Platts - Friday, June 29, 2007 http://www.platts.com ------------ Romania's Cernavoda-2 receives permission to increase power London (Platts)--29Jun2007 Romania's Cernavoda-2 received regulatory permission June 27 to increase power, and the reactor's operators planned to raise it to 5%, said Teodor Chirica, CEO of state nuclear power corporation Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica, or SNN. Chirica announced the development at the "Nuclear New Build" conference in London, organized by City and Financial Conferences. Cernavoda-2, a Candu-6, achieved criticality in May and is expected to start commercial operation in September. It was built by the management team of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Ansaldo, and SNN. Chirica said Romania is looking to finalize a private investment agreement to complete two more Candu-6 units -- Cernavoda-3 and -4 -- targeted for commercial operation in 2014. ------------ Southern Nuclear to apply for license renewal for Vogtle units Washington (Platts)--28Jun2007 Southern Nuclear Operating Co. is seeking license renewal for Vogtle-1 and -2. Southern Nuclear spokesman Jeremy Pate said June 28 that company officials plan to deliver an application to NRC staff June 29 at the agency's headquarters in Rockville, Maryland. If NRC approves Southern Nuclear's request, the units' operating licenses would be extended for 20 years -- to 2047 for unit 1 and 2049 for unit 2. NRC's decision on the request is expected in 2009, Southern Nuclear said in a June 28 statement. Southern Nuclear has already received license renewal approval for its other four reactors -- in 2002 for Hatch-1 and -2 in and in 2005 for Farley-1 and -2. To date, NRC has issued operating license renewals for 48 units. ------------ US NRC to increase oversight of OPPD's Fort Calhoun nuclear unit Washington (Platts)--28Jun2007 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Thursday said it will step up its oversight of Omaha Public Power District's Fort Calhoun nuclear plant in Nebraska after agency inspectors determined that plant workers had improperly installed a valve that "degraded the condition of a safety system" for well over a year. "The NRC remains confident in the ability of the Omaha Public Power District to operate Fort Calhoun safely," NRC Region IV Administrator Bruce Mallett said in a statement, "but there are performance problems that need to be addressed by the licensee." The NRC categorized the Fort Calhoun finding as being of low to moderate safety significance. The agency said that based its inspection determined that a valve in the reactor's containment spray system was improperly installed on May 11, 2005. The system sprays water in the building containing the reactor to reduce pressure under some accident conditions. The valve remained improperly positioned for 454 days until the problem was discovered during a refueling outage in October 2006. The NRC said it satisfied that the licensee completed a thorough review and analysis of the event and has taken appropriate corrective actions. ------------ Norway, UK set up project to decommission British nuclear weapons London (Platts)--28Jun2007 A joint project for developing parameters for decommissioning of British nuclear weapons has been established by the Norwegian and British foreign ministries, the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority, or NRPA, said in a statement June 27. NRPA will head the project on the Norwegian side. The project is intended to set technical standards for verifying decommissioning that will not make public information on the UK's nuclear weapons technology. The project is also intended to ensure that nuclear material in the weapons cannot be used again. ------------ Ceradyne to buy EaglePicher for $69 million Washington (Platts)--27Jun2007 Ceradyne Inc. will acquire EaglePicher Boron LLC for about $69 million in cash, the companies said in separate statements June 27. EaglePicher Boron produces boron, a strong neutron absorber used in nuclear reactors and semiconductor manufacture, and related isotopes; Ceradyne develops and manufactures advanced ceramic products and components. Closing is anticipated within 60 days, "pending necessary regulatory approvals," the companies said. ------------ Nuke plant operator protests RG&E transmission work policies Washington (Platts)--27Jun2007 Rochester Gas and Electric is wrongly making the Ginna nuclear plant reduce its output when the utility has to work on one of the five 115-kV lines connected to the unit, Ginna owner Constellation Group complained to US energy regulators this week. The plant has been required to power down twice since March for line outages and will have to do so "on an ongoing basis to accommodate RGE's planned maintenance activities," Constellation told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. It wants FERC to order RGE to stop requiring the output reduction, modify its transmission system so it can meet its obligations to Ginna, and, among other things, have RGE pay Ginna for lost revenue. "RGE effectively is degrading Ginna's 590 MW of [network service] and its actions, if left to stand, would destroy the nature of [network service] and undermine the economics of the facility," Constellation said. The outages threaten the plant's ability to deliver reliable power to the grid, it said, and they undermine Ginna's "ability to participate fully in the capacity and energy markets of its choosing." According to the complaint, RGE said in March that because of its need to maintain reliability as load growth caused system changes, it would have to change operating procedures with respect to the Ontario, New York, plant. Constellation said the procedures are inconsistent with its interconnection agreement. The operator told FERC it would comply with RGE's directives "to the extent needed to maintain system reliability." But Constellation said "RGE cannot maintain system reliability