Platts - Thursday, March 20, 2008 http://www.platts.com ------------ France's Areva, Technip form joint venture to hike uranium output Paris (Platts)--20Mar2008 France's Areva and Technip on Thursday said they have joined forces to accelerate uranium production at Areva mines in Africa. The nuclear group said the joint venture, known as the TSU Project, will team Areva engineering unit SGN with Technip, a major French energy engineering group. Areva said the group will focus initially on accelerating production from its deposits at Imouraren in Niger and Trekkopie in Namibia. Areva said it will spend Eur3 billion over the next five years to double its uranium production, opening about 10 new production sites worldwide. Areva produced 6,000 metric tons of uranium from its mines in 2007. Technip, one of the world leaders in oil and gas engineering, has experience in managing major international projects as well as in mining and metals. ------------ NuScale developers want pre-application review by NRC Washington (Platts)--19Mar2008 Developers of the NuScale reactor want a pre-application review by the NRC staff, which it estimates might take between 18 and 24 months. A letter sent by NuScale Power Inc. to the NRC in January, and released publicly March 19, asked that pre-application discussions begin in August. The company, which was created last year to commercialize the design, said it planned to submit an application in 2010. The reactor is an LWR, cooled by natural circulation, with an electrical output of about 45 MW. The rights to the reactor, originally called the Multi-Application Small Light Water Reactor, were transferred to NuScale Power in November, the company said. ------------ US nuke plants to boost capacity by 1,751 MW over five years: NRC Washington (Platts)--19Mar2008 The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission expects over the next five years to receive 24 applications to boost the capacity of existing US nuclear fleet by about 1,751 MW. For fiscal 2008, which began October 1, 2007, NRC approved five requests -- a 1.6% thermal power increase at Crystal River-3, or about 13 MW, 13% increases at Susquehanna-1 and -2, or about 154 MW each and 1.7% increases at Vogtle-1 and -2, or about 20 MW. According to information posted on the NRC web site, there are nine pending applications: Browns Ferry-1, -2, and -3 (15% uprate request, or about 165 MW each), Hope Creek (15%, or 167 MW), Davis-Besse (1.6%, or 15 MW), Millstone-3 (7%, or 80 MW, Comanche Peak-1 and -2 (4.5%, or 51 MWE each) and Cooper (1.6%, or 13 MW). Decisions on most of these applications are expected between spring and fall, NRC said, adding that it is expected two each for so-called measurement uncertainty recapture (MUR) and extended power uprates. NRC has three categories of uprates: MUR, which increases of less than 2%, "stretch power" uprates of up to 7% and extended power uprates above 7% and up to 20%. Eleven applications are expected in fiscal 2009, according to NRC. Six of those applications would be for extended power uprates and five would be for MUR uprates. NRC said it expects uprate requests in fiscal 2009 to total about 655 MW. The NRC in fiscal 2007 approved only one request for an uprate -- a 5% increase at Browns Ferry-1, which was returned to service in May after being idled for 22 years. The total increase in generating capacity was about 55 MW. NRC said at it expects six uprate applications in fiscal 2010 for about 456 MW, two applications in fiscal 2011 for 298 MW and one application in fiscal 2012 for 74 MW. NRC does not name the expected applicants on its web site. But in a recent response to a Freedom of Information Act request, NRC identified a few of the plants, including Monticello and Nine Mile Point-2 in fiscal 2008, Fort Calhoun, Turkey Point-3 and -4, and St. Lucie-1 and -2 in fiscal 2009, Crystal River-3 and another, larger uprate request from Fort Calhoun in fiscal 2010 and Perry in fiscal 2011. --Jenny Weil, jenny_weil@platts.com ------------ Panel to evaluate safety at Indian Point nuclear plant: Entergy Washington (Platts)--19Mar2008 Entergy Nuclear said Wednesday that an independent panel of experts will conduct a safety evaluation of its Indian Point plant in what the company called "an effort to provide public assurances about the operation and protection of New York's largest nuclear power facility." Chief Nuclear Officer Michael Kansler said the company hopes the independent evaluation -- which will supplement the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's routine assessments -- will be "another step in building confidence in Indian Point's safety and security." The evaluation will involve the plant's implementation of nuclear safety requirements, regulatory compliance, conduct of operations and plant material condition. It will also look at Indian Point's capability to deal with credible security events, including those involving terrorist attacks, the company said. Entergy is seeking NRC permission to extend Indian Point's operating license for 20 extra years. The company's plan -- and NRC's license renewal process -- has been challenged by several environmental groups and by state officials. Indian Point is about 25 miles from New York City. The company recently admitted making mistakes in trying to install a new alert notification system for residents around the plant and paid a $650,000 fine for missing deadlines imposed by NRC orders. Entergy said the panel's co-chairs would be James Rhodes and Neil Todreas. Rhodes is the retired chairman and CEO of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations. Todreas is the Korea Electric Power professor of nuclear engineering and a professor of nuclear science and engineering and mechanical engineering emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The panel's evaluation will begin March 27 with a visit to the plant. ------------ North American uranium producer says spot price at or near bottom Barcelona (Platts)--19Mar2008 The CEO of North American uranium producer Denison Mines on Wednesday said he believes the spot price of uranium, currently at $74/pound U308, has reached or is close to a bottom. "We expect the spot price to recover [during 2008] and to trade at or above the long-term price," which currently sits at $95/pound U308, Peter Farmer, CEO of the Toronto-based company said in releasing the company's fourth-quarter and full-year 2007 financial results. Farmer said uranium supply is not keeping up with demand, adding that there are now 34 nuclear reactors under construction in 12 countries. Uranium supplies