Platts - Thursday, August 17, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ BE finds more cracking at Hunterston B unit than expected London (Platts)--16Aug2006 British Energy expressed surprise at the level of boiler tube cracking at one of its Hunterston B advanced gas-cooled reactor units, or AGRs. BE said in its latest quarterly report published August 16 that a boiler inspection at one of its twin Hunterston B AGRs, currently down for a statutory maintenance outage, "has in this last week indicated a level of boiler tube cracking above that expected." BE said the discovery meant there would be additional repair work and an extension of the current outage, "plus additional work next financial year" at the unit. BE did not identify the unit. It warned that the unit is likely to operate at lower power on return to service until next year's completion of further work. The company said it expected to perform additional boiler tube inspections at the other Hunterston B unit and at the two Hinkley Point B units in the course of their planned outages this financial year and next. "The implications of these boiler tube issues ... are a matter of current review both internally and with our regulator," said BE. ------------ UK Parliament warns nuclear cleanup costs to rise 'significantly' London (Platts)--16Aug2006 The UK Trade and Industry Committee expects public costs of decommissioning after 2006 to rise "significantly" on the GBP70.2 billion figure for this year, it said in a report published Wednesday. The committee is formed of members of Parliament. The committee said it thought costs would escalate due to more work to be done at the Sellafield and Dounreay sites and also because the nuclear industry seems reluctant to continue with the reprocessing of spent fuel while this option remains more expensive than buying new stocks of uranium. The TIC also expressed doubts about whether facilities at the old Magnox nuclear power stations, and the THORP and MOX fuel reprocessing plants at Sellafield, could provide sufficient income for the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to pay for decommissioning. "We remain concerned about the continuing uncertainty over the type and scale of the waste in the most problematic sites at Sellafield and Dounreay. We are also sceptical about the ability of NDA's assets to generate as much income as the Government appears to assume," the committee said. The committee also expressed concern that "uncertainties" over UK funding into nuclear fusion research could restrict the performance of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and might prevent the UK from holding a leading position in the sector. The UKAEA's future also depends on the authority's ability to win decommissioning contracts against "severe competition from international companies," the TIC said, and so there is "uncertainty about the future of UKAEA itself." Reorganization of the NDA and UKAEA agencies was not the best way to attract private-sector investors, the committee warned. "Nuclear fusion may or may not deliver its promise, but the relatively small sums of money required to keep the UK fully engaged in the possible development of commercially viable fusion generation must be found. Nothing in the restructuring and financing of UKAEA must prevent or inhibit the UK's full participation in what is, potentially, an inherently safe and virtually unlimited source of power, producing very low levels of waste using freely available fuel sources,"the committee said. ------------ Southern Nuclear moves toward potential new construction Washington (Platts)--15Aug2006 Southern Nuclear Operating Co. took a major step toward potentially building two Westinghouse AP1000s at its Vogtle site by applying to NRC August 15, as promised, for an early site permit. NRC's ESP review will determine the suitability of the site and, if approved, would give Southern Nuclear up to 20 years to submit an application to actually construct a new facility. Southern Nuclear says there will be a need for more generation in the southeast by 2015 and has begun the licensing process to keep nuclear as an option for meeting future electricity demand. The company says it will file a combined construction permit-operating license application in March 2008. The Vogtle site was originally planned for four units but only two Westinghouse PWRs were built there. ------------ Southern Nuclear applies for early site permit for new plant Philadelphia (Platts)--15Aug2006 Southern Nuclear Operating, a subsidiary of Southern Company, Tuesday said it had filed an application with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a early site permit for one or more new nuclear plants at the Vogtle station in Waynesboro, Georgia. Vogtle already is the site of two nuclear plants co-owned by Southern's Georgia Power subsidiary, Oglethorpe Power, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, and the city of Dalton. Southern Nuclear earlier this year identified Vogtle as its preferred site for a new nuclear plant and said the facility could come online as soon as 2015. Southern, however, said it has not decided to actually build one or more new nuclear plants, only