at the expense of its contractual obligations" under the interconnection agreement. The generator said it had expected that RGE would upgrade its system to meet its needs, but in response to a May 4 letter to the utility, "RGE responded...that it had the unilateral right to deviate from the terms of the [agreement] whenever system conditions changed." The first outage occurred May 14, when RGE brought Ginna down to 65% capacity for some "offsite power work," Constellation spokesman Dave Joslin said at the time. "We don't have a place to put the electricity," he said. Then almost a month later in June, the plant came down to 64% capacity at RGE's request. At that time Joslin would not comment on the type of work the utility company was doing. ------------ Spot uranium price unchanged; delivery disagreements block deals Washington (Platts)--26Jun2007 The spot price of uranium remained stable over the past week, with both TradeTech and Ux Consulting keeping their prices the same as the previous week. TradeTech kept its price at $138/pound U3O8, and Ux Consulting kept its price at $136/lb U3O8. TradeTech said that two companies that had been auctioning off uranium in June decided not to sell. It said both sellers wanted to make delivery in June, while prospective buyers wanted to take delivery several months out. Ux Consulting said in its weekly report the spot market reflects a fairly even balance between supply and demand. Some market analysts see the possibility that during a quiet summer, the price could fall slightly if a seller needs to complete a quick transaction. The Platts NuclearFuel range this week is $130-$145/lb U3O8. --Mike Knapik, newsdesk@platts.com ------------ Ukraine, South Korea agree to cooperate on nuclear enterprises Kiev (Platts)--26Jun2007 Ukraine and South Korea signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the areas of nuclear power engineering and uranium deposit development, according to the press service of the Ukrainian fuel and energy ministry. The MOU foresees exchange of information and technologies, promotion of partnerships between organizations and enterprises of both countries, and support of mutual investments. A joint working group is to be set up to implement the agreement. The document was signed in Kiev by deputy fuel and energy minister Vladimir Makukha and Li Je Kun, deputy minister of trade, industry and energy of the Republic of Korea. ------------ Swiss parliament approves independent nuke regulatory authority London (Platts)--26Jun2007 Switzerland's parliament approved creation of an independent nuclear regulatory authority. On June 22, both chambers approved the draft law separating the Federal Nuclear Safety Authority, or HSK, from the Federal Energy Office. Only two votes were cast against the measure, with three abstentions. HSK will become partly independent in 2008 and fully independent in 2009, in keeping with a requirement under the new nuclear energy act. The agency's name will eventually be changed to Eidgenoessisches Nuklear-Sicherheitsinspektorat, or Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate. HSK director Ulrich Schmocker said June 25 that the technical duties of the agency will not change, nor will its size. A board with five to seven members, appointed by the Federal Executive Council from outside the nuclear industry, will assist in preparations for the conversion. Schmocker expressed satisfaction at the prospect of formal, institutional and financial independence. The legislative work toward HSK's independence started in 2003. The agency was created under its present designation under the energy office in 1982. ------------ NRC aims to shorten review time for new plant applications Washington (Platts)--25Jun2007 NRC says it may be able to cut six to 15 months from the estimated 42-month review of an application for a combined construction permit-operating. Several measures just adopted by the NRC commissioners are aimed at accelerating the review of new plant license applications, which has been expected to take 30 months for the technical and environmental portions and an additional 12 months for completing a hearing. These measures include having the commissioners preside over hearings where there are no contested issues, allowing the use of environmental impact statements completed by other government agencies, and seeking legislative authority from Congress to eliminate the statutory requirement for an uncontested hearing. The commissioners also agreed to double the time from 30 to 60 days for conducting an "acceptance review," which is the staff's determination that the application is complete enough to begin the technical review. That measure is expected to ultimately reduce the review schedule by two for months for several reasons, including because it would cut down on NRC staff requests for additional information. The recommendations adopted by the commissioners were compiled by a nine-member NRC task force led by Commissioner Jeffrey Merrifield. ------------ Panel: Belgium should reconsider phase-out law Brussels (Platts)--22Jun2007 Belgium should reconsider its 2003 nuclear phase-out law, a government-appointed expert panel concluded in their final report released in Brussels June 22. The "CE 2030" report, commissioned by Belgian Minister of Energy Marc Verwilghen, examined Belgian energy options through 2030. The panel said closing down the seven nuclear units beginning in 2014 would make meeting the country's CO2 reduction targets prohibitively expensive. Instead the panel proposed extending the lives of the units and taxing their output to fund investments in renewables and cleaner energy options such as coal plants with carbon capture and storage. Verwilghen said that the report would be turned over to officials forming a new coalition federal government after the June 10 elections swept the current government from power. The new coalition government has not been named yet. ------------