------------ New Jersey regulators reject Exelon-PSEG merger offer Washington (Platts)--4Aug2006 New Jersey's board of public utilities and Public Advocate both rejected a settlement offer by Exelon and Public Service Enterprise Group in the state regulators' review of the companies' proposed merger. The BPU August 3 declined to accept an offer the companies had announced July 31, saying it "lacks clarity on several essential issues" and that "market power remains an important issue." New Jersey Public Advocate Ronald Chen said August 2 that he did not believe the settlement offer "is sufficient to protect New Jersey ratepayers against the dangers of the exercise of market power." Chen said his office had made "a comprehensive counterproposal" that "would result in $930 million of rate relief," which is some $330 million more than the companies had offered. Approval by the state of New Jersey is the merger's last regulatory hurdle. Exelon and PSEG said in an August 2 joint letter that if BPU staff could not "agree in principle to settle this matter within these overall financial parameters" laid out in the companies' "last and best" settlement offer, "it is likely" that Exelon and PSEG boards of directors will terminate the merger. Exelon and PSEG spokesmen said late Friday that the companies were still reviewing the BPU decision. ------------