Platts - Wednesday, August 30, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ NRC can speed up its nuclear license application reviews: Klein Washington (Platts)--30Aug2006 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission should be able to review new nuclear power plant license applications faster than 42 months, which is the agency's current estimate, NRC Chairman Dale Klein said Wednesday. Speaking at the Platts Energy Podium, Klein, who joined the agency July 1, did not say how many months could be trimmed from the schedule. But he said he believed the licensing process shouldn't take almost as long to complete as plant construction. The nuclear industry estimates a new reactor can be built in 48 months. Klein said NRC is expecting around 16 applications with requests to build up to 27 new units, with the first submission expected in 2007. With a wave of personnel retirements expected to hit the NRC and industry in the next few years, Klein said he was concerned about finding replacements, particularly nuclear and power engineers. Meanwhile, Klein praised the industry for its response to the changing security threat over the past few years, but offered some advice to nuclear plant operators: "Don't become complacent." -Jenny Weil, jenny_weil@platts.com ------------ Argentina, S Africa plan to revive uranium enrichment programs London (Platts)--30Aug2006 Argentina and South Africa have announced plans to revive uranium enrichment programs mothballed since the last decade. Confirming a government announcement August 23, Dario Jinchuk, head of international relations at the Argentine Nuclear Energy Commission, CNEA, told Platts that CNEA hopes by the end of this year to restart its pilot gaseous diffusion plant at Pilcaniyeu. The goal, he said, is to have Argentina recognized as a commercial enricher on the world market in the framework of international initiatives to organize world nuclear fuel supply. South Africa's energy minister, Buyelwa Sonjica, told a meeting of young nuclear professionals August 25 that the government intends to conduct a cost-benefit study aimed at reviving uranium enrichment at Pelindaba. Minister of Public Enterprises Alec Erwin confirmed that August 28 but said the study would take some time. Both of the initiatives came in the context of announcements of expansion of nuclear generating capacity. ------------ Alstom expected to get Flamanville-3 turbine-generator contract Paris (Platts)--29Aug2006 Electricite de France is expected to order the Flamanville-3 turbine-generator set from Alstom following a meeting of the French utility's board of directors this week, Platts has learned. The contract for the turbine-generator for the 1,630-MW EPR advanced PWR was put out to tender earlier this year. Only Alstom and Siemens, however, have nuclear steam turbines corresponding to the output required by the large PWR. ------------ Consortium breaks ground on New Mexico uranium enrichment plant Washington (Platts)--29Aug2006 In a move that was hailed as evidence of the resurgent nuclear power industry, Louisiana Energy Services, a consortium of US and European power companies, broke ground Tuesday on a $1.5-billion uranium-enrichment plant in southeastern New Mexico. The plant, dubbed the National Enrichment Facility, will produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. "A lot of people in the company and the community have worked very hard to make this moment happen, and we want to share our excitement with Lea County [New Mexico] and our neighbors in Texas," said Jim Ferland, LES president, at a ground-breaking ceremony near the tiny town of Eunice, New Mexico, where the facility will be built. A number of top energy policymakers attended the ceremony, including Under Secretary of Energy David Garman and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, Republican-New Mexico. Domenici played a key role in winning approval for the plant, which was blocked for a time by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat and a former energy secretary under President Clinton. Richardson had long vowed to block the plant unless he received assurances that the depleted uranium waste that it will generate will not remain in his state permanently. Richardson and Domenici worked out a deal on the waste issue last year, which cleared the way for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to issue LES a construction and operating license in June. Still, two environmental groups--Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Public Citizen--are trying to get NRC to rescind the license. The groups have not yet detailed their basis for the request, but they recently notified the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that they will be challenging NRC's issuance of the license. ------------ Consortium breaks ground on New Mexico uranium enrichment plant Washington (Platts)--29Aug2006 In a move that was hailed as evidence of the resurgent nuclear power industry, Louisiana Energy Services, a consortium of US and European power companies, broke ground Tuesday on a $1.5-billion uranium-enrichment plant in southeastern New Mexico. The plant, dubbed the National Enrichment Facility, will produce fuel for commercial nuclear power plants. "A lot of people in the company and the community have worked very hard to make this moment happen, and we want to share our excitement with Lea County [New Mexico] and our neighbors in Texas," said Jim Ferland, LES president, at a ground-breaking ceremony near the tiny town of Eunice, New Mexico, where the facility will be built. A number of top energy policymakers attended the ceremony, including Under Secretary of Energy David Garman and Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, Republican-New Mexico. Domenici played a key role in winning approval for the plant, which was blocked for a time by New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a Democrat and a former energy secretary under President Clinton. Richardson had long vowed to block the plant unless he received assurances that the depleted uranium waste that it will generate will not remain