Platts - Friday, March 14, 2008 http://www.platts.com ------------ US Senate confirms two to seats on Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington (Platts)--14Mar2008 The US Senate late Thursday confirmed Gregory Jaczko to a second term on the the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and approved the nomination of congressional staffer Kristine Svinicki to fill one of two vacancies on the commission. The confirmations came as the Senate was rushing to finish a fiscal 2009 budget resolution and other matters before adjourning for a two-week recess. Earlier on Thursday, Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho threatened to place a hold on Jaczko's reappointment if Svinicki's nomination was not approved at the same time. Craig was concerned that the Democratic leadership might include Jaczko, but not Svinicki, in a list of nominees to be considered under a fast-track approval process. Svinicki has been a staffer for Republican members of the Senate Armed Services Committee since 2004 and worked for seven years before that as a senior policy adviser to Craig. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has been negotiating with the White House for months on a deal to release dozens of presidential nominees for a floor vote in exchange for President Bush nominating Democratic picks for several federal agencies, including NRC. Reid aides last year said the senator wanted the chamber to consider Svinicki and Jaczko as a package to ensure there was a political "balance" on the commission. But Craig last month raised concern that Reid may have been blocking the nominations in an effort to install Jaczko and two other Democratic candidates on the commission. Jaczko was Reid's appropriations director and his science adviser, before joining the NRC in January 2005. The agency's rules allow no more than three of the five commissioners to be from any single political party. Under the current composition, there are two Republican commissioners -- Chairman Dale Klein and Commissioner Peter Lyons -- and Jaczko, the sole Democrat. --Jenny Weil, jenny_weil@platts.com ------------ DOE airing new management proposal for nuke waste program: Sproat Washington (Platts)--13Mar2008 Handing over the US Department of Energy's nuclear waste disposal program to a government-owned corporation would give the project management stability it does not now have, program director Edward Sproat told an industry conference on Thursday. In remarks to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Regulatory Information Conference in Rockville, Maryland, Sproat said DOE is currently "socializing" the concept and is informing officials within the administration and in Congress about what such a move would entail. Sproat said the discussions are designed to determine whether "we reach a critical mass of opinion that says we should do it." He added that any legislation to transfer the program to a government corporation must address such issues as Nuclear Waste Fund payments, long-term contracting authority, land withdrawal issues at the repository site and long-term liability. Sproat's comments come a day after a nuclear industry official said the administration is ready to propose transferring the program to a government-owned corporation. Nuclear Energy Institute spokesman John Keeley on Wednesday the agency has already submitted its plan to the White House and industry expects the proposal to be made public shortly after the department files its Yucca Mountain licening application with the NRC. Sproat on Thursday said DOE plans to submit that application to NRC in June, kicking off what could be a three- to six-month review before regulators can determine whether the application is acceptable. Sproat also said Chris Kouts has been named the waste program's principal deputy director. Sproat, a presidential appointee, said Kouts will head the program after Sproat leaves the department. --Elaine Hiruo, elaine_hiruo@platts.com ------------ Bruce Power completes Energy Alberta purchase Washington (Platts)--13Mar2008 Bruce Power announced March 13 the closing of its takeover of Energy Alberta and the filing of an application with Canadian regulators to pursue potential construction of new reactors in Alberta. Under a deal announced in December 2007, Bruce Power agreed to continue with Energy Alberta's plans to build four reactors -- totaling up to 4,000 MW -- in Alberta's Peace River district. The first unit could be ready as early as 2017, pending completion of a full environmental assessment and consultations with local communities, said the new company, Bruce Power Alberta. Bruce Power Alberta said it has not picked a specific reactor design. Energy Alberta had planned to build two twin-unit plants using Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.'s advanced Candu design and to use the reactors in northwest Alberta to extract bitumen from the region's vast oil sands. ------------ NRC sees three applications for new uranium recovery operations Washington (Platts)--13Mar2008 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has received three new applications to recover uranium using the in-situ leaching, or ISL, process, Charles Miller, NRC's director for the Office of Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs, said Wednesday. All of the ISL operations would in Wyoming, he said. Testifying before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Miller said the agency is expecting 15 more applications for new uranium recovery sites. Miller said NRC also anticipates applications for at least three applications for restarts and expansions of existing facilities in the next few years. NRC said existing facilities and potential new sites are in Wyoming, New Mexico, Nebraska, South Dakota, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, and Utah. In October 2007, Energy Metals became the first company