Platts - Thursday, June 19, 2008 http://www.platts.com ------------ Alstom to provide steam turbine retrofits at six Exelon reactors Washington (Platts)--18Jun2008 Alstom said it will provide steam turbine retrofits at six Exelon reactors at three plant sites under an agreement valued at about $420 million. In a June 18 statement, Alstom said it will "supply and install steam turbine retrofit equipment" at Dresden-2 and -3 and Quad Cities-1 and -2 in Illinois and at Peach Bottom-2 and -3 in Pennsylvania. The retrofits are expected to increase output by about 40 MW per unit, Alstom said. Alstom spokesman Steven Goldberg said June 18 that the first retrofit will be done during a spring 2010 refueling outage at one of the Quad Cities units, with work at the other five reactors to be completed during refueling outages between 2011 and 2013. ------------ US energy spending bill will kill funding for GNEP Washington (Platts)--18Jun2008 A US House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee unanimously approved a Department of Energy funding bill Tuesday that would fully fund a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, while eliminating funding for the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, the international spent fuel reprocessing program. The bill, which would fund DOE along with a variety of other federal agencies for the fiscal year beginning October 1, would provide $495 million for the permanent nuclear waste repository 90 miles from Las Vegas, which would house waste from the nation's nuclear power reactors. This is the same amount requested by President George Bush in his fiscal 2009 budget. "I support Yucca," said US Representative Pete Visclosky, the Indiana Democrat who heads the Energy and Water subcommittee. Visclosky acknowledged, however, that he and Representative David Hobson, an Ohio Republican, influenced only half of the legislative process that would create the final energy spending bill. The Senate subcommittee, headed by Chairman Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, is likely to grant DOE a much smaller allocation for Yucca. The site is opposed by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. Visclosky's panel made no provision for the GNEP, which the chairman called "counterproductive, poorly designed and poorly executed." The bill did set aside an unrequested $500 million for Energy Independence and Security Act programs including grants to help corn-based biorefineries convert to cellulosic biorefineries, $295 million for energy efficiency block grants, and "sufficient funding" to provide $1 billion in direct loans for an EISA advanced vehicles incentive program. The measure would also fully fund a weatherization assistance program for low-income residents which is popular with both House and Senate Democrats, but for which the Bush administration did not request any fiscal 2009 funding. It would receive $250 million. The bill would also provide $4.86 billion for DOE science and research efforts, $140 million more than the president requested and $844 billion more than was provided for the current fiscal year. The committee also accepted the administration's proposal to extend a loan guarantee program for new energy technologies through fiscal 2011. Visclosky expressed regret that his subcommittee could not fully fund environmental cleanup at DOE, blaming the necessary constraints of the congressional budget. "Nobody got everything they needed," he said. The bill does provide $463.5 million for cleanup, up from an administration-requested $242 million. --Jean Chemnick, jean_chemnick@platts.com ------------ McCain advocates building new US nuclear plants Washington (Platts)--17Jun2008 Senator John McCain advocated June 17 building nuclear power plants in the US, noting that other countries have been expanding their use. The US must shift its energy economy toward a sustainable mix of new and cleaner power sources, including nuclear energy, McCain said. His comments about nuclear energy were included in remarks prepared for delivery at a campaign event attended by supporters in Houston. McCain, of Arizona, is the presumptive Republican nominee for US president. "Nuclear power is among the surest ways to gain a clean, abundant, and stable energy supply, as other nations understand," he said. While other countries have been building new reactors, "we've waited so long that we've lost our domestic capability to even build these power plants," he said. He noted that China, Russia and India have ambitious plans to build new reactors, "and if they have the vision to set and carry out great goals in energy policy, then why don't we?" ------------ US nuclear revival would create tens of thousand of jobs: study Washington (Platts)--17Jun2008 A nuclear revival in the US could create "tens of thousands" of high-paying jobs if the 30 reactors currently in the planning stages are built, according to a paper released Tuesday by the pro-nuclear Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, or CASEnergy. The paper said that as many as 4,000 workers might be needed during the height of each project, and that between 400 and 700 permanent positions would be created to support the operations of each new reactor. The figure for the peak period of construction is much higher than the 2,400-worker estimate previously cited by the Nuclear Energy Institute. But neither CASEnergy nor NEI specified whether the 4,000 or 2,400 jobs were needed to build one or two units. NEI has said that building a plant would create about an average of 1,400 to 1,800 jobs. CASEnergy, which was established in 2006, comprises various companies, business and labor groups and elected officials who support nuclear power. Funding for much of the coalition's early activities was provided by NEI. The coalition is headed by Christine Todd Whitman, a