Platts - Thursday, October 18, 2007 http://www.platts.com ------------ Putin says Russia to cooperate with Iran in energy sphere Moscow (Platts)--18Oct2007 Russia's president Vladimir Putin Thursday said that Russia plans to cooperate with Iran in the energy sphere and that the two countries are important partners in the sector. "Regarding oil, gas, power and nuclear power, we are certainly very important partners," Putin said, commenting on his recent trip to Iran. Putin was speaking in an annual televised call-in session during which Russia's citizens have an opportunity to ask the president questions. "We all know about Iran's nuclear problem and this made up the significant part of our negotiations," he said, without giving further details. Iran is under mounting pressure from the US and other Western countries over fears that its nuclear program, which it says are for civil purposes, could be used to develop nuclear weapons. Regarding an alleged plot to assassinate him during his trip to Iran earlier this week, which came out on the eve of the visit, Putin said that it was an attempt to prevent the visit from taking place. "It was nothing else but an attempt to prevent the visit," Putin said, adding that it was harmful for international relationships. "The direct dialog with the state, with the head of the state around which problems have been arising, is more productive than the policy of threats and forced pressure," Putin said. Putin went to Tehran on Tuesday to attend a summit meeting of Caspian Sea states, in the first visit to the country by a Kremlin chief since World War II. ------------ Areva NC's Georges Besse II plant to reach full capacity early London (Platts)--18Oct2007 Full capacity at Areva NC's Georges Besse II enrichment plant project in France will be in place in 2016 instead of 2018 as earlier planned, project director Nicolas de Turckheim said October 16. The project is on budget and "right on track," and Areva is speeding up construction, he said at the Nuclear Energy Institute's International Uranium Fuel Seminar in New Orleans. Construction on the second plant will begin in early 2009, instead of 2012 as was originally planned, he said, Construction on the first plant began in mid- 2006 and that unit will be online in first-half 2009, he said. ------------ Entergy Arkansas wins $48.6 million in damages from DOE Washington (Platts)--17Oct2007 A US court awarded Entergy Arkansas some $48.6 million in damages stemming from DOE's failure to begin disposing of utility spent nuclear fuel by a 1998 contract date. The October 16 decision by the US Court of Federal Claims is for spent fuel storage costs the utility incurred at Arkansas Nuclear One from the DOE contract breach on January 31, 1998 through June 30, 2006. The court rejected the government's counterclaim that its responsibility was conditioned on a utility's payment of both the one-time fee for nuclear-generated electricity produced before April 7, 1983 and the continuing fee paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund. The court said that DOE "chose selectively" which statutory conditions it would apply, effectively constraining the amount of spent fuel that would be removed from plants as stated in its annual capacity reports, or ACRs. "DOE cannot now rely on the flawed ACRs issued from 1991 to 1995 to limit its exposure to damages," the court said. DOE plans to submit a repository license application to NRC next June. If licensed, a disposal facility at Yucca Mountain, Nevada could become operational sometime between 2017 and 2021, according to DOE estimates. ------------ Swedish nuclear research to get an extra 4 million Kronor London (Platts)--17Oct2007 Swedish nuclear research will get an additional 4 million Kronor (US$625,000) this year, Minister for Higher Education and Research Lars Leijonborg said during a speech at a research conference in Stockholm October 16. Leijonborg said the money will be earmarked for work that leads to improved reactor safety as well as to ensure that Sweden maintains competence in the nuclear industry. Last year, a ban on nuclear research was removed, and Leijonborg said the appropriation was made as a result of all the applications for projects that have been received. The government had budgeted 6.5 million kronor for nuclear research this year. ------------ FP&L asks Florida PSC to approve plan to build nuclear plants Boston (Platts)--16Oct2007 Florida Power & Light on Tuesday said it has asked the Florida Public Service Commission to approve its plan to build two new nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point power station in Miami-Dade County by 2020. FP&L said the filing does not commit it to build either of the units and that a final decision will come later in the process. The utility is expected to file an application at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a combined construction and operating license within the next few months. FP&L said the units would add between 2,200 and 3,000 MW of capacity to its system, depending on the technology selected. FP&L in September asked the PSC to allow to upgrade its four existing nuclear plants by more than 400 MW. The PSC has yet to rule on that project, which FP&L hopes to complete by 2012. ------------ Everyone bears responsibility for nuke waste: Moritz Leuenberger London (Platts)--16Oct2007 Everyone bears responsibility for nuclear waste, Switzerland's energy minister told an international conference in Bern October 15. Moritz Leuenberger has not been favorable to nuclear power, but told the meeting on geological repositories that "collective responsibility" -- including both those who have favored and those who have opposed the technology -- "should take precedence over individual attitude." He said a repository implementation process must be transparent and provide time for pubic participation, since finding a safe solution "will take time." Some 200 participants from 19 countries are at the two-day conference sponsored by the IAEA, the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, the European Commission and EDRAM, the International Association for Environmentally Safe Disposal of Radioactive Materials. It was organized by Swiss radwaste management cooperative Nagra. More