Platts - Friday, June 13, 2008 http://www.platts.com ------------ South African Cabinet approves nuclear energy policy Washington (Platts)--12Jun2008 South Africa's cabinet approved the country's nuclear energy policy June 12, following consideration of public comments received since the draft policy document was issued in August 2007, the government said. In a statement, it said the policy aims "to increase the role of nuclear energy as part of the process of diversifying our primary energy sources to ensure energy security" and "ensure the reduction of our over-reliance on coal," which would reduce South Africa's greenhouse gas emissions, which are among the world's highest. The Department of Minerals and Energy is "finalizing an implementation plan in consultation with key stakeholders," the government said. In its draft form, the policy aimed at a complete indigenous nuclear fuel cycle, including enrichment and reprocessing/recycling and formation of a South African nuclear industry to participate in building a series of nuclear power plants by 2025. It also supports state-owned utility Eskom's plans to build both PWRs and a series of helium-cooled Pebble Bed Modular Reactors and proposes several institutional changes. The Cape region, far from the country's coalfields, has been suffering increasing brownouts and Eskom is planning to build up to 4,000 MW of large PWRs in the region in the near term. ------------ Congress bills to limit US, Saudi Arabia nuke trade Washington (Platts)--12Jun2008 Resolutions introduced Thursday in the US House of Representatives and the Senate seek to restrict US nuclear power cooperation with Saudi Arabia and instead encourage the development of solar power there. Representative Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Senator Charles Schumer of New York -- both Democrats -- introduced the resolutions to overturn President Bush's support last month of building new nuclear power in Saudi Arabia, even though the country is home to the largest oil reserves in the world. Furthermore, they said that the country should be developing solar power at a massive scale, given its extremely sunny climate. Markey worried that handing over such sensitive knowledge to Saudi Arabia would aid in "fueling a nascent nuclear arms race in the Middle East" since many believe Iran wants to develop a nuclear weapon despite professing that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes like generating electricity. "A potential Saudi nuclear power program is just as suspicious," he said. "[Saudi Arabia feels] threatened by the rise of Iran and they want to guarantee that Saudi Arabia too can play the nuclear game." Schumer said that he has yet to talk with Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat, but he already has reached out to several Republicans including members of the leadership. Markey, one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's closest allies, said the measure soon will have the support of at least six Republicans. The resolutions were made in disapproval of a memorandum of understanding that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs signed on May 16, during Rice's visit to Saudi Arabia. They would have Congress "affirm the strong and historic ties" between the US and Saudi Arabia, but disapprove of the MOU. The measures also would encourage the two nations to "enter into full cooperation in the development of renewable energy sources in Saudi Arabia, including a solar energy program that takes advantage of that country's strong solar energy potential." The resolutions would reiterate the US commitment to non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and to preventing Iran from acquiring such weapons. The resolutions would prohibit the US from entering into a nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia, and bar the export or transfer to Saudi Arabia of "nuclear materials and equipment or sensitive nuclear technology" and other "nuclear-related items" if "the end user is a nuclear production or utilization facility, or if the President determines that the material, equipment, technology, or item may be diverted for use in such a facility." Both Markey and Schumer noted the MOU was signed the same day that Bush was rebuffed in his requests for a large increase in oil production to combat rising prices. The effort is similar to one Schumer has backed to not allow the White House to complete a weapons deal with Saudi Arabia unless the country produces more oil. "We wanted to show the Saudis that the relationship had to be a two-way street," he said. Markey said in an opinion editorial in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday that "if this Bush nuclear deal moves forward, Saudi Arabia's petrodollars could flow to the dangerous expansion of nuclear technologies in the most volatile region of the world." He said that "by signing this agreement with the US, Saudi Arabia is warning Iran that two can play the nuclear game." --Steven Dolley, steven_dolley@platts.com --Alexander Duncan, alexander_duncan@platts.com ------------ UK to set up Office of Nuclear Development, presents action plan London (Platts)--12Jun2008 The UK government is to set up a new Office of Nuclear Development within the Department for Business to help promote a new generation of nuclear power plants for the UK, the government said Thursday. The office will support cross-governmental work on nuclear. And Secretary of State for Business John Hutton will chair a new Nuclear Development Forum bringing government together with industry to discuss the key issues. This will be similar to the government/industry PILOT task force for the oil industry. The new office and forum were announced as part of a nuclear action plan Thursday. The UK government needs to fill a looming capacity gap of 20 GW or more of generation that will be lost in coming decades as ageing coal and nuclear power plants are shut down. With coal contributing to global warming and gas prices reaching new highs on a daily basis, the government is keen for nuclear power to fill the gap. Other elements of the plan include publication of the draft criteria for deciding on the siting of new nuclear power stations, to be consulted upon shortly. Hutton is presenting Thursday at a conference in London to promote investment in nuclear. "The UK government has the ambition and commitment to build and maintain the best market in the world for companies to do business in nuclear power," he said in a statement. "The UK must aim to become the world's number one location for new nuclear investment--benefiting from the thousands of jobs and billions of pounds worth of business that this could potentially bring to our country." Other aspects of work to be carried out, said the government, include measures to improve recruitment and retention of staff at the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. Also Thursday the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is to publish its new White Paper, Managing Radioactive Waste Safely: A Framework for Implementing Geological Disposal. This is the next step in putting into place the long term solution to the UK's existing higher activity radioactive waste, the government said. ------------ US DOE ready to talk about spent fuel contracts for new reactors Washington (Platts)--11Jun2008 The US Department of Energy has notified companies interested in building new nuclear reactors in the US that it is ready to begin discussing new standard contracts for the disposal of spent fuel generated by those units, spokeswoman Angela Hill said. Hill confirmed in an e-mail that DOE has developed what she called "an amendment" to the standard contract. Unlike the existing contract, which stipulated that DOE would begin disposing of utility spent fuel by January 31, 1998, the new contracts will not contain specific dates, waste program director Edward Sproat said June 3 following a DOE briefing on the repository license application it had sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that day. Sproat said then that the new contracts might stipulate that DOE is obligated to take that fuel 10 years after a new unit shuts down. No information was available on whether the amendment contains the 10-year requirement. A generating company building a new reactor must have a spent fuel disposal contract in hand before NRC will license the nuclear unit. It does not, however, have to have a contract before it submits an application to NRC for a combined reactor construction permit-operating license. Unlike the existing contracts, which were contained in a DOE regulation, DOE will negotiate these contracts individually with utilities. ------------ NDA to name preferred bidder for Sellafield contract in July Barcelona (Platts)--11Jun2008 The UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority said June 11 it expects next month to name its preferred bidder in the competition for the management and operations contract for Sellafield Ltd. The NDA said it anticipates contract signing in October, with formal transfer by year-end of Sellafield Ltd. shares to the new management contractor for the duration of the anticipated initial five-year contract. As previously announced, the four bidders are: CH2MHill Nuclear Services Ltd.; Fluor Ltd. in partnership with Toshiba; SBB Nuclear, consisting of Serco, Bechtel and Babcock & Wilcox; and Nuclear Management Partners Ltd., consisting of Washington International Holdings Ltd., AMEC and Areva NC. Separately, the NDA announced that CEO Ian Roxburgh will be stepping down at the end of July following the announcement of the preferred bidder for Sellafield. ------------ Three groups file petition opposing TVA's COL filing Washington (Platts)--10Jun2008 Three groups are challenging Tennessee Valley Authority's Bellefonte COL filing, they said in a June 10 statement. The groups -- Bellefonte Efficiency and Sustainability Team, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League, and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy -- said they filed a petition June 6 with the NRC opposing TVA's application for a combined construction permit-operating license, or COL. They said they raised concerns about emissions from the plant, the impacts of water discharges on the Tennessee River's fish, the unsolved problem of disposing of spent fuel, uncertainties about the uranium fuel supply, and the potential for terrorist attacks. ------------ More analysts say bottom finally reached in uranium market Washington (Platts)--10Jun2008 After several weeks of conflicting signals about whether a bottom has been reached in this current spot uranium market cycle, a growing number of analysts are feeling more confident that the spot price will move above $60 a pound U3O8 in the coming weeks rather than continue to weaken. Price-reporting firm TradeTech late Friday kept its spot price at $60/lb, saying that "sellers are testing whether the market has indeed bottomed at current price levels." The company added that it was seeing fewer sellers willing to discount uranium in order to make a deal, and that "the price gap between willing buyers and willing sellers remains narrow." But some analysts said they do not expect the price to show much movement for at least a month if demand does not pick up. And there are still reports of at least one trader that may be willing to part with material at a price slightly below $60/lb. "I think I could still buy 100,000 pounds at $59 and change," one broker told Platts. He added, however, that he is more confident this week that there will be an uptick in the price, but that it will take some negative supply news to push the price above $65. The Platts NuclearFuel range for the week was $58-$64/lb U3O8. --Mike Knapik, newsdesk@platts.com ------------ Prosecutor finds no evidence of crime at Oskarshamn Stockholm (Platts)--9Jun2008 A Swedish prosecutor has closed an investigation of two men suspected of trying to sabotage the Oskarshamn nuclear plant, and said in a statement June 9 that there is no evidence of any crime. The men were arrested May 21. Police and plant management said traces of the explosive triacetone triperoxide, or TAPT, were found on a bag one of the men was carrying, during a random check at the plant entrance. However, they now say that the measurement equipment actually registered traces of TNT. Tests by the Swedish National Laboratory of Forensic Science, showed no traces of TNT. ------------ Uranium Resources revises Q2 production on Rosita restart delay Washington (Platts)--9Jun2008 Uranium Resources said Monday that a delay in the startup of its Rosita wellfield will keep its second quarter 2008 uranium production at close to its current output of 80,000 to 90,000 pounds U308. Uranium Resource said in a May 12 statement that Q2 output could be closer to 95,000 to 105,000 pounds U308 if Rosita restarted in mid-May as planned. Aquifer-related technical issues have caused the delays, but these should be resolved in a few weeks, the company said in its Monday statement. "Once the start-up issues at Rosita are resolved and we have experienced several weeks of wellfield operations, we will be able to determine if we need to adjust our previously anticipated production for 2008," said Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Richard Van Horn. Uranium Resources produced 83,400 pounds of uranium in Q1 2008 and output through May totaled 140,000 pounds. ------------ NRC accepts Vogtle COL application for review Washington (Platts)--6Jun2008 NRC accepted Southern Nuclear Operating Co.'s Vogtle combined construction permit-operating license, or COL, application for a detailed technical review. The agency told Southern Nuclear in a May 30 letter, posted on NRC?s web site on June 6, that it would publish a review schedule for the proposed Vogtle-3 and -4 within 30 days. NRC also reminded Southern Nuclear that the review schedule for Vogtle's application for a COL, would depend largely on the progress of the Westinghouse AP1000 design certification amendment review, as well as the Bellefonte COL filing. Tennessee Valley Authority's Bellefonte is the reference COL application for the AP1000 design. Southern Nuclear, which would operate the two AP1000s, if constructed, submitted the COL request to the NRC on March 24 on behalf of itself and plant owners Georgia Power Co., Oglethorpe Power Corp., Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and the city of Dalton, Georgia. ------------