Platts - Friday, March 30, 2007 http://www.platts.com ------------ JNFL joins Areva team to bid on GNEP work Washington (Platts)--29Mar2007 Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. is joining the Areva-led team that is preparing to bid on work for DOE's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, the team said in a March 29 press release. JNFL is the fourth member of the team, which also includes Washington Group International and BWX Technologies. Last year, DOE issued a request for expressions of interest in work on a fast reactor and a reprocessing plant in the US, key facilities in GNEP. Areva has said that its team responded to both requests. DOE has not said what type of contracting vehicle it plans to use but GNEP deputy program manager Paul Lisowski said the department is aiming to "have money actually flowing to industry" by the end of September. ------------ DOE offers more grants for university nuclear research Washington (Platts)--28Mar2007 Up to $14 million in additional grants for universities' nuclear energy research and development activities will be available in fiscal 2007 under two DOE funding categories, the department announced March 28. DOE said grant applications will be accepted until May 23 for the Nuclear Energy Research Initiative for Consortia (NERI-C) and until June 7 for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) University Readiness effort. NERI-C multi-year research grants total $10 million, DOE said, for work in such areas as advanced fuel cycle R&D, next-generation reactor concepts, and the nuclear hydrogen initiative. GNEP University Readiness awards total $4 million, with a maximum of $100,000 per award, DOE said. Eligible uses for these awards include upgrades to university laboratories, graduate student fellowships, university reactor improvements, curriculum development, and international student exchanges, the department said. The new awards will bring total FY-07 funding to universities that support nuclear energy programs to more than $54 million, DOE said. Applications must be submitted electronically at www.grants.gov. ------------ Michigan regulators approve PPA for Palisades Washington (Platts)--27Mar2007 The power purchase agreement for the sale of Palisades was approved by Michigan regulators March 27. The three-member Michigan Public Service Commission unanimously approved the PPA between current owner Consumers Energy and buyer Entergy. Under Michigan law, the PSC does not have jurisdiction over the deal as a whole, but it does have authority to rule on the PPA, a crucial part of the deal. Matt Frendewey, a spokesman for Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, said Cox was "disappointed" with the decision. Frendewey said Cox's office was reviewing the 100-page order to decide what steps, if any, the attorney general would take. Cox, one of several intervenors in the case, argued that the deal was not in the best interests of Michigan ratepayers. Consumers and Entergy had announced an agreement in July on the sale of the 845-MW PWR for $380 million. ------------ US NRC approves early site nuke permit for Grand Gulf site Washington (Platts)--27Mar2007 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Tuesday approved an early site permit for land next to the existing Grand Gulf nuclear power plant, which would allow Entergy's System Energy Resources unit to reserve the site for up to 20 years for the possible construction of a reactor, NRC said. The NRC staff will now have 10 days to issue the permit and an agency official said it could happen by late in the week starting April 2. The Grand Gulf site was originally approved for two units, but a second unit was never completed. Currently, there is a 1,263-MW reactor operating at the site. The ESP addresses the suitability of the site, but only authorizes certain pre-construction activities, such as site clearing and road building. Entergy would have to apply for a combined construction permit-operating license, or COL, in order to actually build and operate a new plant. Entergy has said it plans to apply in November for COL for the Grand Gulf site. The Grand Gulf ESP is the second permit approved by the NRC. It agreed March 8 to authorize the staff to issue an ESP for a reactor next to Exelon's existing Clinton plant; the permit was officially issued on March 15. --Jenny Weil, jenny_weil@platts.com ------------ UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority names Sellafield bidders London (Platts)--27Mar2007 The UK's Nuclear Decommissioning Authority Monday said six groups, all with ties to the US, were in the running to manage the cleanup at the Sellafield nuclear site. The finalist would win a five-year contract worth more than GBP1 billion ($1.96 billion) a year, and have the inside track for a 17-year project to clean-up the 4 sq km site that is home to more than 200 nuclear facilities. The NDA in a statement said the selection "represents a significant milestone" in the competition. The groups are: --US-based CH2M HILL International Nuclear Services Ltd --US-owned Energy Solutions EU --US-based Fluor Limited in partnership with Japan's Toshiba --American Jacobs Engineering Group --SBB Nuclear, a consortium that includes the UK's Serco Holdings, US-based Bechtel Management and US-owned BWXT Nuclear Services (UK) --a consortium that includes American Washington Group International, the UK's AMEC Nuclear Holdings and French Areva. The NDA said it expects to announce the winner in mid-2008. "This strong field promises a robust competition to achieve the NDA's