Platts - Monday, October 02, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ Dutch Government sets conditions for new nuclear construction London (Platts)--2Oct2006 --THE DUTCH GOVERNMENT HAS SET CONDITIONS FOR NEW NUCLEAR CONSTRUCTION, reversing its earlier phase-out policy. In a letter submitted September 28 to the lower house of Parliament, junior minister for environment Pieter van Geel (Christian Democrat) said nuclear can help the transition to more sustainable energy supply and reduce carbon emissions. In the documents, submitted on behalf of the economics minister, van Geel said any new reactor in Holland must be a Generation III model with barriers to prevent containment breaches including aircraft crashes. Before operation, and no later than 2016, the government must decide on a disposal strategy for existing high-level waste. Spent fuel should be stored until 2025, when a choice would be made between direct disposal, reprocessing, or partitioning and transmutation. Plants should be dismantled promptly after closure, and decommissioning funds clearly earmarked. General elections are scheduled for November 22. It's not known whether the parliament will consider a pending nuclear energy bill during its last weeks or put off the nuclear debate until the next coalition government is in place. ------------ Exelon to begin licensing for possible new nuclear plant in Texas Washington (Platts)--29Sep2006 Exelon Generation said Friday it has notified the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it will start the licensing procedure for a new nuclear plant in Texas. "The company will begin the application process for a combined construction and operating license that would allow for the possible construction of a new nuclear plant at an as-yet unnamed location in Texas," Exelon said Friday in a press release. Exelon expects to submit the application to the NRC in 2008, but, the company said, it "has not decided to build a new nuclear plant." Among the conditions that must be resolved before any formal decision is made to build are a permanent solution for disposing used fuel, broad public acceptance of a new nuclear plant and assurances that a new plant using new technology can be financially successful, the company said. Exelon Nuclear is looking for potential sites in Texas because that state will experience a "surge" in electricity demand in the next 20 years, and because Exelon already owns natural gas-fired generating plants in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. Exelon said it is working with GE and Westinghouse "to determine suitable next-generation designs" for the possible plant. --Steven Dolley, steven_dolley@platts.com ------------ Exelon considering building new nuclear plant in Texas Washington (Platts)--29Sep2006 Exelon Generating Co. is considering building a new nuclear plant in Texas at a site yet to be selected, the company said September 29. Exelon has notified the NRC that it plans to file a combined construction permit-operating license (COL) application in 2008, in time to qualify for new plant incentives in the 2005 Energy Policy Act, Exelon Nuclear President Christopher Crane told Platts in an interview. Crane said the company has been looking at eight greenfield sites and expects to make a final decision by late October. The company will make a decision in a couple of weeks between either General Electric's ESBWR or Westinghouse's AP1000 design, Crane said. Exelon's work on an early site permit application for its Clinton, Illinois site will continue to keep options open, he said. ------------ Constellation worried about DOE, OMB nuke plant talks: Executive Baltimore (Platts)--29Sep2006 Negotiations between the US Department of Energy and the Office of Management and Budget are threatening to degrade the value of any new nuclear generation that would be built in the US, according to Joe Turnage, a senior vice president with Constellation Generation. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 contains incentives for new nuclear generation, such as production tax credits and federal loan guarantees for projects using 80% debt and 20% equity, Turnage said Friday at Platts' Mid-Atlantic Power Forum in Baltimore. DOE recently issued a trial solicitation on guidelines it will use for new generation stemming from EPAct, and in talking with OMB, it suggested federal loan guarantees for only 65% of projects and not 80%, Turnage said. The discussions between DOE and OMB are "troublesome" and not consistent with the intent of EPAct, he said. While discussions on loan guarantees are in the early stages, they have the potential to "evaporate a plant's value," he said. To make a new nuclear plant economical and provide a value to investors of $575 million/year, wholesale power market prices would need to be $50/MWh, Turnage said. Without the provisions set out in EPAct, those power market prices would need to be $80/MWh, he added. Constellation Energy Group intends to file an application for a combined operating license for a new plant in June 2008, Turnage said. The production tax credit that EPAct allows is only good for the first 6,000 MW of new nuclear generation to be built and licenses need to be filed by the end of 2008. Any new nuclear plant built in the US likely would not begin operating until 2014 or 2015, at the earliest, Turnage said. --Tom Tiernan, tom_tiernan@platts.com ------------ Minnesota PUC gives Xcel OK to build nuke waste storage facility Portland, Maine (Platts)--29Sep2006 The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission late Thursday voted to allow Xcel Energy to build an above-ground nuclear waste storage facility at its 600-MW Monticello nuclear plant. Xcel, based in Minneapolis, has run out of spent fuel storage space at the site and therefore decided to build the $55 million storage facility. It is also in the midst of a relicensing application for the plant in