Platts - Monday, August 20, 2007 http://www.platts.com ------------ Low-level radioactive scrap metal leak at Studsvik smelter London (Platts)--20Aug2007 One ton of low-level radioactive scrap metal leaked from a smelter August 16 at the Studsvik nuclear services company, and a small fire started, a company spokesman confirmed August 17. The accident occurred when 3.5 tons of scrap in the smelter became overheated and caused the smelter to crack. The spokesman said there was no radioactive release to the surrounding area and none of the six employees working at the smelter were injured. Swedish nuclear regulatory authorities have not said whether they will investigate the accident. Studsvik management estimates it will take two weeks to repair the smelter. ------------ Fluor to work on planned South Texas Project reactors Washington (Platts)--17Aug2007 Fluor Corp. will support work on two reactors planned for the South Texas Project, under a contract Toshiba International Corp., the US business unit of Toshiba Corp., awarded August 16. No information was available at press time on the value of the contract; however, under that agreement, Fluor will provide engineering, procurement, and construction-related services for two advanced BWRs. New Jersey-based NRG Energy is the dominant owner of the South Texas Project with a 44% share. On August 9, NRG hired Toshiba to provide project services for the new nuclear units. Fluor noted in an August 16 press statement that NRG has said it plans to use a three-step decision-making and contracting process for the project. "Fluor will support Toshiba in the first development phase of the project by providing project planning, estimating, engineering, procurement and construction-related services," Fluor stated. "The second phase -- design, procurement and construction planning -- is expected to begin in late 2007 and will conclude when the NRC issues the combined construction and operating license (COL), currently expected in late 2010." It added that the third phase, or construction phase, would begin immediately after a COL is issued. ------------ BE reviews sites with eye to future nuclear construction London (Platts)--16Aug2007 British Energy is reviewing all of its sites as possible locations for new nuclear construction, if the UK government decides that nuclear should be part of the country's future energy mix, said BE CEO Bill Coley August 16 in a conference call with analysts and investors to discuss the company's results for the quarter ending July 1. The government's public consultation on nuclear's future ends October 10, he noted, but in the interim BE is continuing the discussions begun earlier this year with potential partners about possible new nuclear construction. BE hopes to "be able to define some of those partnership arrangements by the end of the financial year" on March 1, 2008, he said. As for BE's review of its sites, he said, "we're trying to further characterize them and essentially determine the priority in which you would want to develop those sites for new nuclear." The site study should also yield some conclusions around the fiscal year's end, he said. ------------ NRC issues order to FirstEnergy on handling of Davis-Besse report Washington (Platts)--15Aug2007 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday issued an order to FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., requiring the company to fix problems in its handling of a consultant's report on the company's Davis-Besse reactor. NRC said it issued the so-called confirmatory order to "ensure the prompt sharing of information of potential regulatory interest to the agency." The order is based on commitments Fenoc made after correspondence and a meeting with agency officials over Fenoc's handling of a report that analyzed the corrosion of the Davis-Besse reactor vessel head. Some of the report's key conclusions about the corrosion at the Ohio reactor appeared to contradict an earlier analysis by Fenoc. NRC took Fenoc to task in part for failing to forward the report to the agency promptly. Fenoc received the report in December, but did not send it to NRC until February. Officials from Fenoc and parent FirstEnergy Corp. said that part of the problem was that the report was part of an arbitration proceeding over a pending insurance claim. Communications with the NRC therefore were not handled as they normally would have been, the company officials said. According to NRC, the order requires Fenoc to train selected employees by November 30 "to recognize and communicate information that could have a regulatory impact"; hire an outside consultant to review Fenoc's "sensitivity to potentially important information"; and develop a formal review procedure for "technical reports created for non-regulatory uses." ------------ NRC issues order to FirstEnergy on handling of Davis-Besse report Washington (Platts)--15Aug2007 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Wednesday issued an order to FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., requiring the company to fix problems in its handling of a consultant's report on the company's