overall aim of continuous improvement in health, safety and environmental performance while simultaneously improving value for money and driving innovation from the resulting Sellafield contract," said NDA chief executive Ian Roxburgh. --Jeffrey Sparshott, jeffrey_sparshott@platts.com ------------ GE Energy's nuclear business opens advanced technology center Washington (Platts)--26Mar2007 GE Energy's nuclear business opened a new advanced technology center at its Wilmington, North Carolina site on March 26 "to prepare for new reactor orders and broaden its services capabilities for utility customers," the company said in a statement. The center "will employ hundreds of engineers, project managers and support personnel dedicated to advanced design work and implementation support for the commercial launch of GE's next-generation technology, the ESBWR," and "will support GE's ABWR projects around the world," GE Energy said. "Since 2003, GE has hired 500 new engineers and other personnel in preparation for new unit orders," and "has executed a strategic consolidation in Wilmington of several existing GE nuclear facilities" located around the US, the company said. ------------ PSEG may resume operating nuclear plants by year-end: Levi New York (Platts)--26Mar2007 Public Service Enterprise Group is hoping that it can be ready by year's end to take back from Exelon responsibility for operating its Hope Creek and Salem nuclear plants, PSEG Nuclear President William Levis said Monday. Under an operating services agreement that took effect in January 2005, Exelon is responsible for operating the Hope Creek reactor and the two-unit Salem facility. The original two-year agreement recently was extended for another two years, with a potential additional year for transition. Levis, who announced the year-end goal in remarks to an investor conference in New York, also said the agreement's timetable gives PSEG "plenty of time to do it right," and that some aspects of the transition still need to be worked out. PSEG in December announced that it planned to resume direct management of the plants before the current agreement expires, but did not provide any schedule. Levis said PSEG would continue to have some links to Exelon after the transition is complete. Exelon took over operational responsibility for the three units in anticipation of a merger between the two companies. The companies scrapped the merger in September, citing conditions imposed on the combination by New Jersey regulators. --Daniel Horner, daniel_horner@platts.com ------------ PSEG may resume operating nuclear plants by year-end: Levi New York (Platts)--26Mar2007 Public Service Enterprise Group is hoping that it can be ready by year's end to take back from Exelon responsibility for operating its Hope Creek and Salem nuclear plants, PSEG Nuclear President William Levis said Monday. Under an operating services agreement that took effect in January 2005, Exelon is responsible for operating the Hope Creek reactor and the two-unit Salem facility. The original two-year agreement recently was extended for another two years, with a potential additional year for transition. Levis, who announced the year-end goal in remarks to an investor conference in New York, also said the agreement's timetable gives PSEG "plenty of time to do it right," and that some aspects of the transition still need to be worked out. PSEG in December announced that it planned to resume direct management of the plants before the current agreement expires, but did not provide any schedule. Levis said PSEG would continue to have some links to Exelon after the transition is complete. Exelon took over operational responsibility for the three units in anticipation of a merger between the two companies. The companies scrapped the merger in September, citing conditions imposed on the combination by New Jersey regulators. --Daniel Horner, daniel_horner@platts.com ------------ Union warns TXU of possible strike at Comanche Peak nuclear plant Washington (Platts)--26Mar2007 The union representing workers at TXU's Comanche Peak nuclear plant has notified the company that its members will walk out in 30 days if they do not have a new contract by then, union negotiator George Crawford said Monday. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers faxed the 30-day notice to TXU on Sunday, a day after the latest contract expired, Crawford said. Contract talks will continue in the interim. A US government mediator joined the negotiations late last week as a facilitator and will probably stay with the parties for the duration, Crawford. The next negotiating session is scheduled for March 27, he said. The two-reactor station, roughly 80 miles outside Dallas, has a total generating capacity of about 2,430 MW. --Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com ------------ UK government outlines low-level radioactive waste strategy London (Platts)--26Mar2007 The UK government Monday said it would create a nationwide strategy for managing low level waste from the nuclear industry. This includes a possible replacement for the national disposal facility near Drigg in Cumbria. Drigg is the UK's main low-level waste dump -- a repository for materials such as contaminated clothing, soil and building rubble from decommissioning nuclear generation sites. The government's program to shut down and clean up nuclear sites will substantially increase the amount of low level waste generated during the coming decades, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said in a statement. Drigg lacks long-term capacity to handle the