Platts - Thursday, September 14, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ IAEA governors to conclude deliberations with Iran Sep 14 London (Platts)--14Sep2006 The IAEA governors will conclude deliberations on Iran September 14 without having introduced any resolution, or taking any other action, officials attending the meeting said September 13 at the end of the agency's session. The 35-member IAEA board began discussing Iran's non-compliance with its IAEA safeguards agreement the morning of September 13. The governors have discussed other issues since the meeting began September 11. Officials attending the meeting said that about a dozen members will make individual statements on September 14 about Iran's nuclear program, and that Iran will make a statement at the meeting's conclusion. At the September 13 session, statements made by about another dozen states did not depart from their previous positions on Iran. That indicates there is no consensus on the board supporting efforts by the US and UK to press for sanctions against Iran. The two sought sanctions following Iran's failure to comply with a United Nations Security Council resolution to suspend its uranium enrichment program no later than August 31. Robert Schulte, US ambassador to the IAEA, said at the end of the meeting that Malaysia, a member of the non-aligned movement, or NAM, gave a statement on behalf of the NAM that "could have been written by Iran." The governors agreed not to try to pass a resolution on the Iran issue this week, one Western official at the meeting said. That was to keep from interfering with talks going on in parallel between Iran and the European Union on terms for starting negotiations between Iran and six states -- China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK, and the US. This summer, the states proposed nuclear cooperation with Iran in exchange for a full and verified suspension of Iran's enrichment program. ------------ Louisiana regulators looking at policies for new nuclear Washington (Platts)--13Sep2006 Louisiana regulators are looking at regulatory policies on new nuclear construction in the state. The Louisiana Public Service Commission September 13 hired a consultant to lead the staff initiative and deliver a report by the PSC?s scheduled December meeting. In an interview, consultant David Dismukes told Platts that the PSC wants a set of guidelines it can use to evaluate nuclear power plant proposals. Dismukes is assistant director of the Center for Energy Studies at Louisiana State University. The study will look at current state regulatory policies and resource planning. Issues to be reviewed will include ratemaking and cost recovery. Entergy is exploring the potential for building another reactor at its River Bend site in Louisiana. ------------ DOE got 14 nuclear spent fuel facility responses: Official Washington (Platts)--13Sep2006 The US Department of Energy has received 14 responses to its request for expressions of interest in housing integrated spent fuel reprocessing/recycling facilities that include interim storage, DOE Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis Spurgeon said Wednesday. Spurgeon told the House Appropriations subcommittee that controls DOE spending that eight of the responses the department received in the week of September 4-8 involved DOE sites and that six involved non-DOE sites. The sites represent every geographic area of the country, he said. Spurgeon later declined to identify the respondents. ------------ BNFL refuses to sell its BNG subsidiary to Fluor Corp London (Platts)--13Sep2006 BNFL won't sell its BNG subsidiary to Fluor Corp., the company said in a letter sent to Fluor's Chairman/CEO Alan Boeckmann September 11 by British Nuclear Fuels plc's CEO Mike Parker, according to industry sources September 12. Boeckmann offered up to 400 million pounds (US$746 million) to purchase the cleanup firm British Nuclear Group, or BNG, in its entirety rather than see BNG broken up and sold in separate pieces as proposed by BNFL's board of directors August 22. BNFL directors said at the time that a break up of BNG would provide "the best value" for BNFL's sole shareholder, the UK government. That still remains BNFL's view, according to the same industry sources. BNG manages Sellafield on behalf of site owner, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, or NDA. In March, the NDA linked BNG's sale to a new five-year, 5 billion pound-plus Sellafield management contract that would go to any company or consortium buying BNG. Now that BNG is to be sold in parts, that March plan has been further discussed by BNFL and the NDA and an additional announcement is expected by their respective boards of directors later this month. ------------ DOE plans independent reviews of Yucca Mountain project Washington (Platts)--12Sep2006 DOE issued three request for proposals September 11 for independent reviews of the engineering, quality assurance, and license application for the department's repository project at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. DOE waste program director Edward Sproat told reporters September 12 that he wants the reviews to be done by companies or other entities not involved in the DOE repository project but that have commercial nuclear experience. Sproat declined to estimate the value of the contracts due to the competitive bidding but said they essentially would be small business set-aside contracts. DOE is asking bidders to estimate the amount of time needed to complete the assessments, Sproat said. Review of the repository LA might take six months to complete, Sproat estimated, calling that a long-term review. The RFPs are on DOE's web site at (www.ocrwm.doe.gov/about/business/solicitations.shtml). ------------ Bulgaria's ambassador to the US visits Westinghouse's HQ London (Platts)--12Sep2006 Bulgaria's ambassador to the US, Elena Poptodorova, visited Westinghouse's Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania headquarters September 8, the company said September 11. Poptodorova met with executives and saw a demonstration of the company's newest nuclear power plant control room technology, Westinghouse said. Westinghouse hopes to provide that technology for the instrumentation and control systems for the Belene nuclear plant completion project. Westinghouse is part of the Skoda Alliance team bidding on a contract to complete the two Belene reactors in Bulgaria. Bulgaria's Nuclear Electricity Co. is expected to select a winning bid by the end of the calendar year. ------------ Fort Calhoun outage expected to last until December Washington (Platts)--11Sep2006 Fort Calhoun is expected to remain down until sometime in December after it was taken offline September 9 for a refueling and maintenance outage, Omaha Public Power District spokesman Mike Jones said September 11. Jones declined to give a more specific date for the end of the outage. Several major activities are planned for the outage, he said. Fort Calhoun's two steam generators and its pressurizer and reactor vessel head will be replaced during the outage, Jones said. OPPD said that it will have to cut a hole in the side of the plant's containment building, which has walls nearly four feet thick, in order to replace the steam generators. ------------ Vattenfall Europe to apply for Brunsbuttel life extension in 2007 Freiburg (Platts)--11Sep2006 Germany's Vattenfall Europe plans to apply to extend the running time of its Brunsbuttel nuclear power plant despite controversy surrounding safety at the unit, company spokesman Ivo Banek said Monday. Under Germany's nuclear phaseout plan, Brunsbuttel is scheduled to be decommissioned in the autumn of 2009. Brunsbuttel has come under the spotlight because of recent safety concerns at Vattenfall's Forsmark reactor in Sweden. "We are investigating what options we have under the German decommissioning law, and expect to make a decision next year," Banek said, adding that the application should be viewed independently of criticism about the 806-MW north-German plant's emergency power supply system. At the end of August, the state ministry demanded very technical calculations concerning the emergency power supply system, he said. "For us, the decisive factor is that the state as well as the federal governments know that the unit is safe, and we will hand in proof for that by the (ministry's) deadline of September 20," said Banek. German environmental group DUH, which published its concerns about the nuclear unit, said the possible life extension was "pure cynicism" from Vattenfall. Banek rejected that claim, noting that both ministries had said the unit was safe. The life extension would involve capacity transfer from other nuclear units to Brunsbuttel in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. ------------ Areva NP finalizes purchase of Sfarsteel Washington (Platts)--8Sep2006 Areva NP said it has signed an agreement finalizing its purchase of Sfarsteel. In a statement September 8, Areva NP President/CEO Vincent Maurel called the acquisition "a strategic move." Sfarsteel, which manufactures large forged parts, has four production facilities in central France. Maurel said, "At a time when the new builds market in the nuclear power industry is picking up again, forged parts are essential in ensuring the quality and prompt delivery of nuclear equipment at competitive prices." Areva NP (formerly Framatome ANP) did not disclose the value of the transaction. ------------