Davis-Besse reactor. NRC said it issued the so-called confirmatory order to "ensure the prompt sharing of information of potential regulatory interest to the agency." The order is based on commitments Fenoc made after correspondence and a meeting with agency officials over Fenoc's handling of a report that analyzed the corrosion of the Davis-Besse reactor vessel head. Some of the report's key conclusions about the corrosion at the Ohio reactor appeared to contradict an earlier analysis by Fenoc. NRC took Fenoc to task in part for failing to forward the report to the agency promptly. Fenoc received the report in December, but did not send it to NRC until February. Officials from Fenoc and parent FirstEnergy Corp. said that part of the problem was that the report was part of an arbitration proceeding over a pending insurance claim. Communications with the NRC therefore were not handled as they normally would have been, the company officials said. According to NRC, the order requires Fenoc to train selected employees by November 30 "to recognize and communicate information that could have a regulatory impact"; hire an outside consultant to review Fenoc's "sensitivity to potentially important information"; and develop a formal review procedure for "technical reports created for non-regulatory uses." ------------ FP&L plans to build two new reactors at Turkey Point Washington (Platts)--15Aug2007 Florida Power & Light plans to build two new reactors at Turkey Point and boost generating capacity at its four existing nuclear units by 414 MW by 2012, the company told the Florida Public Service Commission August 15. The first of the new units at Turkey Point would begin commercial operation in 2018 and the second would come online in 2020, said Mayco Villafana, a spokesman for FP&L. In a statement, FP&L said its plans for new reactors are at an early stage of development. Before it makes a final decision on building, the company said, it will consult local residents and governments, and its proposal will require review and approval from state and federal agencies, including the PSC and the NRC. The planned uprates will add just over 100 MW to each of the four existing nuclear units and will be completed in 2011 and 2012, he added. FP&L?s existing reactors are PWRs; St. Lucie-1 is rated at 872 MW, and unit 2 at 882 MW; Turkey Point-3 and -4 are each rated at 760 MW. The plans for the two new reactors and for uprating St. Lucie-1 and -2 and Turkey Point-3 and -4 will be filed with the PSC by late September, Villafana said. ------------ S&P launches global nuclear energy index Washington (Platts)--14Aug2007 Standard & Poor's launched a global nuclear energy index, based on performance of 20 of the largest publicly traded companies in the global nuclear energy business. S&P is one of The McGraw-Hill Companies, as is Platts. In an August 13 statement, S&P said the index is equally distributed between companies in nuclear energy production and those in nuclear energy materials equipment and services. The energy production companies are Electricite de France, E.On AG, Exelon Corp., Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc., Fortum Oyj, Korea Electric Power Corp., FPL Group Inc., Entergy Corp., Kansai Electric Power Co. Inc., and El Paso Electric Co. The materials companies are Areva SA, Cameco Corp., McDermott International Inc., Energy Resources of Australia Ltd., Paladin Resources Ltd., SXR Uranium One Inc., USEC Inc., Aurora Energy Resources Inc., Denison Mines Corp., and Uranium Participation Corp. In a "factsheet," S&P said the index is designed to provide liquid exposure to the leading publicly listed companies in the global energy business from both developed markets and emerging markets. For more information, see the S&P web site (www2.standardandpoors.com/portal/site/sp/en/us/page.topic/indices_nuclenergy /2,3,2,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0.html). ------------ Law firm finds evidence of financial irregularities at Siemens AG London (Platts)--14Aug2007 A US law firm probing financial irregularities at Siemens AG has found evidence of undeclared accounts and undeclared transactions associated with Siemens' power plant and power engineering business, according to German press accounts the weekend of August 11-12. The amounts under investigation may be as high as 300 million euros (US$405 million), the reports said. Earlier this year, Siemens confirmed allegations made by insiders that managers responsible for Siemens' information technologies business had set up accounts that were not declared to auditors or tax authorities. Siemens then made major top-level personnel changes, vowed to shareholders it would improve corporate governance, and hired the US legal firm Debevoise & Plimpton to investigate the extent of the irregularities. The probe is still ongoing. According to media reports August 13, the law firm found that the total amount of internal funds involved in unexplained transactions and accounts may be as much as Eur 1 billion ($1.35 billion). The reports said that as much as a third of the amounts in question concerned power engineering