in 19 years to submit an application to NRC for a new uranium mining license. In the ISL recovery process, treated water is injected into the ore deposit. The ore is dissolved in the solution and pumped to the surface for recovery. ------------ INPO chief stresses importance of safety culture Washington (Platts)--12Mar2008 The nuclear industry has an obligation to build a strong safety culture, Institute of Nuclear Power Operations CEO and President James Ellis said March 12. Ellis' speech at the NRC's Regulatory Information Conference in Rockville, Maryland marked the first time in the conference's 20-year history an INPO chief has given an address. Ellis said safety culture is "not a program, handbook or checklist." Rather, it underpins the operations of a plant, he said. He urged companies to "constantly reinforce" a strong safety culture and frequently assess the culture. ------------ Bodman foresees uranium inventory release to meet 10% of US need Washington (Platts)--12Mar2008 Releasing the US Department of Energy's uranium into the marketplace in quantities representing about 10% of total annual fuel requirements "should not have an adverse material impact on the domestic uranium industry," Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Wednesday. In a policy statement on management of DOE's inventory of excess uranium, Bodman said DOE "anticipates that it may introduce into the domestic market, in any given year, less than that amount, or, in some years for certain special purposes such as the provision of initial core loads for new reactors, more than that amount." Bodman said that in the coming years, DOE expects to downblend "most" of its excess high-enriched uranium into low-enriched uranium, or LEU. The department also is "evaluating the desirability of enriching a portion" of its natural-uranium inventories, Bodman said. The assessment will take into account "costs, market conditions, programmatic priorities and potential uses," he said. --Daniel Horner, daniel_horner@platts.com ------------ UK reprocessing plant expected to restart by end of March London (Platts)--11Mar2008 The UK's Thorp reprocessing plant should restart by the end of March, said its owner, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and its operator, Sellafield Ltd., March 10. Thorp is expected to continue with a reprocessing campaign that started when spent fuel began being cut up January 28, but that was halted later that day after the failure of an elevator mechanism that lifts the spent fuel into the facility. "The elevator has been fully refurbished and is being re-commissioned," Sellafield Ltd. spokeswoman Ali McKibbin said March 11. She said it would like be "a number of days" before Thorp can recommence cutting up spent fuel. The upcoming reprocessing campaign will be the second at Thorp since the facility was shut down in April 2005 following a spill of highly radioactive liquid from primary to secondary containment. The first campaign to shear 33 metric tons of advanced gas-cooled reactor, or AGR, spent fuel was completed in August 2007. The resulting dissolved fuel was processed in the Thorp chemical plants in November 2007. The second campaign is due to reprocess up to 100 mt of British Energy's AGR and overseas customers' LWR spent fuel. ------------ Progress Energy Florida files plan to build two nuclear units Washington (Platts)--11Mar2008 Progress Energy Florida filed a plan with state regulators that outlines its need for electricity and proposes to meet that need by building two new nuclear units at a greenfield site in Levy County, the company said Tuesday. The filing is one step in a lengthy process to see that nuclear power remains a viable option to meet growing demand for electricity, along with other resources and significant energy efficiency and demand response programs, the utility said. The two nuclear units are estimated to cost about $14 billion, which includes prices for land, plant components, financing costs, construction, labor, regulatory fees and reactor fuel. The utility also estimates spending $3 billion for the needed transmission facilities to integrate the project with its existing transmission system. If the two units are approved by federal and state regulators and built, they are expected to begin operating in 2016 and 2017, respectively, and they would be among the first nuclear plants on a greenfield site in more than 30 years, Progress Energy Florida said. The Levy County site's proximity to the utility's existing Crystal River nuclear plant would provide opportunities for efficiencies in shared support functions at both facilities, the company said. Other steps in the company's plan, besides the filing for a determination of need with the Florida Public Service Commission, include other state approvals and a combined operating license application with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which are expected to be filed later this year. The company has selected the Westinghouse AP-1000 design for the proposed nuclear units, which would have a capacity of 1,100 MW. Progress Energy Carolinas also has selected the Westinghouse design for two new units it may build at its Harris nuclear plant near New Hill, North Carolina, the company said late last month. ------------ Safety report on North Anna's COL application set for 2010 Washington (Platts)--10Mar2008 A final safety evaluation report on the North Anna combined construction permit-operating license, or COL, application is expected to be issued in August 2010, following the scheduled December 2009 issuance of a final environmental impact statement, NRC said in a just-released projected review schedule. The safety and environmental reports are the two major pieces of the NRC staff's review of a request for a COL. The schedule, however, depends heavily on the design certification schedule for GE's ESBWR, which is referenced in Dominion's