to proceed toward their possible development. Southern Nuclear said it also will prepare and file in 2008 a combined construction and operating license for potential new units at Vogtle. The COL would provide Southern with one license to construct and operate a plant based on an NRC pre-approved design at a specific site, should it decide to build. ------------ Southern Nuclear applies for early site permit for new plant Philadelphia (Platts)--15Aug2006 Southern Nuclear Operating, a subsidiary of Southern Company, Tuesday said it had filed an application with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a early site permit for one or more new nuclear plants at the Vogtle station in Waynesboro, Georgia. Vogtle already is the site of two nuclear plants co-owned by Southern's Georgia Power subsidiary, Oglethorpe Power, the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia, and the city of Dalton. Southern Nuclear earlier this year identified Vogtle as its preferred site for a new nuclear plant and said the facility could come online as soon as 2015. Southern, however, said it has not decided to actually build one or more new nuclear plants, only to proceed toward their possible development. Southern Nuclear said it also will prepare and file in 2008 a combined construction and operating license for potential new units at Vogtle. The COL would provide Southern with one license to construct and operate a plant based on an NRC pre-approved design at a specific site, should it decide to build. ------------ PCI, Nordholms partner to provide at-reactor welding services London (Platts)--15Aug2006 A newly formed partnership of Westinghouse subsidiary PCI Energy Services and Swedish welding company Nordholms Industri Installation AB is aimed at providing at-reactor welding services at European nuclear plants, said Tim Grubbs, PCI's general manager of European Services. Under the agreement that Westinghouse announced August 14, PCI will make its advanced automated welding technology available to Nordholms, allowing that company to train its professional welders to use it. Nordholms will provide PCI with welding expertise that can meet European standards. The partnership will give Westinghouse the means to compete in reactor upgrade projects expected at Oskarshamn and Forsmark in preparation for life extension, as well as at other European reactors, Grubbs said. The company also would be in a position to provide welding services at new European reactors, he added. ------------ US nuclear output for January-May up from a year ago Washington (Platts)--14Aug2006 US nuclear generation for January-May 2006 was 2.8% higher than for the same period in 2005 due to fewer days lost to planned and forced maintenance, DOE's Energy Information Administration reported August 14. For the first five months of 2006, nuclear power plants contributed 20.3% of the nation's electric power, EIA said. However, nuclear generation in May 2006 fell 0.3% to 62,776,000 megawatt-hours from the May 2005 level of 62,971,000 MWh. The monthly electricity report is on the EIA web site (http://www.eia.doe.gov). ------------ DOE picks ETA, GE for $1.4 million in nuclear-hydrogen funding Washington (Platts)--14Aug2006 The US Department of Energy has picked two teams led by Electric Transportation Applications (ETA) and GE Global Research to receive $1.4 million for projects that would study the economic feasibility of producing hydrogen at existing commercial nuclear power plants, DOE said Monday. ETA will partner with DOE's Idaho National Laboratory and Arizona Public Service, while GE will join with the department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Entergy. "Hydrogen is important to our economy today and will be even more important in the future as a potential, clean renewable carrier of energy, particularly in the transportation area," Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis Spurgeon said in a statement. The industrial partners will pay for at least 20% of the projects' costs. ETA, based in Phoenix, Arizona, provides technical support and testing for the electric vehicle industry. GE Global Research, based in Niskayuna, New York, conducts research for all of GE's businesses. The awards are subject to negotiations. ------------ US DOE plans to sell 700 metric tons of uranium to fund cleanup Washington (Platts)--14Aug2006 The US Department of Energy Monday said it wants to sell 700 metric tons uranium in the form of uranium hexafluoride to continue to pay for the cleanup of DOE uranium inventories contaminated with technetium-99. Those interested in buying the uranium have until August 28 to submit proposals to DOE. The department said it expects to award a sales contract by August 31. The UF6 will be sold in seven lots of 100 metric tons-uranium each, DOE said. The cleanup of the uranium will be done by USEC at the company's Portsmouth, Ohio facility. DOE said the cleanup effort is directly supported by 210 USEC workers and indirectly by another 150-200 USEC workers. Uranium sales to pay for the cleanup operation were authorized as part of the fiscal 2006 energy and water development appropriations act. --Mike Knapik, mike_knapik@platts.com ------------