Platts - Friday, December 14, 2007 http://www.platts.com ------------ AXPO-BKW JV to apply to build replacements for Beznau, Muehleberg London (Platts)--14Dec2007 An AXPO-BKW joint venture will apply next year to build two new reactors to replace the aging units at Beznau and Muehleberg, the two Swiss utilities announced December 13. Axpo, which owns Nordostschweizerische Kraftwerke AG, or NOK, operator of the two Beznau PWRs, and BKW FMB Energy Ltd., which owns the Muehleberg BWR, aim to submit by the end of 2008 two general permit applications for identical nuclear power plants with a unit size of up to 1,600 megawatts, they said. A company named Resun was created to carry out the plans. NOK and another Axpo subsidiary, Centralschweizerische Kraftwerke AG, hold 57.75% and 11%, respectively, in Resun, while BKW holds 31.25%. A third utility, Atel, has been invited to acquire a stake in Resun, they said, and more utilities might be invited to join. They said the 355-MW Muehleberg and Beznau-1 and -2, with 730 MW, will need to be replaced beginning around 2020. ------------ Next generation nuke could cost up to $4.3 bil to build: US DOE Washington (Platts)--13Dec2007 Demonstrating the commercial viability of a high-temperature gas-cooled nuclear reactor capable of producing both electricity and hydrogen could cost between $3.8 billion and $4.3 billion, according to estimates from three contract teams competing in the US Department of Energy's Next Generation Nuclear Plant project. The project is aimed at developing an HTGR by 2021. A prototype reactor is to be sited at the Idaho National Laboratory. The teams chosen to complete initial designs were led by Areva NP, General Atomics and Westinghouse. While there was a range for the cost of the prototype plant, DOE said estimates by all three teams were very similar for the so-called "Nth of a kind" plant, meaning those that are built after the first few are up and running. The estimate for a four-unit plant with a thermal power level of between 2,000 MW and 2,400 MW) was close to $4 billion, according to a DOE report on the pre-conceptual designs for the next generation plant. DOE said the report, which has a November date, is expected to be made available soon on its web site. ------------ NRC requests information on security guard attentiveness Washington (Platts)--13Dec2007 NRC is requesting information on security guard attentiveness from nuclear power plants and some fuel cycle facility licensees, the agency said December 13. NRC Bulletin 2007-01 requests "information associated with licensee security program administrative and management controls as a result of security personnel inattentiveness, especially involving complicity, and related concerns with the behavioral observation program." The agency needs the information "to determine if further regulatory action is warranted, if the necessary inspection program needs to be enhanced, or if additional assessment of security program implementation is needed," the bulletin said. NRC concluded after two inspections this fall that 10 security guards at Exelon Nuclear's Peach Bottom plant had been caught sleeping or otherwise inattentive while on duty. Licensees have 60 days to provide the information, or 15 days to request an extension, NRC said. The bulletin is available on NRC's Adams electronic document system under accession number ML0734001500. ------------ Common EU approach to be developed for decommissioning, waste London (Platts)--13Dec2007 Decommissioning and waste management funds for new reactors should be subject to a yet-to-be developed common EU approach, but the European Commission said December 12 it can rely on independent evaluation and reporting - "whether national or supranational" -- to monitor funds for existing reactors. "All member states have set up a national body for the review and assessment of decommissioning fund management and cost estimates. The role of such bodies, however, is rarely detailed," the EC said in a communication paper to the European Parliament and Council, SEC(2007)794 final. The EC added that due to inadequacies of funding and concerns over use of the funds, such national bodies need to be "closely monitored" through national reports to the EC as called for in a non-binding 2006 EC "Recommendation" on decommissioning financing. ------------ Comanche Peak COL submittal targeted for December 2008 Washington (Platts)--12Dec2007 The Comanche Peak construction permit-operating license, or COL, application submittal is targeted for December 2008, Akira Nagano of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said December 12 at the Power-Gen International conference in New Orleans. That date is later than the projected filing date that TXU Power, now Luminant Power, provided to the NRC in June. Luminant is considering building two Mitsubishi Nuclear Energy Systems Inc.'s 1,700-MW US-APWRs at its Comanche Peak site. Nagano said the rough estimate also calls for the first concrete pour for the expansion to be in October 2012. Mitsubishi and Luminant haven't finalized whether construction on one or both units will begin in 2012, he said. There are two 1,215-MW PWRs now operating at Comanche Peak. ------------ Two British Energy reactors granted life extensions London (Platts)--11Dec2007 Five-year life extensions were granted Hinkley Point B and Hunterston B, allowing them to operate for 40 years, until 2016, owner British Energy announced December 11. "Further studies will be conducted by 2013 regarding the potential for additional life extension beyond 2016," BE said in a press statement. BE discovered an unexpected level of boiler tube cracking at Hunterston B-1 in August 2006 and all four units were repaired, but have encountered "teething problems" since May restart and will operate at around 60% power through March 2008, BE said. Its statement said BE hopes that boiler "balancing work" scheduled for 2008 will help the units move toward 70% power. "At 70% load, life extension is economically viable at a power price of approximately 27 pounds/megawatt-hour," BE said. It added it will spend an additional 90 million pounds (US$183 million) in excess of current planned investment in the two stations over the next three financial years to enable them to operate over their extended lives. ------------ US court rejects challenge to $1.5 bil uranium-enrichment plant Washington (Platts)--11Dec2007 In a victory for the US nuclear power industry, a federal appeals court on Tuesday threw out a lawsuit that sought to halt construction of a $1.5 billion uranium-enrichment plant that a consortium of energy companies is building in southeastern New Mexico. The ruling, by a three-judge panel of the US Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, will allow work to continue on the so-called National Enrichment Facility