Platts - Tuesday, September 19, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ Regulators from 10 states to meet at OECD Nuclear Energy Agency London (Platts)--19Sep2006 Nuclear regulators from 10 countries will meet at the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency September 22 to discuss the second stage of the NRC-inspired Multilateral Design Approval Program, or MDAP. The program, launched by former NRC Chairman Nils Diaz, aims to harmonize safety requirements for new reactors worldwide. The first stage of MDAP is already under way at the NRC, where Finnish and French regulators are sharing their experience of licensing Areva's EPR third-generation reactor design. Stage II of MDAP would be much broader, involving more countries whose industries are developing advanced reactors, including three that are not members of the NEA: South Africa, China and Russia. In principle, it would involve use of IAEA safety standards, but safety officials involved in the exercise said exactly how those standards could be applied, especially in places like the US that have their own standards, must still be discussed. ------------ Cook-1 refueling outage includes vessel head replacement Washington (Platts)--18Sep2006 Cook-1's reactor vessel head will be replaced during a refueling outage that began September 16, operator American Electric Power said September 18. During the outage, plant personnel also will replace the three low-pressure turbine rotors, adding 25 megawatts to the turbine's summer output and 40 MW to winter production, AEP said in a press release. Cook-1, a PWR, is currently rated at 1,077 MW. AEP expects to spend more than $100 million on the vessel-head and turbine-rotor replacements and other "major component and system improvements," the company said. During the just-completed 18-month operating cycle, Cook-1 set a record by generating 12.049 million megawatt-hours, beating the mark of 11.721 million MWH set in its previous cycle, AEP said. ------------ Lack of clarity about "suspension" of Iran's centrifuge program London (Platts)--18Sep2006 Lack of clarity about the legal definition of a "suspension" of Iran's centrifuge program until late this week had held up discussions between Iran and the European Union about restarting nuclear negotiations, EU officials told Platts. Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana met September 15. Prior to that meeting, Iran had suggested that its declared willingness to suspend uranium enrichment activities sufficed to resume negotiations. Some members from the group of six states which this summer proposed fresh nuclear cooperation talks with Iran -- China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK, and the US -- were, however, unwilling to agree to restart the talks until Iran had physically ceased uranium enrichment. Sources suggested that the two sides agreed on the terms of suspension September 15. During a news conference September 15, Solana said, "We are really making progress in the talks," according to Reuters. He did not give details of his talks with Larijani. ------------ Management says Oskarshamn-1 to stay offline until year's end Stockholm (Platts)--15Sep2006 Oskarshamn-1 will be offline until the end of the year, OKG management, which operates the unit, said in a statement September 15. The Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate, or SKI, has ordered that the Asea BWR needs to be modified to prevent the same type of incident as that which occurred at Forsmark-1 in July, when two of four backup diesel generators failed to deliver power after the unit scrammed. Management said the modifications are more complicated than anticipated. SKI must approve restart of the unit. NRC agrees to TVA request to cancel Bellefonte-1, -2 permits Washington (Platts)--15Sep2006 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a Tennessee Valley Authority request to terminate construction permits for Bellefonte-1 and -2, two unfinished reactors in Alabama, the agency said Friday. TVA sought to withdraw the permits, which NRC granted in 1974, so the site could be considered for possible other uses. In 1988, TVA deferred completion of Bellefonte. Unit 1 is 88% complete and unit 2 is 58% complete. TVA is involved in industry consortium NuStart Energy's project to develop a combined construction permit-operating license application for two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at Bellefonte. ------------ Swedish regulators deny restart of Forsmark units Stockholm (Platts)--14Sep2006 Swedish regulators September 14 denied restart permission to Forsmark-1 and -2 and said modifications beyond what plant management proposed needed to be made before the unit can go back online. Forsmark-1 has been offline since an incident July 25 in which two of four diesel generators failed to deliver power when the unit scrammed. Forsmark-2 was also offline, for maintenance, and the unit has been kept down while the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate, or SKI, investigated whether a similar problem could occur there. Among SKI's requirements for restart are modification to the power supply for all four of the backup generators, not just two as proposed by Forsmark; and modification of the control rooms' electrical panels now, not next year as plant management wanted. SKI said it has also begun a longer-term investigation into the incident and into what officials see as a broader quality control problem at Forsmark. ------------ Senators warn plan could distract NRC from licensing reactors Washington (Platts)--14Sep2006 Senior Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee warned Thursday that New Mexico Republican Senator Pete Domenici's plan to authorize more than 30 interim storage sites for spent nuclear fuel could distract the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from processing a wave of applications for nuclear reactors. It also would distract the Department of Energy from preparing an application for permanent storage at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, they added. Senator James Inhofe, the committee chairman, and Senator George Voinovich, the chairman of the Clean Air, Climate Change and Nuclear Safety subcommittee, said they were further concerned that licensing requirements arising from the Bush administration's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership will strain NRC's resources. Their comments came as Nuclear Energy Institute President Frank "Skip" Bowman told the subcommittee that 12 utility companies plan to file 19 applications with NRC for 30 reactors. "These provisions require a lot from NRC in a short time," Voinovich said at a subcommittee hearing on the commission. "This committee has worked very hard to give NRC the resources and reforms needed so that it can efficiently review new reactor applications. But now I am afraid that these waste proposals have the potential to move us backwards and could end the nuclear renaissance before it begins." As for DOE, the Ohio Republican said GNEP and the interim-storage proposal, which Domenici included in the Senate fiscal 2007 energy and water development appropriations bill, "could take the focus away from Yucca Mountain, delaying or ending that important project." Inhofe agreed. "We need to open Yucca Mountain as quickly as possible," the Oklahoma Republican said. "Though I find the interim storage option intriguing, I am concerned about the impact on our resources of shifting the debate from long-term storage to interim storage. I believe that this must be fully debated on the Senate floor and not attached to an omnibus appropriations bill." Both Inhofe and Voinovich said they doubted that DOE could meet a provision in the appropriations bill that would require the department to submit applications for more than 30 interim storage sites within 300 days of enactment of the legislation. Similarly, they said NRC likely would be unable to review the applications within 32 months, as stipulated in the funding bill. Edward Sproat, director of DOE's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, appeared to concur, telling the subcommittee that the interim-storage requirement would be "very difficult to perform" and "highly distracting" for his office as it attempts to meet a recent DOE commitment to submit a license application for the Yucca Mountain repository to NRC by June 30, 2008. Luis Reyes, NRC's executive director for operations, said the commission has "neither the monetary resources nor the necessary employee resources" to support the reviews of interim storage sites envisioned in the appropriations bill. Reyes also called the bill's timetable for reviewing the applications "very short and likely not achievable." Reyes estimated that reviewing more than 30 applications for interim storage would cost NRC $300 million and require it to hire more than 200 employees. The estimate for added funding is equivalent to 40% of the commission's $742-million budget in fiscal 2006. The fate of Domenici's proposal will be determined when the Senate and House meet to reconcile their separate energy and water development bills or, alternatively, negotiate an omnibus funding bill covering DOE and other agencies. With time running out for enactment of legislation this year, Congress is considered likely to combine funding for a number of agencies in one bill. NEI's Bowman told the subcommittee that the nuclear industry supports the idea of interim storage while the government pursues the permanent repository in Nevada, but would prefer that such storage be limited to "one or two" sites where spent fuel recycling and reprocessing facilities also could be installed at some point. Domenici, who chairs both the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development, said earlier this month he intended to introduce a "Fix Yucca" bill, although the senator acknowledged there was not enough time for the Senate to approve it this year. ------------