Platts - Friday, December 07, 2007 http://www.platts.com ------------ NEI laments the house decision not to include nuke as a renewable London (Platts)--7Dec2007 NEI lamented the house decision not to include nuclear as a renewable in an energy bill, HR 6, passed by the US House of Representatives December 6. The bill mandates that US utilities get 15% of their power from renewable sources and efficiency improvements by 2020. Nuclear is not included as a renewable resource. Nuclear Energy Institute President/CEO Frank "Skip" Bowman said the House "missed an opportunity to further" energy and environmental goals because nuclear plants "are the only expandable, carbon-free baseload electricity source today, and they could play a significant role" in meeting renewable portfolio standards. Bowman said NEI will work to get nuclear recognized in the Senate, which has not voted on the bill yet. ------------ BE investigating cause of hydrogen leak at Torness-1 London (Platts)--6Dec2007 British Energy is investigating the cause of a hydrogen leak at Torness-1 in Scotland, BE said December 6. BE spokeswoman Sue Fletcher said the advanced gas-cooled reactor was manually tripped December 1 following indications of the leak, which is on the conventional plant main turbo-generator. She could not say how long the reactor would be offline, she said, as BE is still devising a repair and restart plan. "We are also determining whether we will take the opportunity to carry out additional maintenance work while the unit is off," Fletcher said. ------------ Australian annual energy exports to rise 7% to $37 billion: ABARE Sydney (Platts)--6Dec2007 Australia's earnings from energy exports are forecast to rise 7% year on year to A$42 billion ($37 billion) in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, according to the latest estimates from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics. The rise would be supported by increases in the value of thermal coal, LNG, uranium, crude oil and oil products exports, ABARE said Thursday. The total value of Australia's combined minerals and energy exports is forecast to be around A$110 billion in 2007-2008, up 2% from A$108 billion in 2006-2007. The forecast increase is slightly less than ABARE's estimate issued in September due to the negative effect on earnings from the stronger Australian dollar and some weakening in metals prices, the bureau said. This story was first published on Platts Global Alert (PGA). For more information about PGA, go to http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?story ------------ Japan's Kansai Electric idles 1.031 GW nuclear unit on glitch Tokyo (Platts)--6Dec2007 Japan's second-biggest power utility, Kansai Electric, Thursday idled its 1.031 gigawatt No. 1 reactor at the Mihama nuclear power plant in western Japan after a problem was detected, a company official said. It was unclear when the unit would be restarted, he said. As a result, Kansai Electric now has six nuclear units operating with a combined capacity of 6.057 GW, representing 62% of its total capacity of 9.768 GW across 11 units. News of nuclear power plant outages in Japan are closely watched as they could lead to increased demand for power generation feedstocks such as fuel oil, crude and LNG. ------------ Public support falls for nuclear to form part of UK's energy mix London (Platts)--6Dec2007 Public support for nuclear to form part of a balanced UK energy mix has fallen from 72% to 65% over the past year and there is evidence that people might be confused on key issues, according to the latest Ipsos Mori poll released by the UK's Nuclear Industry Association December 5. "Despite the government taking a preliminary view in favor of nuclear, the poll results show some tailing off of previous (public) increases in support -- with less encouraging news when it comes to women's attitudes to nuclear," said an NIA press release. More people are now "undecided" and opposition to nuclear is strongest in Scotland and Wales, it said. Some 68% of the UK public claim to know "just little" or "almost nothing" about the nuclear industry, it said. By far the biggest spontaneous environmental concerns are climate change and air pollution (at 26% and 24%, respectively), while only 5% mention nuclear waste. The poll, commissioned by the NIA and carried out November 9-15, surveyed 1,973 people across the UK. NIA chief executive Keith Parker termed the results a "reality check" for the industry. ------------ B&W wins Davis-Besse contract for replacement steam generators Washington (Platts)--5Dec2007 B&W was awarded a contract to make two replacement steam generators for Davis-Besse, Babcock & Wilcox parent McDermott International announced in a December 5 press release. The steam generators, which are to be manufactured at B&W's Cambridge, Ontario facility, are scheduled to be delivered in 2013, McDermott said. Marla Lark-Landis, a spokeswoman for Davis-Besse operator FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., said the company planned to install the steam generators during a refueling outage in 2014. The value of the contract was not disclosed. Davis-Besse is a B&W design PWR with once-through steam generators. ------------ France, Algeria initial a nuclear cooperation agreement London (Platts)--5Dec2007 France and Algeria initialed a nuclear cooperation agreement during the second day of French President Nicolas Sarkozy's state visit to Algeria