business managed from Erlangen, headquarters of the company's power plant vendor activities. ------------ Toshiba to transfer 10% share in Westinghouse to Kazatomprom London (Platts)--14Aug2007 Toshiba will transfer a 10% ownership share in Westinghouse to Kazatomprom under an agreement the companies signed, Toshiba said August 13. The ownership transfer, which Toshiba said cost the Kazakh uranium supplier US$540 million, allows Westinghouse to offer fuel cycle services to its customers, making it more competitive. Toshiba said that it and Kazatomprom plan to transfer these shares in about a month, once the necessary regulatory reviews in relevant countries have been completed. It added that the agreement requires that any technological cooperation be in line with US, Japanese, and other countries' export control laws and international regulation of the nuclear power industry. As a result of the transfer, Toshiba's ownership in Westinghouse will be pared back to a 67% share, down from 77%, the company said. The Shaw Group Inc., a major US engineering firm, will continue to own 20% and Japan's IHI Corp., formerly Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., 3%. ------------ US senators urge White House to support 100% loan guarantees Washington (Platts)--13Aug2007 A group of 18 US senators has urged the White House to support robust loan gurantees for innovative new energy technologies, a document shows. Senator Pete Domenici, Republican-New Mexico, led the group's push for Department of Energy loan guarantees for up to 100% of the loan amounts needed to deploy those technologies. Under proposed regulations DOE is crafting for the program, loan guarantees would be limited to 90% of the face value of the loan, a limitation not required by the federal law that created the program. In a letter sent to President Bush Friday, the bipartisan group of senators said that numerous investment bankers and other financial experts have said that DOE's planned 90% limit "renders the program a nullity." They also said that DOE's proposed $9 billion cap for the program in fiscal 2008 was too small to provide any meaningful assistance to a broad array of energy projects. Nuclear industry officials have said they would need nearly three times that amount for new reactors in FY-08. The senators made their plea a week after Domenici received a letter from Stephen McMillin, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, in which McMillin said OMB is prepared to support a final regulation for the program that would give DOE the discretion to guarantee loans for up to 100% of the loan value. --Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com ------------ US senators urge White House to support 100% loan guarantees Washington (Platts)--13Aug2007 A group of 18 US senators has urged the White House to support robust loan gurantees for innovative new energy technologies, a document shows. Senator Pete Domenici, Republican-New Mexico, led the group's push for Department of Energy loan guarantees for up to 100% of the loan amounts needed to deploy those technologies. Under proposed regulations DOE is crafting for the program, loan guarantees would be limited to 90% of the face value of the loan, a limitation not required by the federal law that created the program. In a letter sent to President Bush Friday, the bipartisan group of senators said that numerous investment bankers and other financial experts have said that DOE's planned 90% limit "renders the program a nullity." They also said that DOE's proposed $9 billion cap for the program in fiscal 2008 was too small to provide any meaningful assistance to a broad array of energy projects. Nuclear industry officials have said they would need nearly three times that amount for new reactors in FY-08. The senators made their plea a week after Domenici received a letter from Stephen McMillin, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, in which McMillin said OMB is prepared to support a final regulation for the program that would give DOE the discretion to guarantee loans for up to 100% of the loan value. --Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com ------------ ASLB rejects Entergy motion to dismiss Vermont Yankee contention Washington (Platts)--13Aug2007 A licensing board panel rejected Entergy's motion to dismiss a contention in the Vermont Yankee license renewal proceedings, saying the company had failed to show that no material fact was in dispute. In an August 10 decision that was just released, an NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, or ASLB, said the contention "presents a 'classic battle of the experts' that requires the Board to weigh opposing expert testimony." Three contentions filed by the New England Coalition and one filed by the Vermont Department of Public Service were admitted in the case. Entergy sought to eliminate under summary disposition one of NEC's contentions, which claims Entergy's application did not include an adequate plan to monitor and manage aging of plant piping resulting from flow-accelerated corrosion during the extended period of operation. ------------ Kewaunee's