near Eunice, New Mexico. The facility, which will produce fuel for US nuclear power plants, is being built by Louisiana Energy Services, a consortium of US and European power companies. LES expects the plant to be fully operational by 2013, and that it will provide about 25% of the enriched uranium that US nuclear power plants will require. Currently, less than 10% of the enriched uranium that US plants use is produced domestically. Two environmental groups, Public Citizen and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, sued the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for granting LES a license to operate the plant. The groups said NRC's issuance of the license violated the National Environmental Policy Act and the Atomic Energy Act. The groups argued that NRC did not adequately address the environmental impacts of the radioactive waste that the facility will produce, among other things. But the court rejected that argument Tuesday, saying in a 16-page ruling that "NRC thoroughly examined the environmental consequences of waste disposal." The court also rejected the groups' argument that LES had failed to provide a reasonable cost estimate for disposing of the facility's waste. It said that under the law, LES "need not present a concrete plan," but only a "plausible strategy" for disposing of the waste. LES began construction on the plant in August. US firms that are part of the consortium are Entergy, Exelon and Duke Power. LES' European partner is Urenco, a consortium of British Nuclear Fuels, the Dutch government and several German utilities. --Brian Hansen, brian_hansen@platts.com ------------ World needs 30 nuke plants/year for power, emission cuts: IEA Nusa Dua, Bali (Platts)--11Dec2007 Power companies around the world would need to build some 30 nuclear plants a year between 2013 and 2030, as well as use other clean or renewable technologies, to meet growing demand and achieve emissions cuts, according to the head of the International Energy Agency. The aim is to achieve a 50% cut in emissions from 1990 levels by 2050. Speaking on the sidelines of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change's Bali talks Tuesday, IEA executive director Nobuo Tanaka said that to achieve the reduction of greenhouse gases recommended by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world would need to build 30 nuclear plants of 1000 MW each year between 2013 and 2030. It would also need 22 coal-fired plants with carbon capture and storage at 800 MW each; 20 gas-fired plants with carbon capture and storage at 500 MW each; Two hydro dams of the size of China's Three Gorges Dam (1.7 million MW each); 400 combined heat and power units at 40 MW each; and 17,000 wind turbines of 3 MW each. Tanaka said the IEA had estimated that the global power sector would need to invest $22 trillion by 2030 to achieve these targets. "This would be done by the private sector, so governments need to provide a stable, predictable framework for companies to act," he added. He presented the agency's forecast that global greenhouse gas emissions would rise from 27 billion mt in 2005 to 42 billion mt in 2030, an increase of 1.8% per year. But if the measures and policies currently being considered by governments worldwide are put into force, emissions could rise to 34 billion mt in 2030, an increase of just 1% per year. However, Tanaka said, the IPCC's suggested target of a halving global GHG emissions by 2050 would require emissions to drop to 23 billion mt/yr. The IEA head also said that boosting energy efficiency was a key element in reducing emissions. He listed actions such as reducing the amount of power used by appliances on stand-by, phasing out incandescent light bulbs and improving energy efficiency of buildings. These and other measures, he said, would also imply lifestyle changes around the world. --Alessandro Vitelli, alessandro_vitelli@platts.com ------------ Leonard Willougby named as senior resident inspector for Yucca Mt London (Platts)--11Dec2007 Leonard Willougby is the new senior resident inspector for the proposed high- level waste repository at Yucca Mountain, NRC said December 12. He joins Jack Parrott, the NRC's senior onsite licensing representative in the Las Vegas office, and will be responsible for implementing the agency's inspection program for the Yucca project. Willoughby started with NRC in 1999 as a reactor engineer and since 2001 has been a resident inspector at Fort Calhoun, NRC said. ------------ GNEP members to meet in Vienna December 11-13 Washington (Platts)--10Dec2007 Members of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, or GNEP, steering committee will meet December 11-13 in Vienna for their first working session since 16 countries signed the founding principles of the US-led GNEP partnership September 16 at a ministerial meeting, also in Vienna. Olivier Caron, director of strategy and external relations at the French Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique, said December 10 that the GNEP members were scheduled to discuss organization of their work and start two working groups, one on the infrastructure for development of nuclear power in heretofore non-nuclear countries, the other on assurances of reliable supply of nuclear fuel to countries that forgo sensitive nuclear fuel cycle activities. Since the September meeting, Italy and Canada have announced they will join GNEP, while Germany's government is divided on whether to join and sources have said Australia's new Labor government might freeze its participation. The steering committee comprises the technical-level country representatives who will flesh out GNEP initiatives between meetings of the ministerial-level policy group. ------------ Hungary, Russia discussing renewal of reprocessing agreement Paris (Platts)--7Dec2007 Hungary and Russia are discussing renewal of their reprocessing agreement, Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany announced December 7 following talks with his Russian counterpart, Viktor Zubkov. Gyurcsany said the existing agreement under which Hungary's Paks Nuclear Power Plant can send spent fuel to Russia for reprocessing expires in "just over two years" and that talks have started on renewing the arrangement. The current spent fuel protocol was signed in April 2004, immediately prior to Hungary's European Union accession. Paks concluded a package deal with Russia's TVEL for lifetime fuel supply for its four VVER-440 units at the same time. Russia has said the reprocessing arrangement is grandfathered vis-a-vis a June 2001 law setting new requirements for spent fuel imports into Russia. In 2002, the Russian Supreme Court ruled that the last shipment of Hungarian spent fuel to Russia, in 1998, had been illegal. The government promulgated a new regulation to resolve that issue. ------------