Platts - Monday, December 31, 2007 http://www.platts.com ------------ Bush to veto energy-laden Defense Bill, cites possible lawsuits Washington (Platts)--28Dec2007 President Bush is set to veto a defense authorization bill Friday that would assign $9.5 billion in fiscal 2008 funding for nuclear-related programs to the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, $150 million more than the administration requested, the White House said. The measure, H.R. 1585, would also require the Department of Defense to derive 25% of the power it uses from renewable sources by fiscal 2025 -- under current law, this is a goal rather than a requirement. The US military uses huge amounts of electricity at thousands of facilities around the world. The bill would allow the defense secretary to waive the 25% requirement if he believes that it is in the "best interests" of DOD to do so. The Pentagon would have to notify the House and Senate Armed Services committees before waiving the requirement. The president objects to the bill, which would fund the military operations of the Department of Defense, because he says it would expose the current Iraqi government to lawsuits brought by victims of former dictator Saddam Hussein. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released a joint statement on Friday reprimanding the administration for not raising its objections while the bill was in conference, and warned "The American people will have every right to be disappointed if the President vetoes this legislation." The White House called on Congress to resume work on the legislation when it returns to Washington in January. --Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com ------------ Olkiluoto-3 completion targeted for summer 2011 Brussels (Platts)--28Dec2007 Olkiluoto-3 will be completed in "summer 2011," Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oy said. TVO said the Areva-Siemens consortium, which had previously targeted 2011 after a two-year delay on the original schedule, had informed it December 28 of the summer target. TVO said the turbine building has reached roof-top level and that some turbine components have arrived in Finland. Turbine generator installation is set to begin in April, TVO said. The total manpower at the construction site has doubled since last spring and is now more than 2,600 people, the company said. Time-schedule essential work has continued at the reactor building during the Christmas holidays and will continue over the New Year holidays as well, the company said. The manufacturing of major components is proceeding to the factory test phase. The assembly of the reactor pressure vessel in Japan has been completed. "The delay of the project will cause additional work and costs," said Martin Landtman, project director for the Olkiluoto-3 EPR. Efforts are being made to have the unit completed as soon as possible without compromising safety or quality requirements, he said. ------------ UK releases 1977 archive material on nuclear power, Iranian JV London (Platts)--28Dec2007 The UK government has released previously confidential material on energy policy to the national archives including details of a labor dispute at the Windscale nuclear power facility and papers relating to the Drax coal fired power plant. Each year a set of 30-year-old documents are released to the archives for public study. New documents released Friday include government papers discussing the case -- in 1977 -- for nuclear power. "Whatever the uncertainties about the size and timing of the future energy gap and the best way of filling it, we cannot afford by indecision now to risk closing by default the option of having large contributions from both coal and nuclear power," says one paper. There are echoes of current discussion as the industry in 2007 tries to work out how to replace ageing coal and nuclear plant due to be decommissioned in coming decades. "Morale in all branches of the industry is low and design capability is disintegrating," the 1977 document warns. Another paper is from policy adviser Sir Kenneth Berrill to the prime minister discussing possible exports of nuclear power technology to Iran. "At present the prospects of our opening up exports of nuclear power plants to the Middle East appear reasonably good but we are only at the very beginning of the road," it says. Iran, it notes, had recently inquired about "a possible joint UK/Iranian organization to provide most, if not all, or Iran's nuclear power program in the years ahead." Newly released documents can be found at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk. ------------ USEC to pursue loan guarantee for Ohio uranium enrichment plant Washington (Platts)--27Dec2007 Uranium enrichment specialist USEC intends to pursue a US Department of Energy loan guarantee for construction of its American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, it said Thursday. Bethesda, Maryland-based USEC expects to submit an application when DOE invites nuclear projects to apply, it said. USEC officially began building the American Centrifuge Plant in late May and is working toward starting commercial plant operations in late 2009. The omnibus fiscal 2008 spending bill, which President Bush signed earlier this week, would allocate $20.5 billion in loan guarantees for new nuclear plants. An additional $18 billion would be provided for other technologies, including renewable energy, energy efficiency and clean coal. ------------ Kursk-3 begins seventh-month outage Paris (Platts)--27Dec2007 Rosenergoatom's Kursk-3 was taken down December 27 for an outage slated to last till July 27, 2008, during which the 1,000-MW RBMK will undergo major safety upgrades, plant