Platts - Friday, July 06, 2007 http://www.platts.com ------------ Four new reactor design applications meet UK government criteria London (Platts)--6Jul2007 All four new reactor design applications meet UK government eligibility criteria, the UK government said in a July 5 statement. The designs from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Areva, GE-Hitachi and Toshiba-Westinghouse are now eligible to start the first stage of a "detailed and lengthy" generic design assessment, or GDA, process, said the government's newly created Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. BERR was formerly called the Department of Trade and Industry. The initial GDA work will be done through the recently set up Joint Program Office, located at the Health and Safety Executive's headquarters. The assessments will be done by experts belonging to three nuclear regulatory authorities -- the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, the Office for Civil Nuclear Security, and the Environment Agency, the government said in its statement. It reaffirmed that the initial stage of the GDA work is being carried out "on a contingent basis." Any further work, possibly starting in 2008, is subject to the outcome of the 20-week public consultation on nuclear's future launched by the government May 23, it said. The four vendors applying for the design assessment work are all backed by utilities with experience in operating nuclear plants. ------------ All four new design applications meet UK eligibility criteria London (Platts)--5Jul2007 All four new reactor design applications meet UK government eligibility criteria, the UK government said in a July 5 statement. The designs from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Areva, GE-Hitachi and Toshiba-Westinghouse are now eligible to start the first stage of a "detailed and lengthy" generic design assessment, or GDA, process, said the government's newly created Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. BERR was formerly called the Department of Trade and Industry. The initial GDA work will be done through the recently set up Joint Program Office, located at the Health and Safety Executive's headquarters. The assessments will be done by experts belonging to three nuclear regulatory authorities -- the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate, the Office for Civil Nuclear Security, and the Environment Agency, the government said in its statement. It reaffirmed that the initial stage of the GDA work is being carried out "on a contingent basis." Any further work, possibly starting in 2008, is subject to the outcome of the 20-week public consultation on nuclear's future launched by the government May 23, it said. The four vendors applying for the design assessment work are all backed by utilities with experience in operating nuclear plants. ------------ UK PM Gordon Brown reaffirms call for new nuclear build London (Platts)--4Jul2007 The UK would be foolish to base its energy security on "two or three regions in the world" and it must pursue construction of "new nuclear power stations," UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday during prime minister's questions in the House of Commons. Brown has supported ex-PM Tony Blair's call for a new fleet of nuclear power stations to replace aging reactors in the UK, but this was his first statement on the issue as premier. He was answering a question from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell, who called on the government to reject Blair's pro-nuclear policy as part of Brown's agenda for change. Brown refused to do this, saying: "if we have learned anything from the last year or so, it is that it would be wrong to base our energy security around one or two regions in the world, that we must continue with nuclear power and that we must build new nuclear power stations." ------------ Tokyo Electric idles 1.10 GW Kashiwazaki nuclear unit Tokyo (Platts)--4Jul2007 Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Co. began the process of idling the 1.10 GW No. 2 reactor at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in northwestern Japan at 5 pm (0800 GMT) Wednesday after finding oil leakage in a turbine, a company official said. Tepco's latest idle of the unit comes after the company restarted it June 4 after completing a scheduled maintenance. It remains unclear when the utility will be able to restart the unit this time, the official said. With the idled Kashiwazaki unit, Tepco is operating 11 units with a combined capacity of 11.09 GW, which accounts for 64% of its total nuclear capacity of 17.31 GW at 17 units across Japan. News of nuclear power plant outages in Japan are closely watched by players in the oil and gas markets, as such news could lead to spikes in demand for power generation feedstocks such as fuel oil, crude and LNG. ------------ US, Russia unite to boost nuclear energy, prevent proliferation Washington (Platts)--3Jul2007 President Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday issued a joint declaration saying they would "initiate a new format of enhanced cooperation" to bring the benefits of civilian nuclear energy to nations that are interested, while preventing nuclear weapons proliferation. "We share a common vision of growth in the use of nuclear energy--including in developing countries--to increase the supply of electricity, promote economic growth and development and reduce reliance on fossil fuels, resulting in decreased pollution and greenhouse gases," the declaration says. The two leaders advocated reaching these goals through encouraging the deployment of nuclear power reactors that produce energy without creating a separate plutonium stream that can be used for nuclear weapons production. The two nations also would participate in programs leading to international nuclear-reactor standards, support financial aid for power plant construction and infrastructure and help develop solutions spent-fuel disposal, among other things. The US and Russia further agreed to enter into joint and bilateral talks with nations interested in expanding their nuclear energy options, to allow them to do so without "the acquisition