from government stockpiles and utility inventories also are failing to keep pace with yearly increases in demand, which Farmer said is increasing at an annual rate of 2%. And increasing production of mine uranium is proving challenging, he said. Farmer said that in the fourth quarter of 2007, Denison's US-sourced uranium sold for an average of $89.84/pound and its Canadian uranium sold for an average price $74.37/pound. Full-year 2007 average sales prices were $99.11/pound for US production and $74.91/pound for Canadian production, he said. Farmer said Denison expects to increase production in 2008 by 200% to 2.1 million to 2.4 million pounds U308. The company expects to sell 1.7 million pounds of that 2008 production "at or near market prices," he added. --David Stellfox, david_stellfox@platts.com ------------ NRC nears end of initial review of digital upgrades at Oconee Washington (Platts)--18Mar2008 The initial review of Duke Energy's request to modernize Oconee's analog reactor trip system and emergency safeguards actuation system with digital technology should be complete by the month's end, NRC staff said at a March 18 meeting. NRC managers called Duke's license amendment request one of the most significant licensing actions now before the agency. If approved, the upgrade would be the most extensive use of digital technology at a US plant. Duke made two submittals comprising the request, on January 30 and 31. The first submittal, addressing cyber security features of the reactor protective system and engineered safeguards protective system, or RPS/ESPS, was withheld because it contains sensitive information. The second submittal, which is the main part of its request, was publicly released on NRC's electronic database March 17 under accession number ML080730339. Duke officials say they hope the staff will approve the amendment at least seven months ahead of a scheduled fall 2009 refueling outage, at which time it would make design changes at Oconee-1. It plans to make changes at units 3 and 2 during refueling outages in fall 2010 and 2011, respectively. ------------ US EIA to offer GHG bill assessment in 'about two weeks': Caruso Washington (Platts)--18Mar2008 The US Energy Information Administration will release in "about two weeks" its assessment of climate legislation currently pending before the US Senate, EIA Administrator Guy Caruso said Tuesday. Connecticut Independent Joe Lieberman and Virginia Republican John Warner are sponsors of the bill, which would set up a cap-and-trade program to limit greenhouse gas emissions from the electric power, natural gas and transportation fuel sectors. The bill is scheduled to reach the Senate floor in June after Congress returns from its May recess, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairwoman Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, said March 12. Given constraints on nuclear power plant construction, Caruso said the agency expects US natural gas demand and prices will go up, but he declined to say by how much. Meanwhile, Caruso acknowleged criticism of EIA's National Energy Modeling System, but said the agency "has to work within existing policy." Critics of the model, including the American Gas Association, Natural Gas Supply Association and Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, have daid it assumes the US will build 140 new nuclear plants by 2025. Caruso noted the US has not built a new nuclear plant since 1977. --Rodney White, rodney_white@platts.com ------------ NRC approves final rule on security-related information Washington (Platts)--17Mar2008 A final rule to amend NRC's regulations on the handling and designation of security-related information was approved March 17 by the NRC commissioners. The rule "reflects changes to the threat environment" since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, including the need to protect as "safeguards information," or SGI, certain security information "held by a broader group of licensees," NRC said. SGI is considered to be a category of sensitive unclassified information. NRC said that "individuals provided access to SGI must have a valid 'need to know' the information, and be authorized for access based on a background check for trustworthiness and reliability." ------------ British Energy confirms in talks over future, takeover possible Brussels (Platts)--17Mar2008 The board of British nuclear generator British Energy Monday confirmed that it was in talks with "interested parties" about BE's future and its plans "to take a pivotal role in any new nuclear program." "These discussions could lead to a business combination or an offer for the company, although there can be no certainty that any offer will be made," BE said in a statement. In February BE described media reports that BE was considering breaking itself up into two companies, one managing its current group of power plants and one to build a new generation of nuclear plant, as "complete fabrication." BE owns and operates the UK's newest nuclear power plants, as well as a coal-fired plant at Eggborough. It is 39% owned by the UK government. In February it announced a 10% year-on-year drop in March-December 2007 operating profit to GBP563 million. Its CEO Bill Coley said then: "We are in discussions with 10-plus potential partners [for new build projects] and the discussions have been fairly detailed." He said then that an update on progress of the negotiations would be made at the end of the financial year. Analysts at Barclays Capital said they would view a takeover of BE negatively in a note Monday. "In our opinion, it has suffered operationally from low output due to technical issues with a number of its nuclear plants," they said. "Although ownership of the company would provide an acquirer with a strong position to participate in UK nuclear new build, we believe this could be achieved without acquiring the company and taking on the operational problems of its old, unique AGR plants." ------------ Ringhals' 2007 production below management expectations Washington (Platts)--14Mar2008 Ringhals' production was "somewhat worse than expected" for 2007, management at the Swedish plant said in a statement March 14. Management did not specify how much production was off from what was planned for the year, but said the decline was primarily because modernization work took longer than expected. The plant produced 25.5 terawatt-hours for the year. In 2006, the plant's four reactors produced 27 TWh, the second best year on record, although management said it was not as good as hoped for at the beginning of the year. ------------