management said December 27. The Russian utility said the outage will also continue modernization work begun in a previous outage from August 2005 to March 2006, when among other major work, 500 fuel channels were replaced. During the outage just beginning, a new reactor protection system, a new uninterruptible power supply system, a new data measurement system and other backfits will be installed, Kursk management said. In addition, another 400 fuel channels will be replaced and turbine blades will be modernized, it said. Kursk-3 has been in commercial operation since March 1984. Rosenergoatom received permission to extend its operation beyond the original 30-year design life in 2004. ------------ Year-end spot price remains at $90/lb U308 Washington (Platts)--26Dec2007 The spot price of uranium remained at $90 a pound U3O8, despite a flurry of year-end activity, according to both TradeTech and Ux Consulting. In a December 21 report, TradeTech said that five transactions totaling about 650,000 lb U3O8 occurred over the past week at price levels very close to $90/lb. Ux Consulting, in a December 24 report, said the amount of activity showed "there was definite buying interest" at $90/lb. But the firm said that it appeared sellers "have slowed their pace of new offerings for now," with most waiting until 2008 before making any new offers. The Platts NuclearFuel range for the week was $86-$92/lb U3O8. ------------ Chernobyl radwaste facilities to be completed in 2008 Brussels (Platts)--21Dec2007 Radwaste management facilities at Chernobyl will be completed in 2008 and handed over to Ukraine under an amended funding agreement, a European Commission official said December 21. The contract for the Industrial Complex for Solid Radwaste Management, co-funded by the EU, was awarded to Nukem Nuklear GmbH in 2001, but the project has been delayed, according to Jean-Paul Joulia, unit head at the EC's EuropeAid Co-operation Office. Joulia said the amended agreement extending the EC's approval for the project to June 30, 2009 was approved by an EC decision on December 6. The contract foresees execution of the project in three lots comprising a retrieval facility, a sorting and processing facility and a near-surface repository site, he said. ------------ DOE issues guidelines for nuclear plant risk insurance program Washington (Platts)--21Dec2007 The US Department of Energy on Friday outlined for potential nuclear power plant developers the process by which they can obtain federal insurance to protect them against the financial cost of regulatory or litigation-related delays. The instructions are the first step in a process for companies entering into a conditional agreement with DOE to obtain a portion of the $2 billion Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 for federal risk insurance. Lawmakers approved the insurance as part of several other initiatives designed to reduce the uncertainty and financial risk involved in building new nuclear plants in the US. The insurance will cover costs associated with "certain regulatory or litigation-related delays -- which are no fault of the company -- that stall the start-up of new nuclear power plants," DOE said. The instructions will "enable sponsors of new nuclear power plants to begin the process of addressing certain barriers to building the nuclear genearting capacity necessary to meet our nation's growing energy needs," said Dennis Spurgeon, DOE's Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy. "Federal risk insurance provides a mechanism to spur construction of new nuclear power plants that will help power our economy with advanced technologies and confront global climate change." Only those sponsors of advanced nuclear facilities whose application for a combined construction and operating license that has been filed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can enter into the conditional agreement with DOE. EPAct allows DOE to enter into contracts with only the first six sponsors that are issued a license and begin construction of new nuclear facilities and meet all contractual conditions to provide risk insurance for certain regulatory and litigation delays in the full power operation of their facilities, according to DOE. The first two licensed plants can receive up to $500 million in coverage while the next four are eligible for up to $250 million in coverage. --Dipka Bhambhani, dipka_bhambhani@platts.com ------------ Miami-Dade County officials OK FP&L nuclear plant zoning changes Boston (Platts)--21Dec2007 The Miami-Dade County Commission late Thursday voted overwhelmingly to approve zoning changes Florida Power & Light needs to build two new nuclear units at its Turkey Point station. FP&L already operates two nuclear units at the station, but plans to add two more by the end of the next decade. The utility in October asked the Florida Public Service Commission to issue a determination that the capacity is needed, a finding that would allow the company and PSC to begin assessing whether the plants are in the public interest. In its application, FP&L said the two nuclear units it is considering building would provide a total of either 2,200 MW or 3,000 MW, depending on the nuclear plant design and supplier the utility selects. FP&L has said that it considering two options: the Westinghouse AP1000 design, whose units would generate about 1,100 MW each, and the General Electric Economic Simplified Boiling Reactor, whose units would generate about 1,500 MW each. The utility also has said that by the end of 2008 it expects to apply to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a combined construction and operating license for the two units. ------------