Platts - Friday, October 06, 2006 http://www.platts.com ------------ E.On Finland ready to invest in sixth Finnish reactor Stockholm (Platts)--5Oct2006 E.On Finland is prepared to make a major investment in a sixth Finnish nuclear reactor, company CEO Matti Manninen said in a statement October 5. Manninen's comments came in response to a government-commissioned report delivered October 3 that said Finland should build the unit through a state-owned company that could include utility and corporate partners. Manninen added that E.On Finland is also considering investments in new conventional capacity in Finland and that E.On Nordic is financing uprates at its Swedish plants. ------------ Nuclear waste disposal vault leaks at DOE South Carolina site Washington (Platts)--5Oct2006 A concrete disposal vault at the US Department of Energy's Savannah River Site in South Carolina is leaking radioactive waste, a state official said Thursday. Shelly Sherritt, the federal facilities liaison at the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, said radioactive material had leached from cracks in the walls of the site's so-called Saltstone Disposal Facility. "There has been some seepage in the cracks of the concrete walls in the past," Sherritt said. She said the liquid that seeped out of the cracks was radioactive, but that it was "not a large amount or anything that would cause a groundwater problem." Still, Sherritt said the state agency was taking the matter "very seriously," and that it would send staff to investigate. She said the state agency did not learn of the leak on its own, but that it was informed of the situation by DOE. "We have received letters from DOE saying there were cracks in the walls," Sherritt said. SRS's saltstone vault is used to dispose of the "low activity" portion of the high-level radioactive waste at the nuclear weapons site. The state agency only issued DOE a draft permit to dispose of millions of gallons of additional waste in similar vaults at the site two days ago. Sherritt said leakage would not be a problem with the forthcoming vaults because the new permit requires DOE to install a sophisticated drainage system to capture any liquid that seeps out of the waste, which will be immobilized in blocks of concrete grout. DOE will also be required to beef up the cover structures of the vaults in order to keep rain out, Sherritt said. A DOE spokeswoman downplayed the revelation, saying DOE informed South Carolina as early as the 1980s that the SRS vault had developed cracks. DOE immediately patched the cracks, and they "never posed any health risks to the workers or the public," she said. ------------ NRC panel OKs settlement with ex-FirstEnergy employee Washington (Platts)--5Oct2006 A US Nuclear Regulatory Commission panel has approved a settlement in the case of a former Davis-Besse nuclear power plant employee, documents showed. In a September 29 order, which was released late Wednesday, an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board issued an order accepting a joint motion by NRC staff and Dale Miller's attorney to dismiss Miller's case. In a January enforcement order, NRC had banned Miller for five years from NRC-licensed work for his alleged role in providing NRC with "incomplete and inaccurate" information in 2001 on the inspection and cleaning of the Davis-Besse reactor vessel head, where severe corrosion was discovered in 2002. As part of the settlement agreement, Miller, who was FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co.'s regulatory affairs compliance supervisor at Davis-Besse, must write a letter to NRC on "the significance of the role of the compliance supervisor in ensuring that all communications with the NRC contain complete and accurate information" and on what he has learned from his experiences at Davis-Besse. Miller also agreed to make presentations to industry groups on those topics. In light of that commitment and "new information" that emerged during the case, the NRC staff "no longer has a concern about the reliability and trustworthiness of Mr. Miller," the settlement agreement said. --Daniel Horner, daniel_horner@platts.com ------------ Studsvik awarded core monitoring software contract Washington (Platts)--4Oct2006 Studsvik has won a contract to deliver core monitoring software systems to Japan's Nuclear Engineering Ltd., or NEL, management at the Swedish nuclear services company said October 4. The value of the deal was not disclosed. The systems will be installed at 11 PWRs. Studsvik management said NEL has bought other types of core monitoring software from Studsvik previously. ------------ 'No health impact' from nuclear plant tritium releases: NRC Washington (Platts)--4Oct2006 A US Nuclear Regulatory Commission task force found "no impact on public health" from "inadvertent, unmonitored" radioactive liquid releases, containing primarily tritium, at US reactors, the NRC said Wednesday. The task force "looked at a wide range of releases that go back to 1996," and "none of those events led to appreciable radiation doses to people outside the plants," said Stuart Richards, an NRC senior manager who led the task force. The task force made 26 recommendations, including updating NRC radiation monitoring regulations and voluntary operator reporting to state and local agencies, in its September 1 report released Wednesday. --Steven Dolley, steven_dolley@platts.com ------------ Court awards $142.8 million in damages for spent fuel management Washington (Platts)--4Oct2006 The US Court of Federal Claims unsealed a decision Wednesday awarding a total of $142.8 million in damages to three New England utilities that have had to manage spent nuclear fuel storage at their shutdown reactor sites. The utilities--Yankee Atomic Electric Co., Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co., and Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co.--sued the federal government in 1998 after the Department of Energy failed to begin disposing of utility spent fuel by a 1998 contract date. Nothing in the decision, which the court issued September 30, addresses the utilities' concerns about when the spent nuclear fuel will be removed from their decommissioned reactor sites. The court had placed the ruling under seal in late September because it was concerned the document might contain proprietary business or security information. The federal government has 60 days to appeal the court ruling. --Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com ------------ Court awards $142.8 million in damages for spent fuel management Washington (Platts)--4Oct2006 The US Court of Federal Claims unsealed a decision Wednesday awarding a total of $142.8 million in damages to three New England utilities that have had to manage spent nuclear fuel storage at their shutdown reactor sites. The utilities--Yankee Atomic Electric Co., Connecticut Yankee Atomic Power Co., and Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co.