Monticello, Minnesota, which would allow it to operate until 2030. The company said the storage facility was an "essential" part of that relicensing application. The vote will take effect June 1, 2007, to give the Minnesota legislature time to review the issue if it wants to, an Xcel spokeswoman said Friday. Assuming the state Legislature doesn't intervene, Xcel will start construction in mid-2007 and finish the project in 2008, she said. Xcel expects to spend about $300 million on the waste facility and on relicensing and uprating the Monticello plant by about 60 MW. Xcel told the PUC that continuing to operate the Monticello plant is at least several hundred million dollars less expensive than the next cheapest fossil-based alternative. It also offers the benefits of reliability, reduced air pollution, and increased diversity of supply, Xcel said. Xcel also plans to relicense its 1,100 MW Prairie Island nuclear plant near Red Wing, Minnesota. Xcel intends to spend $700 million on the plant and will submit license renewal applications to state and federal regulators in 2008. Xcel expects to add about 180 MW of capacity to the plant, the spokeswoman said. ------------ Swedish regulators approve restart of Forsmark-1, -2 Stockholm (Platts)--28Sep2006 Swedish regulators approved restart of Forsmark-1 and -2 September 28, but said they were putting the plant under special oversight because of concerns about safety culture and management shortcomings. The Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate, or SKI, said it will require license holder Forsmarks Kraftgrupp to submit a plan showing how operator routines will be improved, including a program for how operators can better handle incidents at the plant. Forsmark-1 has been offline since July 25, when a short circuit in a switchyard caused the 968-MW Asea BWR to scram and two of four emergency diesels failed to deliver power. The 964-MW Forsmark-2, also an Asea BWR, was offline at the time for maintenance and has been kept down by SKI because of the potential for the same problem there. Forsmark management expects to have both units back online Friday, September 29. ------------ Olkiluoto-3 delays depress Areva's first-half income Paris (Platts)--27Sep2006 Areva's first-half 2006 operating income was hit hard by delays in the EPR construction project at Olkiluoto-3 in Finland, the French vendor said in releasing its financial results September 27. The group's operating income was down almost 65% to 115 million euros (US$146 million) in first-half 2006 compared to first-half 2005. Its operating margin (operating income divided by sales revenue) was 2.3%, down from 6.8% in first-half 2005. Operating income for Areva's nuclear operations was Eur 73 million, down from Eur 373 million in first-half 2005, and the sector's operating margin plunged to 2.2%, from 11.4% in first-half 2005, despite strong performance by Areva's Front End business. Most heavily hit was the Reactors and Services Division, with an operating loss of 266 million euros (US$338 million) in first-half 2006, versus operating income of Eur 32 million in first-half 2005. The loss is due to a "significant" provision the group made to account for past and expected future costs of the delay at Olkiluoto, but CEO Anne Lauvergeon said Areva would not reveal the amount of the provision because it is still discussing the issue with its customer, Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oy. TVO said in its monthly update on the project last week that the delay in construction of the 1,600-MW PWR "remain(s) unchanged and is about one year." TVO still projects first electricity from Olkiluoto-3 at the end of 2009 and commercial operation in second-quarter 2010. ------------ New Domenici waste bill could start spent-fuel storage in 2011 Washington (Platts)--27Sep2006 Utility spent fuel could be moved off reactor sites to a storage facility in Nevada as early as fourth-quarter 2011 under nuclear waste legislation Senator Pete Domenici unveiled Wednesday. The New Mexico Republican's bill would allow the US Department of Energy to begin moving utility spent fuel to the planned repository at Yucca Mountain roughly five years before DOE's 2017 target for the start of repository operations. DOE would submit two license applications to NRC in 2008. One application would be a repository, the other would be for a surface storage facility at the site, a Senate staffer said. Other key provisions of the bill--which Republican staffers of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that controls DOE spending and the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, both of which Domenici heads, helped craft--include moving the entire $18 billion Nuclear Waste Fund, a federal trust fund, off budget and tying the repository program to DOE's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership program, a fuel-cycle initiative aimed at spent-fuel reprocessing and recycling. Domenici acknowledged earlier this month that there isn't enough time to get a nuclear waste bill through Congress this year but introducing one now could initiate discussions on changes needed in the Yucca Mountain program. --Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com ------------ Areva to supply new steam generators at Prairie Island-2 Washington (Platts)--26Sep2006 Areva NP will supply replacement steam generators at Prairie Island-2, the company announced September 26. The two steam generators for the 530-MW PWR, operated by Nuclear Management Co. for owner Xcel Energy, will be manufactured at the company's Chalon Saint-Marcel plant, Areva said in a press release. The steam generators are to be delivered in May 2013 and installed four months later, Areva said. Spokeswoman Susan Hess said the contract was worth "several million" dollars but declined to be more specific. In 2004, Areva provided the replacement steam generators for Prairie Island-1. ------------