North Anna COL application. Any changes to the ESBWR schedule could impact the North Anna COL review schedule, NRC said. A mandatory hearing also must take place before the commissioners issue a final decision. The staff said the hearing schedule will be set by the commissioners or an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board. ------------ Florida PSC staff says FP&L should be allowed to build two nukes Birmingham, Alabama (Platts)--10Mar2008 The Florida Public Service Commission staff on Monday recommended that Florida Power & Light be allowed to build two new nuclear units at its Turkey Point plant. The staff said FPL needs the plants to provide adequate electricity at a reasonable cost over the long term. "Nuclear generation would also provide a non-carbon emitting source of baseload power to satisfy the continued growth of Florida's energy needs," the staff said. FPL is considering reactors designed by Westinghouse and General Electric. The Westinghouse design would provide about 1,100 MW per unit and the GE design would provide about 1,500 MW per unit. FPL projects it will need an additional 6,156 MW by 2018-2020, primarily to serve its growing load. Without the nuclear units FPL's generation mix is projected to be 75% natural gas and 16% nuclear. The addition of 2,200 MW to 3,000 MW associated with the two new units would increase nuclear generation's share to 26% and natural gas' to 65%. FPL and the PSC were not immediately available for comment on when the regulator will deal with the staff recommendation. ------------ Tampa Electric mulls nuclear option, JV with Progress or FP&L Birmingham, Alabama (Platts)--10Mar2008 Tampa Electric said Monday it is considering the possibility of partnering with an experienced nuclear power plant operator to buy up to 600 MW from a new unit. The company is performing preliminary studies now, spokesman Rick Morera said. "Internally we're looking at potential scenarios as it relates to either Progress Energy or Florida Power & Light," he said. The issue is complicated by the fact the company has a baseload need for 500 MW to 600 MW by 2013, Morera said. The earliest either FPL or Progress would have a nuclear plant online in Florida would be 2018, he said. Tampa Electric will put out a request for proposals for 500 MW to 600 MW within the next six months to fill the 2013 need, not February as previously suggested, Morera said. The utility also expects to make a decision in "the very near future" on proposals it received in response to 150-MW renewable energy RFP, Morera said. In June 2007, it sought hydrogen, biomass, solar energy, geothermal energy, ocean energy, waste heat, wind, or hydroelectric proposals. ------------ Ontario invites proposals for new reactors Washington (Platts)--7Mar2008 The Ontario government is inviting four vendors to participate in its request for proposal, or RFP, process for new reactors. Ontario's 20-year energy plan includes replacing aging reactors to maintain the current nuclear capacity of 14,000 MW, according to the Ministry of Energy. Ontario Minister of Energy Gerry Phillips announced March 7 a two-phase competitive RFP. In the first phase, Ontario is inviting the following vendors to submit proposals for new reactors: Areva NP's 1,600-MW US-EPR, Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.'s 1,100-MW ACR-1000, GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy's 1,500-MW ESBWR, and Westinghouse Electric Co.'s 1,100-MW AP1000. Responses are due in May. The second phase, involving negotiations with the selected vendor, will begin at the end of June, said George Nutter, a spokesman in the energy ministry's office. He said it was unclear when that phase would end. ------------ US DOE seeks uranium mining bids on 19 tracts in Colorado Washington (Platts)--7Mar2008 The US Department of Energy's Office of Legacy Management began accepting bids Friday from companies wanting to mine uranium on 19 tracts of federal land in southwestern Colorado. The tracts, which are in the Uravan Mineral Belt in Colorado, range in size from 22 acres to nearly 4,000 acres. DOE said these mostly inactive mines consist mainly of carnotite ores containing both uranium and vanadium. DOE said it was offering the additional mining leases to take advantage of high uranium prices and to contribute to the domestic market for this ore. Uranium from mines on DOE-leased land makes up about 1.5% of the US production, according to Steve Schiesswohl, program manager of DOE's leasing program. In 2007, DOE said it would offer leases on up to 25 additional tracts of land. Schiesswohl said in an interview that DOE decided to consolidate some of the tracts because they were adjacent to each other. He said one site was eliminated because it was uneconomical. Each lease lasts 10 years. According to DOE, production from its leased tracts could approach 2 million lb of U308 annually in a world market that produces about 100 million lb. Government royalties from uranium and vanadium leases could total $10 million annually, it said. Very little production occurred on DOE's leased tracts during the 1990s, it said. However, the department said that mining activities were resumed on seven leased tracts after demand for uranium and vanadium increased during the last three years. The largest tract, totaling 3,988.61 acres, that DOE is offering to lease was relinquished by the former lease holder in 1994. DOE started accepting bids on its web site at noon MST. The deadline for bids is May 9. DOE plans to hold a public bid opening in mid-May in Denver, where it will notify the highest bidders. The department then will have 30 days to perform due diligence and will select the winning bids around mid-June, said DOE spokesman Bob Darr. DOE said bidders must be prepared to mine the tracts rather than to hold on to them for speculative purposes. --Amena Saiyid, amena_saiyid@platts.com ------------