Platts - Tuesday, September 26, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ Germany's RWE applies to extend life of 1,223-MW Biblis-A nuke Freiburg, Germany (Platts)--26Sep2006 Germany's RWE is to apply to extend the life of its 1,223-MW nuclear power reactor Biblis-A, the company said. More details would be available after a telephone conference at lunchtime Tuesday. Hours of operating life would be transferred from another unit of the company to Biblis-A. Germany is shutting all its nuclear power plants in a decommissioning program that would leave the country a nuclear-free state. Each plant is allowed to operate for a set amount of production before it must be shut down for good, but operators can shuffle hours from one plant to another within their portfolio. Biblis was commissioned in 1975 and is one of the oldest of Germany's 17 operating reactors. The vice chairman of the SPD party, Ulrich Kelber, meanwhile said politicians would stick to their promises and order Biblis-A to come offline as scheduled. The politician said the reactor had seen a large number of operating incidents and should come offline as soon as possible. "I am sure the investigations in the environment ministry will decide that extending the life [of Biblis] by capacity transfer from younger, safer plants would not be responsible," he said. German environmental groups Bund and Nabu have slammed the application, saying it posed a test for the current coalition government. Even though Chancellor Angela Merkel has previously said she would stick to the plan to decommission nuclear power by the start of the 2020s, rising energy prices and global warming have led some to call for nuclear to be retained. Sigmar Gabriel, federal environment minister, has said he would check any application, but is against the continued use of nuclear power. The managers of the other three nuclear operators, E.ON, Vattenfall Europe and ENBW, have all said the phase-out of nuclear power is bringing rising prices. "But the opposite is the case: we have 17 nuclear reactors in operation, and the power prices are as high as never before," said environment group Nabu. "The written-off reactors are merely a license to print money for their operators." It is estimated that RWE makes about Eur1 million ($1.3 million) each day through Biblis-A operation at times of high prices. In theory, Biblis-A is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2008. ------------ Areva proposes "two-stage" reprocessing-recycling plant London (Platts)--26Sep2006 Areva has proposed a "two-stage" reprocessing-recycling plantas part of the expression of interest in participating in the US DOE's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership this month, a company spokesman said September 25. Areva is proposing to work with Washington Group International and BWX Technologies, Inc. to develop an advanced spent fuel processing plant and deploy the technology commercially in the US by 2020. A commercial mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication facility is planned in a second stage. DOE has said it is not now interested in a MOX fuel plant. Areva's proposal also includes a sodium- cooled fast reactor of around 600 MW, based on technology being developed by the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique for deployment in France in 2020, according to an industry source. That "advanced burner reactor" would be able to transmute minor actinides separated in an advanced reprocessing facility. The Areva proposal is one of 18 submitted by the DOE's September 7 deadline for expressions of interest. ------------ Nearly seven of 10 Americans support nuclear power: Survey Washington (Platts)--25Sep2006 Nearly seven out of 10 Americans polled support nuclear power and 68% said they support building a new reactor at the existing nuclear power plant closest to where they live, according to a recent survey done for the Nuclear Energy Institute. "Regionally, 70% of respondents in the Northeast and Midwest favor the use of nuclear energy, 67% in the South and 66% in the West," NEI said Monday. "Favorability among Northeast residents has increased 12 percentage points since March of this year," it added. The nationwide telephone survey, done by Bisconti Research Inc., polled 1,000 people 18 years old or older. NEI said the margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points. --Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com ------------ OKG looking at adding 220 MW to Oskarshamn-2 Washington (Platts)--25Sep2006 OKG is considering uprating the Oskarshamn-2 620-MW BWR by 220 MW, company management said September 25. A final decision is scheduled to be made in spring next year. Uprating would come as part of the unit's modernization program, which is scheduled to run through 2011. OKG's board has already approved uprating the Oskarshamn-3 BWR from 1,200 MW to 1,450 MW. ------------ Etienne Pochon named CEA director of security, nonproliferation London (Platts)--25Sep2006 ETIENNE POCHON HAS BEEN NAMED DIRECTOR OF SECURITY AND NONPROLIFERATION for the French Atomic Energy Commission, CEA. In this newly created position, which is within the CEA's Military Applications Division, he will oversee the agency's work in combating proliferation and terrorism, the CEA said in announcing the appointment. Noel Camarcat succeeds Pochon as director of assets and decommissioning in the CEA's Nuclear Energy Division, responsible for the agency's civilian nuclear installations at three sites, safe waste management, and cleanup and dismantling. Camarcat has held various positions at the CEA in both military applications and nuclear energy, and was most recently director of the agency's management and information systems branch. He was succeeded in that position by Olivier Pagezy, who also remains the CEA's director of finance. Both Camarcat and Pochon earlier worked on laser isotope separation at the CEA. ------------ Progress Energy plans to add 180 MW to Crystal River-3's output Washington (Platts)--22Sep2006 Progress Energy plans to increase Crystal River-3's output by 180 MW in a project estimated to cost $382 million. The company said September 22 it plans to add 40 MW to the 900-MW PWR after making modifications during the unit's 2009 refueling outage and 140 MW through upgrades during its 2011 refueling outage. Progress Energy said it has asked the Florida Public Utility Commission for approval for the increased output. Company spokesman Buddy Eller said Progress Energy expects to submit an uprate application to the NRC in early 2008. The company estimated the increased output would save customers more than $2.6 billion in gross fuel costs through 2036. ------------ Oskarshamn-2 maintenance outage extended Stockholm (Platts)--21Sep2006 Oskarshamn-2 will be down until at least September 25 because of problems with a new generator installed during annual maintenance, plant management informed the Nord Pool electricity market September 21. After startup, management said the 630-MW BWR will be operating at half-power for six days while the generator is tested. The unit was scheduled to go back online September 15. ------------