--sued the federal government in 1998 after the Department of Energy failed to begin disposing of utility spent fuel by a 1998 contract date. Nothing in the decision, which the court issued September 30, addresses the utilities' concerns about when the spent nuclear fuel will be removed from their decommissioned reactor sites. The court had placed the ruling under seal in late September because it was concerned the document might contain proprietary business or security information. The federal government has 60 days to appeal the court ruling. --Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com ------------ Shaw says it plans to buy 20% stake of Westinghouse Electric Washington (Platts)--4Oct2006 The Shaw Group early Wednesday said it has formed a special purpose acquisition subsidiary, Nuclear Energy Holdings LLC, to buy a 20% stake in nuclear plant manufacturer Westinghouse Electric. Earlier this year, Toshiba was declared the successful bidder to acquire Westinghouse from British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. for $5.4 billion. Toshiba has formed two acquisition companies, one in the US and one in the UK, to make the acquisition. At closing, which is expected to occur in October, Toshiba will own 77% of each of the Westinghouse Acquisition Companies, Shaw's NEH 20%, and Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries 3%, Shaw said. Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based Shaw said NEH's participation in the deal is subject to the successful and timely closing of a $1.08 billion private placement bond financing and other customary closing conditions. NEH intends to finance the acquisition with funding through a private placement of Japanese Yen-denominated bonds with a principal amount of about $1.08 billion that currently are being marketed in Japan and outside the US. The limited-recourse bonds are expected to have a term of about 6.5 years, and NEH will have an option to sell all or part of its 20% ownership interest in the Westinghouse Acquisition Companies to Toshiba prior to the maturity of the bonds. In connection with the Westinghouse transaction, Shaw said it will execute a commercial relationship agreement that provides Shaw with certain exclusive opportunities to perform engineering, procurement and construction services on future Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power plants, along with other opportunities, such as the supply of piping for those units. Westinghouse's AP1000 design has obtained design certification from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and is the current technology selection for 10 proposed new units in the US, Shaw noted. Westinghouse and Shaw are consortium partners in proposing the AP1000 technology for four new reactors expected to be built in China. --Tom Tiernan, tom_tiernan@platts.com ------------ Congress urged to oppose away-from-reactor storage sites Washington (Platts)--3Oct2006 More than 100 advocacy groups are urging Congress to oppose the interim spent fuel storage facilities called for in House and Senate energy appropriations bills for fiscal 2007 and to concentrate, instead, on safeguarding spent fuel at reactor sites. Letters were sent to every member of Congress October 3 by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, and the Union for Concerned Scientists, among others. The groups said "there are numerous reasons why away-from-reactor storage is not even a temporary waste solution." Centralized storage would not reduce the number of locations where commercial spent fuel is stored and would "unnecessarily increase transport risks to the public," they said. The House-passed funding bill would require that integrated spent fuel reprocessing/recycling facilities include a storage facility for utility spent fuel. The Senate version of the bill, which likely will move to the Senate floor as part of omnibus legislation, would require DOE to site away-from-reactor storage facilities in the 31 states with operating reactors. Alternatively, the bill would allow the department to site regional storage facilities. ------------ License renewal sought for Susquehanna-1, -2 Washington (Platts)--2Oct2006 PPL Susquehanna has applied for license renewal for Susquehanna-1 and -2 in Pennsylvania, the NRC said in an October 2 Federal Register notice. If approved, the renewal would extend for 20 years the units' licenses, which are to expire in 2022 and 2024, respectively. ------------ Duke seeks state regulators' okay for recovery of new nuke costs Washington (Platts)--2Oct2006 Duke Energy Carolinas has asked the North Carolina Utilities Commission to approve recovery in future electric rates of its investment in evaluating and developing a new nuclear plant. In a September 20 filing, the company said it wanted to recover the North Carolina allocable portion of necessary costs and development related to its proposed William States Lee III plant in Cherokee County, South Carolina and incurred through December 31, 2007. The company said it wanted to recover the costs whether or not a new nuclear facility is constructed. Duke Energy and Southern Company are looking into building two Westinghouse AP1000s on a site the companies jointly own (NW, 23 March, 1). In a statement, the company said it expects to invest about $125 million before the end of 2007 on the planned plant. Duke Energy Carolinas President Ellen Ruff said nuclear power supplies the company's customers in North Carolina and South Carolina with about half of their electricity and "is a primary reason why our electric rates are below the national average." Duke Energy Carolinas, a Duke Energy subsidiary, operates Catawba-1 and -2 and Oconee-1, -2 and -3 in South Carolina and McGuire-1 and -2 in North Carolina. The company said in a statement it doesn't plan to file a similar application with regulators in South Carolina "at this time." But it said it intended to pursue cost recovery assurance in both jurisdictions before it invested "significant capital" in the nuclear project. It said it applied to North Carolina regulators first because state law expressly recognizes the importance of utilities' ability to finance generation facilities and the need for provisions to facilitate utility investment in new plants. If the commission doesn't grant the request, the company said it would work with the commission and other stakeholders to seek a legislative solution. The company told the commission that it is in the public interest to ensure all potential future resource options, including nuclear generation, are "fully considered and the most economic resources are available on a timely basis." It said the project would be useful for determining whether the nuclear station is the least-cost option to meet future customer needs. The company noted it would incur other costs and obligations even after December 31, 2007, including licensing fees, costs of design completion, project planning costs, and the purchase of long lead time material and equipment before plant construction can begin. Should the station be determined to be the least-cost option to serve customer needs, the company will incur construction costs, too. The company said it would seek commission approval for recovery of the North Carolina allocable portion of all such prudently incurred costs at the appropriate times. Duke Energy Carolinas supplies electricity at retail in the central and western portions of North Carolina and the western portion of South Carolina. It also sells electricity at wholesale to municipal, cooperative and investor-owned electric utilities. --Tom Harrison, Washington ------------