Platts - Thursday, August 30, 2007 http://www.platts.com ------------ New chief of US DOE nuclear complex calls for 'transformation' Washington (Platts)--30Aug2007 The US Department of Energy's nuclear complex needs to shift its focus from weapons production to such activities as intelligence and nonproliferation, the official responsible for managing the agency's complex said Thursday. "A transformation needs to happen," said Thomas D'Agostino, who is to be sworn in Thursday as head of DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration. In a conference call with reporters, D'Agostino said the complex needs to be "much smaller, much safer and, primarily, less expensive." One of his priorities, he said, is improved federal oversight of contractors, especially in safety and security. For years, DOE has been bedeviled by a series of security breaches, particularly at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Those problems led to the firing of D'Agostino's predecessor, Linton Brooks. D'Agostino said there have been recent moves at at Los Alamos to improve security practices. Improvements in that area are important in establishing a sound baseline for security performance, he said. Another priority is project management, D'Agostino said. One of NNSA's most controversial projects is the construction of a facility to fabricate mixed-oxide plutonium-uranium reactor fuel out of surplus weapons plutonium. Cost estimates for the project, at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina, have nearly quintupled from a 2002 estimate of $1 billion. One "tactical" area that will draw his attention is consolidation of the weapons-usable materials located across the complex, D'Agostino said. Details on the plans for the transformation of the nuclear complex will be part of a draft environmental impact statement that is to be released this fall, D'Agostino said. --Daniel Horner, daniel_horner@platts.com ------------ Urenco's first-half 2007 order book volume up 26% Washington (Platts)--29Aug2007 Urenco announced that its order book volume increased to 19 billion Euros during first-half 2007, up 26% from year-end 2006. The company said August 29 it now has contractual commitments going beyond 2025. Revenue from sales of goods and services during first-half 2007 reached Eur 406 million, up from Eur 382 million during first-half 2006, it said. Revenue results for first-half 2007 reflected increased sales of stocks of UF6 feed, which offset a decline in SWU deliveries compared to first-half 2006 and a weaker US dollar, it said. ------------ Ontario to nearly double generating capacity in next 20 years Boston (Platts)--29Aug2007 The Ontario Power Authority Wednesday filed its proposed 20-year "integrated power supply plan" with the Ontario Energy Board, the last entity that must review and approve the document. The plan is similar to that recommended by the Energy Ministry in June 2006 and calls, among other things, for refurbishing several nuclear plants and building new ones, doubling to 15,700 MW the amount of hydroelectric, wind and other renewable capacity, phasing out Ontario Power Generation's four remaining coal plants by the end of 2014 and achieving 6,300 MW of energy efficiency-related demand reduction. The plan envisions that by 2027, 47% of Ontario's electricity supply will be provided by nuclear power, 30% from renewable sources, 15% from conservation, and 9% from gas-fired plants and call for a near doubling of existing capacity at a total cost of about C$60 billion (US$57 billion). Amir Shalaby, OPA's vice president for power supply planning, said the cost of electricity will rise will rise from about C$95/MWh now to more than C$110/MWh in the middle years of the next decade, before falling to less than C$105/MWh by 2025. He said the plan also will slash the Ontario electricity sector's greenhouse gas emissions from about 29 megatons this year to about four megatons in 2015 after the coal plants are retired. Depending on whether OPG decides to refurbish its four-unit Pickering B nuclear facility, the plan assumes the province will have nuclear capacity of 2,064 MW in place by 2018. If OPG decides against refurbishment, then the plan says the same 2,064 MW of nuclear capacity will be in place at a later date, once new nuclear capacity is online. The plan also calls for OPA to enter into long-term power purchase deals with developers to build 2,150 MW of gas-fired capacity in the province. ------------ NRC's new plant licensing regulations published Washington (Platts)--28Aug2007 NRC published its revised new plant licensing regulations in the August 28 Federal Register. Changes to the regulation, 10 Code of Federal Regulations Part 52, go into effect September 27. This is the first revision of the rule since it was issued in 1989. It affects three licensing processes: Early site permits, standard design certifications, and combined construction permit-operating licenses. ------------ Uranium spot price appears to stabilize in $90-$95/pound range Washington (Platts)--28Aug2007 The spot price of uranium appears to have settled for now in a range of $90 to $95/pound U3O8, according to Ux Consulting and TradeTech. Both price-reporting companies said they are seeing indications of renewed buying interests at these levels, as well as signs that sellers are growing increasingly resistant to offer material at fixed prices below those levels. If the price stabilizes, both companies said they expect buyer interest to increase. The rapid decline in the price over the past two months--from a high of $136 to $138 a pound at the end of June--left buyers hesitant to commit to a fixed price today if they believed the price was going to continue to fall. Separately, the long-term price continues to hold at $95/pound U3O8, both price reporting companies said. Ux Consulting late Monday kept its price at $90/pound U3O8, the same level it published a week earlier. TradeTech lowered its price late Friday to $95/lb, a drop of $10 from its previous price. --Mike Knapik, newsdesk@platts.com The Platts NuclearFuel range for the week is $82-$97/lb U3O8. ------------ Grand Gulf COL submittal now seen by February Washington (Platts)--27Aug2007 The Grand Gulf COL application submittal is being pushed back from November 2007 to no later than February 2008, the industry consortium NuStart Energy said. In a letter posted August 27 on NRC's electronic library, NuStart Energy said a later timetable "better fits Entergy's business needs and overall new plant development project schedule." NuStart is preparing the combined construction permit-operating license, or COL, application for the Grand Gulf site. But either Entergy or its subsidiaries will be the license applicant. NuStart and Entergy have said the application will seek to license a General Electric ESBWR at the Grand Gulf site in Port Gibson, Mississippi, where Entergy subsidiary System Energy Resources operates and owns 90% of the existing unit 1. ------------ The UK's Oldbury-2 reconnects to grid London (Platts)--24Aug2007 The UK's Oldbury-2 magnox reconnected to the grid August 23, operator Magnox North said August 24. A fire and then turbine vibrations kept the reactor offline most of the time since May 30. Oldbury-2, one of the four remaining operating magnox reactors, underwent a 23-month outage until May 27 to determine the extent of graphite depletion in its core. It operated only three days before a May 30 fire on the non-nuclear side of the plant forced its shutdown. It returned to service June 30, only to be shut again in early July following the turbine vibration problem. Sister unit Oldbury-1 has been offline since August 31, 2006, also undergoing graphite weight loss checks. Its safety analysis work for return to service is with regulator Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. Oldbury-1 and -2 are due to close permanently in December 2008 and have experienced higher levels of graphite weight loss than the rest of the almost fully retired 11-station (26-reactor) magnox fleet. ------------