Platts - Monday, August 28, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ Vattenfall refutes safety concerns over German Brunsbuttel nuke Freiburg (Platts)--28Aug2006 Sweden's Vattenfall Europe has refuted safety concerns over the emergency power supply at its Brunsbuttel nuclear power unit in Schleswig-Holstein state, Germany, in a statement Monday. Ahead of a press conference to be held later Monday by Schleswig-Holstein's state ministry, Vattenfall Europe Nuclear Energy said emergency power supply was "secured in all events imaginable." In a response to an inquiry from Germany's federal environment ministry, which it copied to the state ministry, Vattenfall said it had proven that Brunsbuttel was "especially well equipped to possible incidents in power supply." It said the latest answers reiterated its previous statements that the unit was safe even if the emergency back-up diesel generator failed, as happened at Sweden's Forsmark-1 nuclear unit in late July. The federal environment ministry Friday had expressed concerns Friday over Brunsbuttel's emergency diesel back-up generator. Should that fail, the nuclear unit would have to fall back on battery operation, but the unit-- unlike any other in Germany--needs alternating current for that. Vattenfall said investigations had shown that even if all the alternating current systems failed -- and that was very unlikely -- emergency power supply was still secured. In such a case, an extra safety system would kick in which was independent to other systems. ------------ German green group demands nuke closure on safety grounds Freiberg (Platts)--28Aug2006 The German environment group DUH has demanded Vattenfall Europe switch off its nuclear power reactor Brunsbuttel immediately, following incorrect information given by the operator to nuclear state and federal watchdogs. In a statement, the DUH said Vattenfall Europe had not provided adequate information about the reactor's problems of emergency power supply, with the operator admitting parts of the reactor's emergency power supply relied on alternating current--like Forsmark-1 in Sweden, which was taken offline in early August month after an emrgency generator failed to start up. "If some power inverters failed, Brunsbuttel would only be controllable to a limited extent,' said the DUH. With this in mind, the federal environment ministry has asked the operator on Friday to prove the unit's safety by the end of Monday. ------------ Los Alamos official selected to lead GNEP Washington (Platts)--25Aug2006 DOE has picked a Los Alamos National Laboratory official to lead The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, or GNEP, Platts has learned. GNEP is a Bush administration initiative to expand the use of nuclear power globally while promoting nuclear nonproliferation. DOE is expected to announce August 28 the selection of Paul Lisowski as the deputy director for advanced nuclear energy systems in the department's nuclear energy office. Lisowski was the director of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, where he managed a $125 million budget and more than 300 staffers. Previously he was the national director for the Accelerator Production of Tritium Project at Los Alamos. As head of GNEP, he will take the lead on the planning and integration of advanced nuclear reactors, fuel processing and research and development in support of the program. ------------ Last fuel loaded into UK's Sizewell A Magnoxes before shutdown London (Platts)--25Aug2006 Fuel has been loaded into the UK's Sizewell A Magnoxes for the last time to keep the twin units generating electricity until their final shutdown on December 31, manager British Nuclear Group said August 24. Unit 2's refueling was completed August 17 and Unit 1's on August 20, the company said. The fuel will remain in the two 325-MW reactors until defueling starts in 2007 as part of the site's decommissioning activities; defueling should be completed by 2009, the company said. The Sizewell A station has operated for 40 years. ------------ Oversight of USEC's lead cascade facility shifts from DOE to NRC Washington (Platts)--24Aug2006 NRC will assume regulatory oversight over USEC Inc.'s lead cascade facility in Piketon, Ohio and has authorized the company to begin testing centrifuges using uranium hexafluoride. In an August 24 press release, NRC said that the transition of oversight of the lead cascade facility --from DOE to NRC -- will formally occur at 12:01 am August 25. USEC's refurbishment activities at the former DOE gas centrifuge enrichment plant in Piketon had been under DOE regulatory oversight. USEC said it expects to operate a small number of centrifuge machines by late summer to verify cascade configuration and the functionality of support systems, and hopes to have a full lead cascade running by mid-2007. ------------ Hydro-Quebec Q2 net income rises to CDN $ 1.44 billion London (Platts)--24Aug2006 Hydro-Quebec reported second-quarter net income of (CDN) $1.44 billion (about US$1.3 billion), up from $402 million a year ago. The increase was mainly due to the sale of its 92% stake in transmission provider Transelec Chile S.A., the company said August 22. Revenue was $2.6 billion, up from $2.4 billion in second-quarter 2005, Hydro-Quebec said. Hydro-Quebec operates Gentilly-2, Quebec's only nuclear unit. ------------ Commissioners back NRC staff's rejection of ICRP changes Washington (Platts)--23Aug2006 NRC should not adopt the changes in the latest draft International Commission on Radiological Protection recommendations on radiological protection because there has not been any significant change in radiation risks, the commissioners said August 23 in support of the staff's assessment. In a staff requirements memorandum, the commissioners said they also did not believe it was necessary to develop a framework for radiological protection of non-human species or a separate standards for flora and fauna. The commissioners also backed the staff's view that there should not be a numerical value set that could be used as the basis for terminating a pregnancy. In a section on exposure of pregnant patients, the ICRP recommends that doses above 100 milliGray to the fetus should be taken into consideration as a reason for terminating a pregnancy, depending on individual circumstances, including the magnitude of the estimated dose. The ICRP last published its recommendations in 1991 and since has issued 17 additional guidance documents. The draft ICRP recommendations, which were released for comment in June, are intended to consolidate the advice developed over the past 15 years. The ICRP wants to issue final recommendations in 2007. ------------