December 4. According to a statement, the two countries agreed to cooperate in basic research, technology transfer, training, electricity production and uranium exploration and production. Agence France Presse quoted French sources in Algiers as saying Sarkozy told his Algerian counterpart, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, that France was "prepared to go very far" in the cooperation. AFP also said Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon had been in Algiers to discuss potential areas for collaboration a few days earlier. Algeria does not have a nuclear power plant, but operates two research reactors, a small one supplied by Argentina in 1989 and the 15-MW(thermal) Es Salam heavy water reactor supplied by China in 1993. ------------ NRC Commissioner Jaczko nominated for second term Washington (Platts)--4Dec2007 NRC Commissioner Gregory Jaczko was nominated for a second term December 4 by President George W. Bush. Jaczko joined the NRC in January 2005, halfway through the term for the seat to which he was appointed. His term ends in June 2008. If confirmed by the Senate, he will serve a full five-year term expiring in June 2013. His nomination is expected to be considered along with that of Kristine Svinicki, a staffer for the Republican members on the Senate Armed Services Committee who was nominated by Bush in April. California Senator Barbara Boxer, who chairs the Environment and Public Works Committee, said she would not move Svinicki's nomination unless it was paired with Jaczko's. Jaczko was formerly science policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who supports his reappointment. Their confirmations would bring the commission to four, with Chairman Dale Klein and Commissioner Peter Lyons, both Republicans. ------------ Putin approves Russian nuclear holding corporation Washington (Platts)--3Dec2007 Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law establishing Rosatom as a "State Corporation for Atomic Energy," replacing the current Federal Atomic Energy Agency which has also been known as Rosatom, according to Putin's press service December 3. The new corporation, which may begin operating by the end of this year, is to implement state policy in the fields of civilian and defense nuclear energy and is to hold the majority of stock in the fledgling Atomenergoprom corporation set up this summer as a holding entity for all the country's civilian nuclear enterprises, including nuclear power plant operator Rosenergoatom. Rosatom Corp. will also manage the state's nuclear materials stockpiles. ------------ Bruce Power makes bid for Energy Alberta Washington (Platts)--30Nov2007 Bruce Power announced plans to take over Energy Alberta Corp., which filed a proposal last August to build up to four new reactors in Alberta's northeast. Bruce Power, which operates the six Bruce units, said November 29 it has signed a letter of intent to acquire Energy Alberta and will operate the company as Bruce Power Alberta. Bruce spokesman John Peevers said November 30 he expects the deal will be concluded by year-end. Energy Alberta had asked the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission for permission to prepare a site to develop up to two twin Advanced Candu Reactors, each of which has an output of about 1,100 MW, to generate power and steam that could be used to extract bitumen from the Alberta oil sands. ------------ EDF, Enel to agree on nuke cooperation at Franco-Italian summit London (Platts)--30Nov2007 EDF and Enel will agree on nuclear cooperation November 30 at Franco-Italian summit meeting in Nice, French financial daily Les Echos reported November 29. The long-postponed agreement would see Enel, Italy's largest utility, take a 12.5% stake in the production of Electricite de France's 1,650-MW EPR under construction at Flamanville-3 and scheduled to start up in 2012. According to Les Echos, the agreement commits Enel to pay its share not only of construction and operating costs, but also of decommissioning and waste disposal costs. Enel has the option to take a similar share in five future EDF EPRs in France; in exchange, EDF has the option to participate in construction and operation of future Enel nuclear power plants in Italy or "in Europe," according to the report. Enel is building two VVERs at Mochovce in Slovakia, via subsidiary Slovenske Elektrarne, and is bidding for stakes in new reactors in Romania and Bulgaria. ------------ NRC to fine Exelon $65,000 for missing material at Dresden Washington (Platts)--29Nov2007 NRC has proposed that Exelon be fined $65,000 "for failure to properly implement its program for control and accounting of special nuclear materials at the Dresden Nuclear Station between 1959 and 2007," the agency said November 29. The SNM in question are two fuel pellets and 99 in-core detectors, totaling less than 1 gram of fuel material. Exelon told NRC in May that the materials, which were supposed to have been placed in the spent fuel pool in the 1970s, could not be located during an inspection this year. Exelon "has implemented corrective actions to make sure the accounting problems do not recur," NRC said. Exelon Nuclear spokesman Robert Osgood said November 29 that the company will not contest the penalty. The missing items may have been shipped offsite to an NRC-licensed waste disposal facility in the mid-1980s when Dresden-3's spent fuel pool was re-racked and cleaned, Osgood said. ------------