Platts - Friday, August 24, 2007 http://www.platts.com ------------ Studsvik's Q2 operating profit down 40.8% London (Platts)--24Aug2007 Studsvik's second-quarter operating profit was down 40.8%, management at the Swedish nuclear services company said in an August 23 financial statement. Profit was 15.8 million kronor (US$2.3 million) for the quarter, versus 26.7 million kronor for the same period in 2006. Management said the decline was because of costs associated with a bid on a UK nuclear services company. Studsvik ultimately decided the company was too expensive to continue bidding on. Sales were up, to 345.8 million kronor for second-quarter 2007 from 317.5 million kronor in second-quarter 2006. ------------ NRC review of Vogtle's early site permit will take 31 months London (Platts)--24Aug2007 The NRC review of Vogtle's early site permit will take 31 months rather than the 30-month projected standard schedule, if a hearing is requested and granted, agency staff said. In a letter to Southern Nuclear Operating Co. that was released August 23, NRC staff said the one-month delay was caused by budgeting problems. NRC, like most federal agencies, was operating until February under a "continuing resolution" that funded it at the same level as fiscal 2006. NRC said in the letter that the Vogtle application and all license renewal schedules developed during fiscal 2007, which started October 1, 2006, were impacted. The staff schedule anticipates a commission decision on Southern Nuclear's application in January 2010, if a hearing is granted. ------------ German government, utilities agree nuclear safety improvements London (Platts)--23Aug2007 The German environment ministry and the country's four biggest utilities --E.ON, RWE, ENBW and Vattenfall Europe--have agreed to improve safety culture and operations of nuclear power plants in Germany within one year, the environment ministry said Thursday in a statement. A debate over safety, information policy and the operation of German nuclear power plants started after Vattenfall Europe's Brunsbuttel and Krummel reactors had to be taken off the grid June 28 in emergency shutdowns after a short circuit at Brunsbuttel and a fire at one of Krummel's transformer stations. According to the statement, key improvements are to include: the operators' safety management systems are to be improved; regular scheduled safety investigations by state authorities are to be intensified and their processing accelerated; protection against gas penetration of the power plants' control rooms is to be improved; internal communication of facilities is to be improved. "These measures are to be coordinated with the responsible state authorities," the statement said. The ministry also said that the utilities offered to create a "code of conduct" together with the authorities in order to improve the companies' public information policies. According to the statement, the environment ministry also plans to introduce bi-annual meetings between the ministry, the utilities and the state authorities responsible for nuclear safety. Germany's previous government passed a nuclear phase-out law in 2002, forbidding the construction of new nuclear plants and limiting existing ones to an average life-span of 32 years. The utilities are demanding a review of this policy under the aspects of climate protection and security of supply. Thursday's meeting was attended by environment minister Sigmar Gabriel, Utz Claassen (CEO of ENBW), Klaus-Dieter Maubach (CEO of EON Energie), Harry Roels (CEO of RWE) and Hans-Jurgen Cramer (chairman of Vattenfall Europe). ------------ Federal judge rejects SAIC's motion to dismiss claim Washington (Platts)--22Aug2007 A federal judge rejected Science Applications International Corp.'s motion to dismiss the government's claim that the company failed to disclose to NRC its relationship with an industry trade association while working under contract to assist NRC with a rulemaking. The Department of Justice, on behalf of NRC, filed in 2004 a lawsuit against SAIC in US District Court for the District of Columbia, seeking $2 million that NRC paid SAIC to provide the agency with "impartial and unbiased advice" in developing a rule establishing clearance of materials and equipment with very low levels of radioactivity. In an August 22 ruling, US District Court Judge Richard Roberts said that SAIC was required under the terms of two contracts it signed with the NRC to have notified the agency that it was a sponsor of the Association of Radioactive Metal Recyclers, an organization advocating the reuse of radioactive and contaminated metals. The judge also ordered the attorneys for both sides to appear September 7 to schedule a trial date. ------------ Fenoc awards cask storage system contract to Holtec Washington (Platts)--21Aug2007 FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., or Fenoc, has awarded a contract to Holtec to provide cask systems for dry spent fuel storage at Perry, Fenoc said August 21. The contract is for delivery of 16 Hi-Storm 100 casks and MPC-68 storage canisters in three campaigns, a Holtec International spokesperson said, with the first six casks to be delivered in time for loading to begin in early 2010. The storage facility will be designed to accommodate 80 cask systems. Holtec and Fenoc both declined to disclose the value of the contract. Perry is scheduled to begin constructing the storage facility in spring 2008, Fenoc said. Holtec also will supply licensing, engineering and site services, one Hi-Trac 125 transfer cask, an on-site transporter, and associated ancillaries, according to the vendor. The equipment will be manufactured by Holtec Manufacturing Division. Holtec said height limitations involving the crane hook and the truck door required Holtec to design a new "zero profile transporter," which the cask vendor is seeking to patent, to move the loaded casks from the pool building to the outside storage pad. ------------ Spot price of U308 uranium drops $15/lb to $90: Ux Consulting Washington (Platts)--21Aug2007 The spot price of uranium dropped $15 a pound over the past week and now stands at $90/lb U3O8, Ux Consulting said late Monday. At $90/lb the spot price is now $5/lb below the long-term price indicator, the first time the spot price has dropped below the long-term price since late 2006, Ux said. This reported decline in the price came after TradeTech kept its price at $105/lb on August 17, the day the US Department of Energy received bids in its auction of 200 metric tons uranium as UF6 (about 520,000 lb U3O8 equivalent). Although the results of that auction may not be known until the end of August, analysts said sellers have apparently concluded that prices below $100/lb will be necessary to entice prospective buyers into the market. The question now, analysts said, is how far the price will drop. A support level, Ux said, is likely to materialize when demand picks up, as buyers search for bargains, and the number of determined sellers declines. ------------ Yemen will build a nuclear power plant: Energy minister London (Platts)--21Aug2007 Yemen will build a nuclear power plant, the country's energy minister, Mustafa Yahia Bahran, said August 18, according to media reports. According to Bahran, Yemen needs to diversify its energy supplies and will therefore order a power reactor from a foreign vendor, the reports said. In June, Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, discussed nuclear cooperation with French leaders during an official visit in France, the reports said. Western diplomats said August 20 that the US and members of the European Union would likely support Yemen's bid for a power reactor. Since 2004, Yemen has supported the US counterterrorism initiatives in the Persian Gulf and Middle East, and is rapidly developing economic relations with EU states. ------------ Poll finds most residents near reactors support nuclear power Washington (Platts)--20Aug2007 Eighty-two percent of 1,152 people polled who live near US power reactors support nuclear power, and 71% say the construction of a new unit near them would be acceptable if it's needed to supply electricity, according to a public opinion poll the Nuclear Energy Institute released August 20. The survey, which was done by Bisconti Research Inc. and Quest Global Research Group, only polled residents living within 10 miles of an operating power reactor who were not electric company employees. NEI commissioned the poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. Near areas actually being considered for new reactors, 77% of respondents said they would find a new a reactor acceptable, according to Ann Bisconti, president of Bisconti Research and a former NEI vice president. In response to the poll, Public Citizen spokeswoman Michele Boyd said support for nuclear energy in communities near existing power reactors is linked more to tax revenue and other benefits than to the type of fuel used to generate electricity. There generally is support for nuclear power near reactor sites, but that's prompted mainly by the plant's monetary benefits to the community, she said. Public Citizen opposes nuclear power. ------------