Platts - Friday, May 02, 2008 http://www.platts.com ------------ PNM reaches deals for its share of Palo Verde-3 output Washington (Platts)--1May2008 PNM has made deals to sell its share of power from Palo Verde-3, about 135 MW, the parent of the New Mexico utility said May 1. PNM Resources said the long-term power sale deals began May 1 and run through December 31, 2010. A spokesman for PNM Resources declined to identify the buyers. The company said the agreements are the latest step in executing PNM's strategy of separating its merchant activities from its regulated operations. As part of the sales agreements, PNM will receive about $70 million in pre-payments. ------------ More time needed to review Yucca application: Nevada lawmakers Washington (Platts)--30Apr2008 Nevada's congressional delegation has asked the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to extend the filing deadline for petitions and contentions related to the licensing of a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The lawmakers said Wednesday in a letter to the agency that parties to licensing should have up to 180 days after an application is docketed, or accepted for review, to file. NRC regulations now have a 30-day deadline for filing. The lawmakers, all of whom oppose the Department of Energy's plan to dispose of utility spent nuclear fuel and defense high-level waste at Yucca Mountain, said that DOE has generated more than 30 million pages of data, studies and analyses that it considers relevant to licensing. "Even if these documents were 'quick reads,' like novels, a person would need over 400 days, at eight hours per day, just to read them once-through," the letter said. "We are asking for less than half of that." If licensed by NRC, DOE would be authorized to construct a repository deep within the mountain, roughly 95 miles outside Las Vegas, that would be used to dispose of up to 70,000 metric tons of radioactive waste. ------------ TMI security officer suspended for inattentiveness while on duty Washington (Platts)--30Apr2008 A Three Mile Island security officer was suspended April 29 for being "inattentive" on duty, Exelon Nuclear spokeswoman Elizabeth Rapczynski said April 30. She declined to say whether the officer was asleep when he was discovered in a rooftop enclosure by a supervisor. The officer's access to the plant has been suspended pending further investigation, Rapczynski said. "At no time was the safety or security of the plant jeopardized," she said. NRC Region I spokeswoman Diane Screnci said April 30 that the NRC was notified of the incident April 29 and is "following up on it." Typically, Screnci said, such follow-up involves assuring that the licensee "has taken the appropriate steps" to investigate and address the incident. Both Rapczynski and Screnci said the officer's inattentiveness appears to be an isolated incident, unlike the situation at Exelon Nuclear's Peach Bottom last year where 10 Wackenhut contract security officers were found to have helped one another evade discovery while sleeping on duty. ------------ Uranium's long-term price drops to around $90/lb Washington (Platts)--29Apr2008 Uranium's long-term price has dropped to around $90 a pound U308, the first change in this indicator in about 11 months. In its April 28 report, Ux Consulting lowered its long-term price by $5/lb to $90/lb, saying that "a majority of base prices in long-term offers are still grouped right at the previous $95 reported price; however, a new lower price level has started to emerge." TradeTech, which kept its long-term price at $95/lb in its April 25 report, is likely to drop its long-term price later this week, a market analyst said. While some sellers are still making offers at $95/lb, there are "no willing buyers" at that level, this analyst said, adding that he was aware of at least one -- and possibly several -- recent offers with a long-term base price below $90/lb. The spot price, meanwhile, remained at $65/lb this week, according to both TradeTech and Ux Consulting. Buyers were said to be holding back from entering the market, waiting to see if the price continues to drop. Sellers, on the other hand, appear reluctant to make any offers now below $65/lb. According to Ux Consulting, "Buyers and sellers are at an apparent stand off with respect to spot delivery." The Platts' NuclearFuel spot uranium price range for this week was $61-$67/lb U3O8. ------------ Areva to supply MOX fuel to Kansai Electric Paris (Platts)--28Apr2008 Areva will supply mixed-oxide, or MOX, fuel to Kansai Electric Power Co. under a contract with the Japanese utility and Nuclear Fuel Industries, which is Kansai Electric's vendor for the contract, Areva said April 28. The contract calls for Areva to supply 16 MOX fuel assemblies for the Takahama-3 and -4 PWRs. The assemblies will be made in Areva's Melox facility from plutonium recovered from reprocessing of Kansai's spent fuel at Areva's La Hague complex. Melox has fabricated more than 1,300 metric tons heavy metal of MOX fuel to date, Areva said, making it the world's leading producer of the uranium-plutonium fuel. ------------ Survey finds 59% support building more US nuclear power plants Washington (Platts)--25Apr2008 Fifty-nine percent of Americans said the US should "definitely" build more nuclear power plants, according to a survey released April 25 by the Nuclear Energy Institute. The percentage of respondents who "strongly" or "somewhat" agreed that more reactors should "definitely" be built was about the same, at 29% and 30%, respectively, the survey said. Also, 63% favor the use of nuclear power to provide electricity in the US, while 33% are opposed, it said. The survey ranked nuclear energy fifth (53%) among the sources of electricity that survey participants expected to be used most in the US 15 years from now. Solar energy was first, with 72%, followed by wind (65%), natural gas (59%), and hydro (54%). Oil was sixth, with 46%, and coal seventh with 40%. Seventy-nine percent supports the use of federal incentives, such as tax credits, to promote the development of carbon-free energy technologies, including nuclear, NEI said. Seventy-seven percent of those surveyed support federal loan guarantees for companies that build solar, wind or new nuclear power plants "or other energy technology that reduces greenhouse gases to jump-start investment in these critical energy facilities," NEI said. The telephone survey of 1,000 adults was conducted April 10-13 by Bisconti Research Inc. with Gfk NOP and has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points, NEI said. ------------