waste. "Today's policy announcement will ensure that we have safe and appropriate disposal routes for low level radioactive waste in the future," Ian Pearson, UK Minister for Environment and Climate Change, said in a statement. Pearson added that low level radioactive waste review complemented the government's work on a new policy for managing higher activity radioactive wastes. The government has for more than three decades failed to find solutions to the problem of long-term radioactive waste management, the government's Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) said last year in a report. The report said the problem was partly technical -- how to ensure long-term safety -- but also social. "Its association with nuclear energy and weapons and the risks to health from radioactivity make the management of radioactive waste an issue of controversy and conflict," the CoRWM said. The committee noted that the government should devise a strategy to dispose of waste before embarking on a program of new nuclear build. "The public assessment process that should apply to any future new build proposals ... will need to consider a range of issues including the social, political and ethical issues of a deliberate decision to create new nuclear wastes," the committee said. One option considered by the government is using existing nuclear sites as low-level waste dumps, said Jean McSorley, senior adviser to environment group Greenpeace. But the government is likely to run into opposition from local communities if they try to create new low-level dumps or use existing nuclear sites as waste dumps. "Either way it would be a big problem for them," McSorley said in an interview. "Wherever you tried to move it would create problems -- a lot of places that have [and support] nuclear reactors have a different view of ... dump sites." DEFRA said that as of April 2004 there were 31,000 metric tons of low level radioactive waste awaiting disposal, 2.8 million metric tons that would be generated from sites to be decommissioned, and up to 18 million cubic meters of lightly contaminated soil from clean-up operations at the nuclear sites. DEFRA Monday said its new low level radioactive waste policy would include: --Greater flexibility in managing the wide range of low level waste that already exists and will arise in the future; --An effort to minimize the amount of low level waste created by limiting the amount of radioactive substances used, recycling and reuse; --Development by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority of a UK-wide strategy for managing low level waste from the nuclear industry, including possible replacement of Drigg; --A study by the government and NDA that would give a clear picture of future low level waste from the non-nuclear sector. --Jeff Sparshott, Jeff_Sparshott@platts.com ------------ DOE to evaluate vitrification plant's environmental impacts Washington (Platts)--23Mar2007 Potential environmental impacts of a plutonium vitrification plant at DOE's Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina will be evaluated by the department. DOE said March 23 that it sent a notice to the Federal Register announcing that it will prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) identifying a vitrification facility as a preferred way to stabilize up to 19 metric tons of surplus plutonium not slated to be used in the fabrication of mixed-oxide reactor fuel. The vitrification process would stabilize the plutonium in a borosilicate glass that could be packaged inside stainless steel cans that would be placed inside larger canisters. DOE said the supplemental EIS will also evaluate the proposed disposition of plutonium materials that might be shipped to the site for consolidated storage from other DOE sites in Washington state, New Mexico, and California. "Evaluation of potential consolidation of these materials will be subject to a separate environmental analysis," DOE said in a statement. ------------ House appropriators question DOE's top nonproliferation official london (Platts)--23Mar2007 House appropriators questioned the DOE's top nonproliferation official over the department's plutonium disposition program. At a March 22 hearing of the House Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee, Peter Visclosky and David Hobson questioned DOE's continuing adherence to an approach that would turn 34 metric tons of surplus weapons plutonium into mixed-oxide reactor fuel. Visclosky, the panel chairman, is an Indiana Democrat; Hobson, from Ohio, is the panel's top Republican. DOE now estimates that construction of the facility to fabricate the MOX fuel will cost $4.7 billion. In 2002, DOE's estimate was $1 billion. William Tobey, the deputy administrator for defense nuclear nonproliferation in DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration, said the MOX approach was expensive. But he said it was less costly than continued storage of weapons plutonium and more technically certain than the principal disposition alternative, which involves mixing the plutonium with high-level waste rather than making fuel out of it. ------------ Olkiluoto-3 lowers Areva's 2006 operating income Paris (Platts)--22Mar2007 Areva's operating income dropped 26% in 2006 to 407 million euros, due largely to the negative impact of the Olkiluoto-3 reactor construction project in Finland, but the loss was offset by strong performance in all the group's other businesses, the French vendor reported March 22. Excluding the impact of the sale of subsidiary FCI on the 2005 figures, consolidated net income was