Platts - Friday, May 11, 2007 http://www.platts.com ------------ Russia, Kazakhstan agree international uranium enrichment center London (Platts)--11May2007 Russia and Kazakhstan agreed to an international uranium enrichment center in the east Siberian city of Angarsk, a move regarded as a step toward an international fuel "bank" that would guarantee partner nations a fuel supply without their having to master proliferation-prone enrichment technology. The agreement was signed by Sergei Kirienko, head of Russia's atomic energy agency Rosatom, and Kazakh energy and mineral resources minister Baktykozha Ezmukhambetov, Rosatom said in a statement. The statement said a third partner country will be required before work can start, and Kirienko is cited as saying possible partners could include Armenia or Ukraine. The IAEA Board of Governors is expected to discuss security of nuclear fuel supply at its June meeting. ------------ Tianwan-1 begin its 100-hour commissioning test London (Platts)--11May2007 Tianwan-1 began its 100-hour commissioning test at 1,050 MW nominal power on May 8, Atomstroyexport announced May 10. Under ASE's turnkey contract, the 100-hour full-power test operation is the last stage in the commissioning process for the VVER-1000 in China's Jiangsu province. ASE said the unit had produced 2.2 million megawatt-hours since first synchronization to the grid. At test completion, the unit is to be handed over to operator Jiangsu Nuclear Power Corp., which is owned 50% by China National Nuclear Corp., 30% by China Power Investment Corp., and 20% by Jiangsu Guoxin Group. ASE also said China's National Nuclear Safety Administration had authorized first synchronization of twin unit Tianwan-2 following first criticality of the unit May 7, and said that reactor was raised to 8% power on May 8. Connection to the grid is planned for June, it said. ------------ Building nuclear plants 'critical' in the future: Duke chief Washington (Platts)--10May2007 Duke Energy Chairman, President and CEO James Rogers said to his company's shareholders Thursday that it is "critical" to build nuclear plants in the future. In Duke's annual shareholders meeting, Rogers discussed nuclear power in the context of providing solutions to climate-change issues. Nuclear plants "have zero greenhouse gas emissions," he said. "We can meet our demand, we can support our economy and we can do it with zero greenhouse gas emissions, but we have to move forward with nuclear. I believe that is a mandate to go forward." Duke is considering building two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at a site in Cherokee County, South Carolina, and plans to file with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission a combined construction permit-operating license application by the fourth quarter. Rogers said Duke's nuclear oversight committee was at the Cherokee site Wednesday to discuss the construction project. --Tom Harrison, tom_harrison@platts.com ------------ Energy Dept. may back up to 90% of clean energy project debt Washington (Platts)--10May2007 The US Dept. of Energy proposed May 10 guaranteeing up to 90% of the debt for clean energy projects, as long as the amount guaranteed does not exceed 80% of total project cost. The department previously proposed covering 80% of just the debt portion of such projects. Key lawmakers, investment bankers and the nuclear industry have been urging the department to instead adopt the language of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which authorizes the energy secretary to guarantee up to 80% of total project cost. They said that federal credit backing is crucial to financing new nuclear plants but that DOE's August 2006 draft proposal equated to 64% financing guarantees and would not be attractive to investors. The department also said it may limit the number of commercial projects it backs to no more than five of the same "innovative" type, and may limit the time the loan guarantees are effective. ------------ EP voting to reform nuclear treaty London (Platts)--10May2007 Hoping to revive proposals for greater EU regulation of nuclear safety matters, including power plant operation, the European Parliament today (May 10, 2007) will vote on a resolution aimed at reforming the 50-year-old European Atomic Energy Community Treaty (Euratom). Under Euratom, the elected parliament has no official say over nuclear matters, although in practice it is sometimes consulted by the European Commission and the Council. In its "own initiative" resolution, the parliament is calling, again, for it to be given "co-decision" powers over nuclear matters and for reviving legislative proposals to harmonize nuclear safety standards across the EU, which have been languishing in the EU Council since the commission's 2002 so-called nuclear package. The