Platts - Wednesday, August 23, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ BNFL directors want to break off,sell 2 BNG businesses separately London (Platts)--23Aug2006 BNFL's DIRECTORS WANT TO BREAK OFF TWO OF BNG's BUSINESSES and sell them separately rather than sell decommissioning and cleanup subsidiary British Nuclear Group as one company, as they originally envisaged. British Nuclear Fuels plc, or BNFL, said in a news release that its board of directors met August 22 to further discuss the sale of BNG. They concluded that the best value for the shareholder -- the UK government -- would be to separate the Project Services business and the Atomic Weapons Establishment management shareholding from the other BNG business that manages Sellafield and the magnox reactor sites. A board of directors' statement said they wanted to start the sales of the two separate businesses "as soon as possible." The sale of the remainder of BNG still needed to be discussed with state-run cleanup body Nuclear Decommissioning Authority "and a joint approach developed and agreed [on] quickly," the directors said. Project Services is a specialist decommissioning and remediation contracting business and consulting company, with around 600 employees. BNG owns one third of the shares in AWE Management Ltd, which manages the Aldermaston military installation under a contract with the UK's Ministry of Defence. ------------ NRC finds no safety issues to stop Oyster Creek license renewal Washington (Platts)--22Aug2006 No safety concerns preclude license renewal for Oyster Creek, but open issues related to corrosion of the plant's containment drywell must be resolved, according to a safety evaluation report with open items that NRC issued August 21. NRC staff has requested additional information on operator AmerGen's program to mitigate such corrosion, and is asking that steps be taken to confirm the "thickness and integrity" of the drywell. These topics are also at issue in the plant's ongoing license renewal hearing before an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. AmerGen, an Exelon subsidiary, is asked to respond to the open items by October 20. A complete and revised safety evaluation report will be issued by December 1, NRC said. ------------ NRC relicensing study tells Exelon to fix Oyster Creek corrosion Washington (Platts)--22Aug2006 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued a "Safety Evaluation Report with Open Items" for the proposed renewal of the operating license for Exelon's Oyster Creek nuclear power plant, it said. In the report, the staff concludes there are no safety concerns that would preclude renewal of the license, provided the open items are resolved, it added. All of the open items deal with corrosion issues involving the plant's drywell, NRC said. The drywell is a steel shell shaped like an inverted lightbulb that surrounds the reactor vessel, it added. The drywell is designed to confine steam that would be released during a severe accident and direct it downwards to a suppression pool, where it would be cooled and condensed into water. In some cases, the NRC staff is seeking additional information regarding the company's efforts to mitigate corrosion on the drywell. In others, it is asking that specific steps be taken to confirm the thickness and integrity of the component, NRC said. NRC requested responses to the open items identified in the report by October 20 and said a complete and revised Safety Evaluation Report will be issued by December 1. AmerGen Energy, the plant operator, submitted an application to the NRC in July 2005 to extend the Oyster Creek license by 20 years. The operating license of plant, which is located in Lacey Township, New Jersey, is scheduled to expire on April 19, 2009. ------------ Anti-nuclear groups challenge Flamanville-3's construction permit London (Platts)--22Aug2006 Two anti-nuclear groups challenged Flamanville-3's construction permit in court August 21, one of the plaintiffs, Sortir du Nucleaire, announced. SDR, a federation of antinuclear groups, and Crilan, a local group near the Flamanville site in Normandy, filed a challenge in Caen administrative court to the permit allowing site preparation issued to Electricite de France August 4. Benoist Busson, SDR's lawyer, told Agence France Presse the challenge was "the first round" in a legal battle the groups intend to wage against EDF's project to build a 1,600-MW EPR at the site. The suit is based in part on a 1986 law on protection of the seacoast, he said. SDR accuses the government and EDF of "haste" in starting construction before conclusions of the public inquiry finished July 31 are published. Busson told AFP that if the site work starts in September as EDF has said it intends, the groups would file for an injunction. ------------ EIA: US net nuclear generation up 2.9% in June from a year ago Washington (Platts)--21Aug2006 Net US nuclear generation in June was up 3.4% from June 2005, DOE's Energy Information Administration said August 21. For January through June, net nuclear generation continued to experience fewer days lost to planned and forced maintenance than in 2005 and was 2.9% higher than this time last year, EIA said. It added that net generation of all fuel types year-to-date was 0.7% higher than in 2005. Meanwhile, EIA reported that, according to the National Climatic Data Center, first-half 2006 was the warmest on record in the US since recordkeeping began in 1895. The higher temperatures increased the demand for electricity over last year's level, EIA said. The electric power data for June are at www.eia.doe.gov. ------------