information is at http://www.nagra.ch. ------------ China already implementing life management programs at its plants London (Platts)--16Oct2007 China is already implementing life management programs at its nuclear plants, although its oldest unit, Qinshan-1, is only 16 years old and the average age of its 11 nuclear units is only seven years, Yang Dazhu of the China Atomic Energy Authority, told an IAEA conference in Shanghai October 15. But Chen Hua, director general of the nuclear power department in China National Nuclear Corp., said aging management techniques are "insufficient" and China's lack of experience in plant operation had caused "some difficulties" in designing life management programs. Wang Jun, deputy director general of the National Nuclear Safety Administration, said regulators were embarking on preparation of technical regulations covering "life management during design and construction phases." Yuri Sokolov, deputy director general of the IAEA, noting the presence of five countries without any nuclear plants, asked participants to recommend ways to "address plant life management issues in agency recommendations to members starting nuclear power plant programs." ------------ Bechtel wins $1 billion Watts Bar-2 EPC contract Washington (Platts)--15Oct2007 Bechtel Power was selected for a $1 billion engineering, procurement and construction contract for completion of the Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar-2 reactor. TVA said in an October 15 press statement that it had received two bids for the EPC contract -- one from Bechtel Power Corp. and another from Shaw/Stone & Webster. It said it chose Bechtel for the five-year contract "based on Bechtel's technical capability, overall value and pricing, quality of proposed project team and other key attributes." Bechtel provided technical and engineering services for TVA's five-year rehabilitation of Brown Ferry-1, which was restarted in May after being idle for 22 years. A TVA spokesman said design and engineering work on Watts Bar-2 will take up most of 2008, with actual construction beginning late next year. The federal utility expects to have the 1,200-MW Westinghouse PWR online in 2013. ------------ Bulgaria expected to be EU's first new Euratom loan applicant London (Platts)--15Oct2007 Bulgaria is expected to be the first new Euratom loan applicant inside the EU in 20 years, after a European Commission decision approving the planned two-unit Russian-designed nuclear power plant at Belene is announced. That decision is imminent, according to a commission source, and paves the way for Bulgaria's expected application for a Euratom loan as well as, potentially, financing through the European Investment Bank. Under Article 41 of the Euratom Treaty, the commission must be notified of all new planned nuclear investments and must give a positive opinion in a decision. A commission source told Platts October 12 that a positive decision was imminent and a Bulgarian application for a Euratom loan was expected to follow. ------------ Kazatomprom, two Chinese companies sign nuclear agreements London (Platts)--15Oct2007 Kazatomprom and two Chinese companies signed nuclear agreements last month, a spokeswoman for Kazatomprom said October 12. Top officials of KAP and China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co. Ltd., or Cgnpc, signed two memoranda on codevelopment of uranium resources in Kazakhstan via a joint venture and on investments of Kazatomprom in the Chinese nuclear power industry. Kazatomprom and China National Nuclear Corp., or CNNC, signed a Framework Agreement for Pushing Forward of Strategic Cooperation which foresees establishing joint ventures for natural uranium production and Kazatomprom investments in the nuclear power industry. The companies said the agreements provide that "all natural uranium produced by joint Kazakhstani-Chinese enterprises will be delivered to China in the form of high-value-added nuclear fuel products." ------------ DOE seeking comment on Yucca Mountain environmental statements Washington (Platts)--12Oct2007 DOE is seeking public comment on three draft Yucca Mountain environmental impact statements, the department said in an October 12 Federal Register notice. The draft documents -- a supplemental EIS on a proposed spent fuel repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, another on a proposed rail transportation corridor to the site, and an EIS on rail alignment for construction and operation of a railroad to the site -- are online at www.ocrwm.doe.gov. The public comment period closes January 10, 2008. Comments may be submitted online at the web site. ------------ Lithuania needs to consider alternatives to a new Ignalina plant London (Platts)--12Oct2007 Lithuania needs to consider alternatives to a new Ignalina nuclear plant because Poland is hindering the project, Lithuania's former president and prime minister said during an energy conference in Vilnius October 11. Algirdas Brazauskas said he does not believe the plant can start operating in 2015 as planned, given that the Baltic countries and Poland cannot agree on ownership stakes in the plant. He said building an undersea transmission line from Lithuania to Sweden for electricity import is a more viable alternative to the Ignalina project. ------------ COL application for South Texas Project-3, -4 released Washington (Platts)--11Oct2007 The construction permit-operating license application for South Texas Project-3 and -4 was released October 11 on NRC's Adams electronic document system. The COL was divided into 10 parts -- including general and financial information, an environmental report, and an emergency plan -- and posted in numerous files on Adams. Some information, such as project costs, funding sources, and operations and maintenance costs, was not publicly released. STP Nuclear Operating Co. is seeking to build and operate two General Electric ABWRs at the site in Texas where two PWRs have been operating since the late 1980s. NRC received the submittal for the South Texas reactors September 24, marking the first time a full COL application has been submitted to the agency. One file with general information about the two proposed units is on Adams under accession no. ML072830812. ------------