nuclear package includes proposals for greater regulation of nuclear waste and the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, in addition to minimum safety standards for nuclear power plants. During a debate in the parliament last night (May 9), Energy Commissioner Andris Pielbags welcomed the Maldeikis report, named for the Lithuanian MEP Eugenijus Maldeikis, who crafted the resolution. Referring to the proposed directives in the Commission's 2002 nuclear package, Pielbags said, "I believe it's time to move them forward." But like the parliament's call for co-decision authority, the nuclear package is in the hands of the council, which may be moving more slowly then either the commission or the parliament might like. The council is certainly moving more slowly than the parliament's Green Party members would like. "I'm horrified by the statement that this is a balanced debate," German MEP Rebecca Harms said last night, speaking for the Greens in parliament. The Maldeikis report doesn't go far enough, she said. The parliament has already called for reform of Euratom, she said, and the Maldeikis report is far too timid. Harms said Euratom needs a complete overhaul. Today's vote in Parliament, expected to approve the resolution, follows a recent Council "conclusions" document calling for the creation of an EU high level group of nuclear experts from member states -- a talking shop to its critics -- to take up some of the proposals for new regulation in collaboration with the commission and to forge greater EU cooperation on nuclear matters. However, the council conclusion notably falls short of calling for co-decision for the parliament. david_stellfox@platts.com ------------ US DOE to award $60 million for nuclear recycling projects Washington (Platts)--9May2007 The US Department of Energy plans to award up to $60 million over two years toward the cost of conceptual designs for a nuclear fuel recycling center and an advanced recycling reactor that would be key components of the Bush administration's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell said Wednesday. Addressing the US Energy Association's annual meeting in Washington, Sell said DOE expects to make three to six awards later this year, assuming Congress provides the department with sufficient funding for GNEP in fiscal 2008. The department is counting on taking $15 million from its fiscal 2007 budget to make the awards and $45 million from the budget it has proposed for the fiscal year starting on October 1. The deadline for proposals from industry is June 22. "This will be critical to sharpen the decisions the department will need to make regarding what the technology challenges will be," he said of the proposed projects. GNEP, which President Bush announced in 2006, calls for global expansion of civilian nuclear energy through recycling spent fuel. The initiative has drawn some questions in Congress because of the billions of dollars that likely would be spent on it in coming years. Sell told USEA that recycling spent fuel, and thereby reducing the amounts requiring geological storage, is critical to building a number of new nuclear plants in the country. "I'm fairly confident we can get the next six [nuclear] plants built in the United States, but we need 60," he said. "To get that build-out, we need to deal with waste." ------------ Areva, Sogin sign contract to reprocess Italian spent fuel Paris (Platts)--9May2007 Areva and Sogin signed a contract to reprocess Italian spent fuel. The contract, worth over 250 million euros according to a statement by the two companies, is backed by an intergovernmental agreement signed in Lucca, Italy on November 24, 2006 which sets the timetable for spent fuel and waste shipments between the two countries. Under the contract, Areva will ship a total of 235 metric tons heavy metal of spent fuel from Sogin's shuttered LWRs at Caorso, Trino and Garigliano to its La Hague reprocessing complex, beginning this year. After reprocessing and interim storage of the waste products, the final vitrified waste will be returned to Italy and placed in a yet-to-be-built interim storage facility by December 31, 2025. Sogin chief executive Massimo Romano said moving the spent fuel will allow Sogin to dismantle the old reactors, giving it a boost in the international decommissioning and cleanup market. Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon said the contract "confirms Areva's technological lead" in reprocessing. Greenpeace Italy appealed to the government to interim-store the spent fuel in Italy rather than reprocess it. ------------ US uranium production was up 25% in first-quarter 2007 Washington (Platts)--8May2007 US domestic uranium production was 25% higher in first-quarter 2007 than in first-quarter 2006, totaling 1,162,737 pounds of uranium oxide, DOE's Energy Information Administration said May 8. Production in the first quarter this year was 3% lower than in fourth-quarter 2006. Production for 2006 was 4.1 million pounds, 53% higher than in 2005 and the highest annual production level since 1999, EIA said. EIA's report is available online (www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/dupr/qupd.html). ------------ Ux, TradeTech report uranium spot price rises to $120/pound Washington (Platts)--8May2007 The spot price of uranium has jumped to $120 a pound U3O8, up $7, according to price reporting companies Ux Consulting and TradeTech. The increase, according to both companies, was the result of buyers trying to entice sellers into offering material by submitting bids with prices above the then-prevailing spot price of $113/pounds of U3O8. But sellers appeared unresponsive, TradeTech said it its weekly report, adding that Texas-based Mestena Uranium is expected to offer uranium for sale in an auction later this month and that possibility has encouraged a "wait and see" approach on the part of several potential sellers. Ux Consulting said the first trading day for the new NYMEX uranium futures contract saw limited activity with 26 contracts, representing 6,500 pounds of U3O8, being traded. NYMEX Tuesday said the June 2007 uranium contract settled Monday at $135/pound, while the January 2008 contract settled at $150.50/pound. --Mike Knapik, newsdesk@platts.com ------------ Cernavoda-2 reached criticality May 6 Paris (Platts)--7May2007 Cernavoda-2 went critical just before midnight May 6, Romania's Nuclearelectrica announced May 7. The 655-megawatt PHWR is scheduled to start commercial operation in September 2007. Nuclearelectrica said that once unit 2 is in operation, the two Cernavoda Candus will provide almost 18% of the country's electricity. Cernavoda-1 marked 10 years of commercial operation in December. Preparations are under way for completion of Cernavoda-3 and -4, also Candu-6 units that were part of the site's originally planned five Candu units, with an international ownership consortium that is still being finalized. ------------ Anti-nuclear parties dominant in Scotland after UK elections London (Platts)--7May2007 The Scottish National Party, which has pledged to build no new nuclear power plants in Scotland, has become the largest party in the Scottish devolved parliament after UK elections Thursday. The SNP took 47 seats in the Scottish parliament compared with 46 for the governing Labour party, but this falls well short of the 65 seats needed for a majority. The SNP is now likely to form a minority coalition with the Greens, who also have a strong anti-nuclear stance, but have just two seats. The SNP had been in talks with the Liberal Democrats, who until Thursday had been coalition partners with Labour in Scotland, but the Liberal Democrats said Monday that they did not plan to enter into coalition with the SNP as they did not support SNP demands for a referendum on full independence for Scotland. The Lib Dems have 16 seats and like the SNP and Greens, oppose any new nuclear power both in Scotland and across the UK. The Lib Dems had earlier ruled out any coalition with Labour. The Labour party, which came in just one seat behind the SNP, could seek to form a coalition with the Conservatives, who took 17 seats, and the Greens, but that would require compromises in a number of areas, not least nuclear power where Labour and the Conservatives have not ruled out new build. The result of the election in Scotland could be challenged, however, after former Labour minister Alan Wilson said Sunday he was discussing possible legal action over the result in the Cunninghame North constituency where he lost out to the SNP by just 48 votes, while over 1,000 ballot papers were deemed spoiled. ---Paul Whitehead, paul_whitehead@platts.com ------------ Ginna to get increased NRC oversight Washington (Platts)--4May2007 Ginna will receive additional NRC oversight due to a "yellow" performance indicator for emergency response organization drill participation, NRC said May 4. A group of newly-qualified control room communicators failed to take part in an emergency response drill in the first quarter of this year, NRC said. That brought the drill participation rate below 60%, thereby changing the performance indicator from "green" to "yellow," NRC said. The yellow indicator, which designates "substantial safety significance" in the color-coded scale of the agency's reactor oversight process, moves Constellation Energy?s Ginna into the "degraded cornerstone" column. The designation requires a supplemental inspection to prove that the problem has been addressed. NRC said that "there is no immediate concern with regard to the plant's ability to properly respond to an emergency at the facility." ------------