Platts - Friday, March 07, 2008 http://www.platts.com ------------ Palo Verde-3 stays under increased NRC scrutiny Washington (Platts)--6Mar2008 Palo Verde-3 remained in column 4 of NRC's action matrix, requiring the highest level of agency oversight short of a plant shutdown, at the end of 2007. The other two Palo Verde units stayed in Column 3, which indicates degraded performance in one of seven safety cornerstones. But in an annual assessment letter sent this week to Arizona Public Service Co., NRC said there would be increased inspections and attention to the action plans at all three units because the root causes of the problems were site-wide. One former Column 3 unit, Progress Energy Carolinas' Brunswick-1, was moved to Column 2, stepping down the level of NRC inspection effort. Three others that also had been in Column 3 -- American Electric Power's Cook-1 and -2 and Duke Power's Oconee-3 -- improved performance and were moved to Column 1, the category for the highest performing plants requiring only NRC baseline inspections. Three units, Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry-1 (which restarted last May after a 22-year shutdown), Omaha Public Power District's Fort Calhoun and PSEG Nuclear's Salem-1, had declining performance and were placed in Column 3. All the designated categories reflect changes in plant performance from third quarter last year. ------------ NRC CFO placed on paid administrative leave Washington (Platts)--5Mar2008 administrative leave, the agency said March 5. NRC officials declined to say why he is not on the job. Until the matter is resolved, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation Director James Dyer will be the acting CFO, and Dyer's deputy, James Wiggins, will be acting NRR director. Before joining the NRC last June, McCabe was chief of staff in the Department of Education's CFO Office and also had served as acting CFO. The deputy CFO position at NRC has been vacant. ------------ NRC approves 1.7% uprate for Vogtle-1 and -2 Washington (Platts)--4Mar2008 The NRC has approved 1.7% power uprates for Vogtle-1 and -2, the agency said March 4. NRC staff determined that Southern Nuclear Operating Co. "could safely increase the reactor's output primarily through more accurate means of measuring feedwater flow" and reviewed Southern's evaluations that the plant's design could handle the increased power level, NRC said. The company plans to implement Vogtle-1's uprate at the end of its spring 2008 refueling outage and Vogtle-2's uprate after the fall 2008 refueling outage, the agency said. The staff's safety evaluation of the uprate request is available on NRC's document system under accession number ML080350345. ------------ Consensus elusive on spot uranium price; range now $73-74/lb U308 Washington (Platts)--4Mar2008 Price reporting companies TradeTech and Ux Consulting couldn't, for the second consecutive week, agree on the spot price of uranium. TradeTech, in a report issued late February 29, said the spot price was $73 a pound U3O8, down $2/lb from the previous week. Ux, in a report late Sunday, said sellers had raised their offer prices slightly, and so it raised its price $1/lb to $74/lb. TradeTech said that deals done in February "spanned a broad range," believed to be a range of $70-$75/lb. Toward the end of the month, TradeTech said, deals were being concluded at prices "at or very near" $73/lb. But according to some analysts, the price should start to move up slowly given that that a lot of supply has recent been taken out of the market. Others suggest there is still a fair amount of supply available and now there are fewer potential buyers so the price could still weaken a bit. The Platts NuclearFuel range for the week was $68-$76/lb U3O8. ------------ Air Force considering building nuclear plant Washington (Platts)--3Mar2008 The US Air Force is considering building a power reactor at one or more of its bases, said Kevin Billings, assistant secretary of the Air Force for energy, environment, safety and occupational health. At a March 3 energy forum in Arlington, Virginia sponsored by the Air Force, he said that the reactor would be privately owned and operated. Billings also said that Senator Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican, sent a letter to the Air Force last year asking whether it would be interested in building a nuclear power plant. Later, Republican Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico also sent a letter with a similar inquiry, Billings said. The Air Force would be a "predictable and welcoming host" for a reactor and could offer a long-term power purchase agreement, Billings said. ------------ Nuclear, coal must be part of energy mix: Mississippi governor Washington (Platts)--3Mar2008 Nuclear power and coal must be part of the future energy mix, along with other energy sources, but coal has to be burned more cleanly, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said Monday. In a keynote address at the US Air Force's second annual Energy Forum in Arlington, Virginia, Barbour said energy policies have failed in the past because they've been "trumped" by environmental policies and interests. That's one of the reasons for the lack of new refineries and nuclear plants in the US, he said. In Mississippi, Entergy is considering building a second unit at the Grand Gulf nuclear station, and the local government has embraced the project, Barbour said. Cindy Tyndell, FPL Energy's executive director of development, was more pessimistic about her company's prospects for nuclear expansion, saying she doesn't "foresee any new plants" coming online any time soon. --Jenny Weil, jenny_weil@platts.com ------------ US NRC accepts Mitsubishi US-APWR reactor design for review Washington (Platts)--29Feb2008 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has accepted for review Mitsubishi Heavy Industries' application for certification of its US Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor design, the agency said Friday. Mitsubishi filed the application in December for the 1,700 MW design. If the NRC certifies the design, companies applying for licenses to build new nuclear power plants in the US "could choose to use the design and reference it in the application," the NRC said. "Safety issues resolved within the scope of the design certification are not subject to litigation with respect to that individual license application, although site-specific design information and environmental impacts associated with building and operating the plant at a particular location could be litigated," the agency said. Bill Borchardt, director of NRC's Office of New Reactors, said in a statement that the commission is "expecting an application later this year from a company that wants permission to build and operate a US-APWR in Texas." The design certification review is expected to continue "at least into 2011," Borchardt said. --Steven Dolley, steven_dolley@platts.com ------------ OPG reports lower 2007 nuclear generation Washington (Platts)--29Feb2008 Ontario Power Generation's three nuclear stations produced 44.2 terawatt-hours in 2007, down from 46.9 TWh in 2006, the utility said February 29 in releasing financial results. Production at Pickering A (units 1-4) decreased primarily due to a requirement to perform modifications to a backup electrical system, and repair work required due to a component failure during inspection, OPG said. Also, production at Pickering B (units 5-8) during first-quarter 2007 was affected by an inadvertent release of resin by a third-party contractor from the water treatment plant into the demineralized water system, OPG said. OPG said its four-reactor Darlington station had a capability factor of 89.5% in 2007. OPG reported net income of (Cdn)$528 million for 2007, up from $490 million the previous year. ------------