Director of Nuclear organizational effectiveness named London (Platts)--13Aug2007 Dominion named Paul Blasioli as Kewaunee's Director of Nuclear organizational effectiveness, the company told NRC this week. Dominion said the new, temporary position was created to "accelerate improvements in the execution of corrective-action and self-assessment activities," in part by speeding up backlog reduction. Blasioli has worked in the operational effectiveness department at Millstone, another Dominion plant, the company said. The Dominion announcement is described in an August 10 posting on NRC's web site. Dominion announced three months ago that it was undertaking a three-year "recovery" effort at Kewaunee to whittle down the backlog in a number of areas and to raise performance standards at the Wisconsin plant, which Dominion has operated since July 2005. ------------ Areva says Olkiluoto-3 construction to take six years Washington (Platts)--10Aug2007 Areva acknowledged Olkiluoto-3 will take six years to complete, instead of the original target of four years or the more recent estimate of 5.5 years. As recently as late April, Areva officials said the commercial service date was still the turn of 2010-2011, or about 67 months after the May 2005 construction start. In an August 10 statement, Areva said commercial operation is likely to start in 2011. "De facto, its construction period will be six years, which is equal to the worldwide average construction time," it said. Areva said the project "remains challenging" but that "improvement measures put in place" should "prevent or circumvent delays." The 1,600-MW EPR, being delivered to Finnish utility TVO under a turnkey contract with Areva and Siemens, has been plagued by delays, including problems with licensing and with subcontractors meeting concrete specifications. In an August 10 statement, TVO Project Manager Martin Landtman said that, according to Areva and Siemens, the latest delay is because construction is going more slowly than expected, and "the need to satisfy the safety requirements for the new plant is more demanding than the supplier had anticipated." ------------ IAEA may release results on Tepco nuke plant inspection next week Tokyo (Platts)--10Aug2007 The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected to release some information on its inspection of Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s earthquake-hit Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant as early as next week, a senior IAEA inspector said Friday. Five inspectors from the IAEA examined the damage caused by the July 16 earthquake that forced the shutdown of Tepco's largest nuclear power plant which has a combined power generation capacity of 8.21 GW. The IAEA ended its four-day inspection on Thursday during which it examined the plant's capability to withstand earthquakes, emergency measures in place and operation procedures. The IAEA inspectors led by Philippe Jamet will report their results to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei on August 13 in Vienna, Jamet told reporters in Tokyo. The results will be released after they have been reviewed by ElBaradei, said Jamet, adding that "some communication will be released within a few days." Although Jamet declined to elaborate on the content of reports, he said: "I am not too worried," when asked about the results. The IAEA is expected to report positive and negative things about the measures undertaken at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in the wake of earthquake, said Akira Fukushima, Deputy Director-General for Safety Examination at the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. "As some measures undertaken by Tepco could be a role model, we also expect to see positive reports about the plant operation," Fukushima told reporters after meeting the IAEA inspectors. Since the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant shutdown, Tepco's nuclear generation capacity has fallen to 6.44 GW from seven units compared with a normal nuclear generation capacity of 17.31 GW from 17 units across Japan. The drop in nuclear power generation has forced Tepco to boost its thermal power generation using feedstocks such as direct-burning crudes, low sulfur waxy residue, low sulfur fuel oil, LNG and coal. --Takeo Kumagai, takeo_kumagai@platts.com ------------ B&W to supply Bruce-3 replacement steam generators Ottawa (Platts)--9Aug2007 Babcock & Wilcox won a (Cdn)$90 million contract for eight replacment steam generators for Bruce-3, Bruce Power and B&W parent McDermott International announced August 9. The contract is for engineering, manufacturing and installation, the companies said. The replacement steam generators will be manufactured at B&W's Cambridge, Ontario facility, they said. The new steam generators will be installed as part of the $4.5 billion refurbishment of the Bruce A station. The first new steam generator is to be installed in 2010. The agreement is similar to one signed in 2005 that will provide 16 replacement generators at units 1 and 2, four of which have already been installed at unit 2, the companies said. ------------