of sensitive fuel-cycle technologies." --Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com ------------ NRC to conduct special inspection at North Anna-2 Washington (Platts)--3Jul2007 NRC will conduct a special inspection at North Anna-2 this week to "inspect and assess circumstances associated with a June 29 unplanned actuation" of the unit's safety injection system, which caused an unplanned shutdown of the reactor, NRC said in a July 3 statement. NRC said the event appeared to be of low safety significance. However, it said the special inspection team will assess operator Dominion's response and investigation, identify any generic issues, and review the extent to which the event might affect other systems at the two-unit site. Dominion spokesman Richard Zuercher said July 3 that the inspection was expected and the company is conducting a similar investigation. North Anna-2 remains shut down, and Dominion does not routinely disclose when units are expected to return to service. ------------ Perry shut down to replace recirculation pump motor Washington (Platts)--2Jul2007 Perry was out of service July 2 after shutting down June 29 to replace a reactor recirculation pump motor, operator FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. said. The 1,311-MW BWR began reducing power, to 55%, on June 27, after the failure of the motor, on one of the reactor's two recirculation loops, Fenoc spokeswoman Jennifer Young said. The reactor can operate at reduced power with only one of the recirculation pump motors functioning, but Fenoc decided to shut down the plant and replace the failed motor, she said. Perry was out of service from June 22 to June 25 for repairs to a reactor recirculation valve, but the two problems are not related, Young said. The plant had ramped up to 95% power when it began downpowering June 27, she said. ------------ Two Vattenfall reactors experienced scramming transients June 29 London (Platts)--2Jul2007 Two Vattenfall reactors experienced scramming transients June 29 at a critical political moment in the utility's battle to persuade the federal government to permit life extension of one of the affected units. The Kruemmel BWR had a turbine-side fire and a short circuit, and the Brunsbuettel BWR scrammed after a short circuit, Vattenfall said. Vattenfall is now investigating the cause of the two incidents. In response, Gitta Trauerknecht, the Social Democratic Party politician responsible for routine oversight of Brunsbuettel in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, said shortly after the announcement of the incidents that they underscored the risks in allowing aging reactors to keep operating longer than scheduled under Germany's phase-out. Last week Trauerknecht encouraged the federal government not to allow Brunsbuettel to continue operating after its lifetime expires in 2009. Vattenfall has petitioned the federal government to allow its lifetime to be extended. ------------ China's Guangdong term LNG imports total 1.7 mil mt in first year Singapore (Platts)--3Jul2007 China's maiden Guangdong LNG import terminal imported a total of 29 term cargoes from Australia, amounting to over 1.71 million mt, in its first year of operation, state-run China National Offshore Oil Corp said in a statement marking the terminal's first anniversary on June 28. During the 12-month period, the 3.7 million mt/year Guangdong terminal supplied 1.68 million mt of regasified LNG to consumers in the Guangdong province and in Hong Kong, terminal operator CNOOC said. Of the total, 54%, or 914,357 mt, was consumed by the Huizhou, Qianwan, Zhujiang, Meishi and Dongbu power plants. City gas users in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Guangzhou and Foshan accounted for 20%, or 328,704 mt. The remaining 26%, or 437,142 mt, was supplied to Hong Kong, according to CNOOC. In addition to the term LNG imports from Australia's North West Shelf venture, the Guangdong terminal also bought two spot cargoes totaling 110,000 mt in the 12 months, CNOOC added. The spot imports were needed to meet incremental demand from existing city gas customers as well as from power utilities which had not signed up with the Guangdong terminal earlier for gas supplies, CNOOC said. Industry sources told Platts last month that a third spot cargo would be arriving at the Guangdong terminal at the end of this month. More spot purchases are expected, a source with the Guangdong terminal said last week. "We have been signing master LNG sale agreements [with potential suppliers] in anticipation of making more spot purchases," he said. CNOOC announced last October that it had signed master agreements with Total, Shell and Belgium-based Suez Global LNG. Another active spot LNG supplier, the UK's BG, is also expected to seal a master deal with CNOOC soon, an industry source said late last week. The master agreements lay down the basic terms and conditions for spot deals so that the transactions can be performed quicker. A supplementary contract would be signed later for each spot cargo that actually changes hand, stating other terms such as the price, volume, delivery time and cargo specifications. --KimFeng Wong, kim_f_wong@platts.com ------------ Wesdyne, Nuclear Fuel Services win downblending contract Washington (Platts)--29Jun2007 DOE has awarded a contract to Wesdyne and Nuclear Fuel Services to downblend 17.4 metric tons of high-enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium, the department announced June 29. Most of the resulting LEU will become part of the US "reliable fuel supply," a stockpile that will be made available to countries with clean nonproliferation records if their fuel supply is disrupted, DOE said. The US and other countries are pursuing such supply mechanisms as a way to provide incentives to countries to refrain from building their own uranium enrichment plants. According to DOE's press statement, Wesdyne International, a subsidiary of Westinghouse, "will sell a small fraction of the resulting low-enriched uranium on the market over a three- to four-year period" to cover the project's cost. Nuclear Fuel Services is to blend down the HEU at its Erwin, Tennessee site. ------------