up by 43.9% to Eur 649 million, a record level. Operating cash flow fell from Eur 783 million in 2005 to a negative Eur 358 million at the end of last year, due to a sharp increase in capital spending. The latter included three acquisitions, development of new mines in Canada and Kazakhstan, certification of the EPR reactor design, and construction start on a new enrichment plant. Areva also registered a 24.6% increase in 2006 in its backlog, which now stands at Eur 25.6 billion. ------------ NRC Commissioner calls for better security for new nuclear builds london (Platts)--22Mar2007 NRC Commissioner Gregory Jaczko said March 21. Speaking at a Council on Foreign Relations roundtable discussion on safety and security requirements for future nuclear power plants, Jaczko said he believed it would be easier and much cheaper to build in better security features than to retrofit the plants later. He said reactor vendors ought to be looking at developing a "smart design" that relies less on "guards and guns" than the current fleet of reactors. Last month, Jaczko circulated an initiative to require any new plant built in the US to be capable of withstanding a hit from a large commercial aircraft. The proposal is now before the NRC commissioners; Jaczko declined to say how many votes were in. ------------ No bomb found at Sweden's Forsmark after receiving threat New York (Platts)--21Mar2007 Police sealed off the road to Forsmark and brought in bomb-sniffing dogs after the Swedish plant received a bomb threat against unit 1 on the morning of March 21, but no bomb was found, officials at the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate, SKI, said in a statement late the same day. SKI went on high alert, with a crisis group following the situation from Stockholm and inspectors who were already at Forsmark monitoring developments there. Security was also tightened at Ringhals and Oskarshamn but normal operations continued at all three plants. Police are investigating the incident. ------------ German REPower Systems' board agrees Areva's takeover offer London (Platts)--21Mar2007 The supervisory and management board of German renewables company REPower Systems have both approved the Eur1.14 billion ($1.68 billion) takeover offer from French nuclear power company Areva, the German company said Tuesday. Shareholders must vote on the takeover before April 20, but no shareholder meeting date has been set, an REPower spokesman said Wednesday. Areva offered Eur140 per share in what was its second offer for the renewables company. Indian-owned Suzlon Windenergie, joined by REpower's second largest shareholder Martifer (25.4 %), made an offer of Eur126 per share on February 9, trumping Areva's original offer of Eur105 per share for the renewables company. The European Commission has cleared Areva's original bid, saying its initial probe of the deal found no anti-competitive effects for the European energy markets. Areva said January it wanted REpower because of its leading position in high output turbine technology, which is particularly suitable for offshore wind turbines. Areva's transmission and distribution division is to design, supply, install and commission onshore and offshore substations at the Robin Rigg East and Robin Rigg West wind farms in the UK, the company said March 5. E.ON UK, which tendered for the project, is to pay Areva Eur21 million for the work. The project is due online early 2009. An onshore substation will have to be built at Seaton in the North of England, to connect the two wind farms to the 132 kV distribution network. In addition, two high-voltage offshore substations will be installed on monopiles in the Solway Firth -- the estuary that separates Scotland from England -- about 12 km from the English coast. Areva T&D built the UK's first offshore high-voltage substation, at the Barrow offshore windfarm project. ------------ Urenco's world enrichment services market share up in 2006 Washington (Platts)--20Mar2007 Urenco's share of the world's enrichment services market was about 23% in 2006, up from just under 20% in 2005, the company said March 20. In reporting its 2006 results, Urenco said that its order book stood at 15 billion euros (US$20 billion) at the end of 2006, an increase of more than 90% compared to the European enrichment consortium's order book at the end of 2005. Urenco indicated that growth occurred in Europe, Asia, and North America. By comparison, USEC Inc. reported recently that its sales backlog totaled $7 billion. Urenco said that in 2006 it delivered 9.5 million SWU, up from 7.4 million SWU in 2005. Urenco also noted that the first production from its LES enrichment plant in the US will occur in mid-2009 instead of the end of 2008. But LES customer deliveries will remain on schedule, Urenco said, because additional enrichment capacity will be installed at Urenco's European plants. Capacity at those plants was 9 million SWU at the end of 2006, an increase from the 2005 capacity of about 8 million SWU. ------------ Westinghouse Electric to move nuclear operations' headquarters Washington (Platts)--20Mar2007 Westinghouse Electric Co.'s expanding nuclear business will be based in Butler County, Pennsylvania, the company said Tuesday. Westinghouse's selection of Cranberry Woods in Butler County over its existing Monroeville site in Allegheny County means that the company's Monroeville operations will be moved. A Westinghouse statement said construction of the new facility would begin within three months, with occupancy expected by the first half of 2009. Employees at Westinghouse's existing