in his state permanently. Richardson and Domenici worked out a deal on the waste issue last year, which cleared the way for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to issue LES a construction and operating license in June. Still, two environmental groups--Nuclear Information and Resource Service and Public Citizen--are trying to get NRC to rescind the license. The groups have not yet detailed their basis for the request, but they recently notified the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit that they will be challenging NRC's issuance of the license. ------------ FP&L to cut Turkey Point nuke units' output ahead of Ernesto Philadelphia (Platts)--29Aug2006 Florida Power & Light plans to start "down-powering" the two 760-MW Turkey Point nuclear units south of Miami at 2 pm EDT to prepare for the possibility that Tropical Storm Ernesto will strengthen to a hurricane as approaches the Florida Keys Tuesday evening. FP&L Spokesman Tom Veenstra said his utility expects the two units to ramp down to 50% of their output by 5 pm EDT Tuesday. FP&L will continue to monitor Ernesto to determine if and when the two Turkey Point nuclear units will need to be shut down. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires nuclear units to be shut down at least two hours prior to the onset of hurricane-force winds. Veenstra said nuclear plant operators can take a unit from 50% output to total shutdown in anything from a few minutes to a few hours, which means that FP&L would have ample time to shut down the two Turkey Point nuclear units if Ernesto's winds increase to hurricane-force Tuesday afternoon or evening. Meanwhile, FP&L has "no plans at this time" to ramp down the two 839-MW nuclear units at its St. Lucie station near Fort Pierce, on Florida's south-central Atlantic coast. "We think that the winds will be at tropical-storm levels by the time Ernesto reaches [the St. Lucie station]." As of 11:30 am EDT, Ernesto remained a tropical storm, with sustained winds of only 45 miles per hour. The storm is expected to hit the central Florida Keys overnight, then work its way through south Florida Wednesday morning. It remains unclear whether the storm will strengthen to a hurricane, which requires sustained winds of more than 74 mph. ------------ Germany to investigate Brunsbuttel nuke safety concerns Freiburg (Platts)--29Aug2006 The nuclear watchdog of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein plans to investigate a report presented Monday by Vattenfall Europe outlining the safety of the Brunsbuttel nuclear unit. Safety at the plant has come under the spotlight since an environmental group raised concerns over the unit's emergency power supply, which if it failed would result in the unit having to fall back on battery operation. For that, the unit--unlike any other in Germany--needs alternating current. The operator said investigations had shown that even if all alternating current systems failed, emergency power supply was still secure. In such a case, an additional safety system would kick in which was independent to other systems. However, the ministry said the alternating current systems in the unit's emergency power supply were only one aspect it was investigating to find out whether the recent safety incident at Sweden's Forsmark-1 reactor could happen at Germany's nuclear units. Vattenfall Europe has to present a report to the Swedish nuclear watchdog by September 6. ------------ FP&L eyes Ernesto, may shut nuclear units as early as Tuesday Philadelphia (Platts)--28Aug2006 Florida Power & Light said Monday it was "watching Ernesto very closely" to determine, among other things, whether the tropical storm will strengthen to a hurricane and force the utility to shut down any or all of its four nuclear reactors as soon as Tuesday. "The Nuclear Regulatory Commission requires that we shut down our nuclear units at least two hours prior to the onset of hurricane-force winds," an FP&L spokesman said. The utility owns and operates two 693-MW nuclear units at its Turkey Point station south of Miami and two 839-MW nuclear units at its St. Lucie station near Fort Pierce, on the south-central part of Florida's Atlantic coast. "We've been running through our processes and guidelines, and developing very specific plans" for ramping down and then shutting the nuclear units--if it is needed--as Ernesto moves north, the spokesman said. "Generally we ramp down [the output of FP&L's nuclear units as a hurricane or tropical storm approaches} because demand typically goes down" in advance of such storms, "then go to zero if needed," he added. At present, FP&L is "planning for [Ernesto to be] anything from a tropical storm to a Category 3 hurricane," he said. Currently, Ernesto is a tropical storm with sustained winds of only 40 mph. It is expected to head toward the Florida Keys over the next 36 hours. ------------ Westinghouse signs contracts for Korean PWR projects Washington (Platts)--28Aug2006 Westinghouse signed contracts for participating in Korea's first two 1,400-MW PWRs, the company announced August 28. Westinghouse Electric Co. said the contracts are valued at more than $300 million. The contracts cover components, instrumentation and control equipment, and technical and engineering services for Shin-Kori-3 and -4, now under construction. The contracts are with Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co. Ltd., Korea's prime nuclear equipment fabricator, and the Korea Power Engineering Co., the project's architect and engineering firm. The two units will be owned and operated by the Korea Kydro & Nuclear Power Co., a subsidiary of Korea Electric Power Corp. Westinghouse signed contracts for a similar scope of work in 2002 for projects to build four standard 1,000-MW PWRs -- Shin-Kori-1 and -2 and Shin-Wolsong-1 and -2. All six of these reactors currently under construction are based on original Combustion Engineering designs. Westinghouse acquired ABB-CE in 2000. Korean industry has been planning on building a second group of 1,400-MW PWRs at Shin-Wolsong. No contracts with Westinghouse were announced for these reactors. ------------