facilities in Monroeville and Churchill, Pennsylvania, will be re-located to the new facility by the end of 2010. Both sites are in the Pittsburgh area, and their respective counties had been courting Westinghouse with support for tax-free zones. The facility is expected to employ close to 4,000 employees over the next five years, including the existing 1,800 jobs at the company's headquarters. Westinghouse said it picked Cranberry Woods for a number of reasons, including the flexibility of construction options to accommodate future growth. --Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com ------------ British Energy to market nuclear power from Magnox reactors London (Platts)--20Mar2007 UK generator British Energy Monday said it struck a deal with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to sell power from the NDA's ageing stations. NDA's Magnox nuclear power stations -- Wylfa and Oldbury -- are expected to generate about 7 TWh year until 2011, when the last Magnox plant is taken offline, the companies said. "The agreement provides the NDA with certainty and confidence in the continuity of trading services with a service provider that understands the complexity of managing and trading nuclear output," Mark Leggett, commercial director at the NDA, said in a statement. Neil O'Hara, trading director at British Energy said the deal would increase "the depth and diversity of the portfolio we manage." The two Magnox stations are the last of eight still online. Oldbury, which started generating electricity in 1967, is scheduled to cease operations at the end of 2008. And Wylfa, which went online in 1971, in 2010. The NDA and its subsidiary British Nuclear Group in December chose British Energy to take over the BNG subsidiary that manages trading for the UK's Magnox nuclear power stations. The sale of Energy Sales and Trading Ltd, a BNG subsidiary, to British Energy is subject to final negotiations and regulatory approvals, BNG said in a press release. A BNG spokesman in December told Platts the companies hope to complete the sale by the spring. No price for the deal was released. The NDA, owned by the government, is in the process of selling off BNG units as part of a privatization process. ------------ Nukes to be 'engaged' in GNEP by last quarter of FY-07: US DOE Washington (Platts)--19Mar2007 The Department of Energy's "goal" is to have the nuclear industry "engaged" in the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership during the last quarter of fiscal-year 2007, DOE's Paul Lisowski said Monday. In comments to reporters during a public meeting on the GNEP, Lisowski said he hoped "to have money actually going to industry" in FY-07, which ends September 30. DOE has not decided on what the contract vehicle will be for securing industry involvement, but the $168 million the department plans to spend on GNEP in FY-07 will allow DOE to pursue that aspect of the program "aggressively," Lisowski said. GNEP is a fuel-cycle initiative that aims to develop new types of reprocessing and fast reactors. The meeting, which was held in Washington, was to receive public comments on DOE's notice of intent on GNEP, a preliminary stage in the process required by the National Environmental Policy Act. --Daniel Horner, daniel_horner@platts.com ------------ Cameco postpones Cigar Lake startup date Washington (Platts)--19Mar2007 Cameco postponed the production startup target date for its Cigar Lake uranium mine to 2010, about three years later than the company planned before the mine flooded in October 2006. The startup is "subject to regulatory approval and timely remediation," Cameco said in a March 18 statement. Cameco said its share of capital costs, including mill modifications, to bring Cigar Lake into production is estimated to be (Cdn)$508 million, with $234 million spent on construction to date. Cameco's share of the cost of remediating flood damage to the mine is expected to total $46 million, $5 million of which was expensed in 2006. Cameco owns 50% of the Cigar Lake joint venture. ------------ Anti-nuclear rallies across France London (Platts)--19Mar2007 More than 40,000 people protested over the weekend against the French government's plan to build a new pilot nuclear power reactor, known as European Pressurized Reactor, EPR, organizers said. According to France's Sortir du Nucleaire, an anti nuclear coalition, the protests across the country on Saturday were among the biggest seen in France since the anti-nuke demonstrations of the 1970's. Police, however, put the total number of protestors under 20,000, reports said. The biggest protests took place in Rennes, followed by Lyon, Toulouse, Strasbourg and Lille. "It was an extraordinary protest," said Stephane Lhomme, spokesman for Sortir du nucleaire. "French people don't want a new nuclear reactor. All the opinion polls show that they don't think new ones should be built but prefer investment in energy saving and renewable energy," Lhomme said. Some 59% of French people said they wanted a reduction in nuclear power in France, according to a poll by Eurobarometer, cited by the group. The government plans to start building the Eur3.3 billion EPR reactor at Flamanville in Normandy in December this year. Campaigners are urging France's presidential candidates to pledge to halt EPR. According to Lhomme, two of the three leading candidates, Segolene Royal and Francois Bayrou, have now recognized that there should be a discussion and democratic debate over EPR. The two-round French presidential elections are scheduled take place in April and May. ------------