former New Jersey governor and Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace. The CASEnergy paper said that between 12,000 and 21,000 new jobs could be added to the market if the 30-plus reactors are built. It said the average salaries for plant workers are often "substantially more" than the pay for other jobs near the plant. The paper cited the median salary for a senior reactor operator as $85,426 and said a reactor operator would receive $77,782. Electrical technicians can earn about $67,517 and mechanical technicians are paid about $66,581, the paper said. The jobs range from engineers to radiation protection specialists to maintenance and skilled craft workers and plant operators. Support staff would be needed in areas such as recordkeeping, general maintenance and janitorial services, the paper said. Another concern for the nuclear industry is replacing retiring workers. The paper said about 35% of the industry's workforce may be eligible to retire within five years, providing an opportunity for hiring about 19,600 workers. CASEnergy noted, for example, that 36% of plant operators are 48 years old or older, and 27% will be eligible to retire in the next five years. An additional 12% might leave for other reasons and 21% could be promoted, it said. --Jenny Weil, jenny_weil@platts.com ------------ US nuclear revival would create tens of thousand of jobs: study Washington (Platts)--17Jun2008 A nuclear revival in the US could create "tens of thousands" of high-paying jobs if the 30 reactors currently in the planning stages are built, according to a paper released Tuesday by the pro-nuclear Clean and Safe Energy Coalition, or CASEnergy. The paper said that as many as 4,000 workers might be needed during the height of each project, and that between 400 and 700 permanent positions would be created to support the operations of each new reactor. The figure for the peak period of construction is much higher than the 2,400-worker estimate previously cited by the Nuclear Energy Institute. But neither CASEnergy nor NEI specified whether the 4,000 or 2,400 jobs were needed to build one or two units. NEI has said that building a plant would create about an average of 1,400 to 1,800 jobs. CASEnergy, which was established in 2006, comprises various companies, business and labor groups and elected officials who support nuclear power. Funding for much of the coalition's early activities was provided by NEI. The coalition is headed by Christine Todd Whitman, a former New Jersey governor and Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and Patrick Moore, a co-founder of Greenpeace. The CASEnergy paper said that between 12,000 and 21,000 new jobs could be added to the market if the 30-plus reactors are built. It said the average salaries for plant workers are often "substantially more" than the pay for other jobs near the plant. The paper cited the median salary for a senior reactor operator as $85,426 and said a reactor operator would receive $77,782. Electrical technicians can earn about $67,517 and mechanical technicians are paid about $66,581, the paper said. The jobs range from engineers to radiation protection specialists to maintenance and skilled craft workers and plant operators. Support staff would be needed in areas such as recordkeeping, general maintenance and janitorial services, the paper said. Another concern for the nuclear industry is replacing retiring workers. The paper said about 35% of the industry's workforce may be eligible to retire within five years, providing an opportunity for hiring about 19,600 workers. CASEnergy noted, for example, that 36% of plant operators are 48 years old or older, and 27% will be eligible to retire in the next five years. An additional 12% might leave for other reasons and 21% could be promoted, it said. --Jenny Weil, jenny_weil@platts.com ------------ Exelon CEO says nuclear power key to coping with climate change Toronto (Platts)--17Jun2008 Exelon Chairman, President and CEO John Rowe said Monday that nuclear power and energy efficiency would be the primary drivers for utilities coping with climate change in the US over the next 20 years. Speaking at the Edison Electric Institute's annual convention in Toronto, Rowe said efficiency is a "sure winner in many contexts" and new nuclear baseload plants, although expensive and still a decade away, are less costly to build per megawatt than renewable power projects and carbon capture and sequestration facilities. "Let me say unequivocally I cannot imagine dealing with the CO2 problem without very substantial [additions] of new nuclear -- at least 30 new plants by 2030 -- and if we are going to really meet the goals that people are talking about for 2050, I think legitimately you are talking about doubling and perhaps trebling the size of the nation's nuclear" fleet, Rowe said. Because of the lengthy regulatory approval process for new nuclear plants and other factors, little new capacity is expected to be added within the next 10 years. "The most we realistically expect to get in nuclear in the time frame [between] now and 2016 and 2018 is probably six to eight nuclear plants," Rowe said. In today's dollars, the estimated cost of two 1,500-MW nuclear plants to be built in Texas is between $5 billion and $6 billion, Rowe said. The cost equivalent in 2016, the earliest the plants could be online, is close to $8 billion. Although expensive, the cost to build nuclear plants is less, and sometimes substantially less, when compared per megawatt with wind and solar projects or carbon capture and sequestration facilities, Rowe said. Most of the new generation that is going to be built quickly over the next few years is going to be fueled by natural gas, and as more wind projects are added more gas-fired generation will be needed as a back-up resource for wind facilities, Rowe said. Efficiency efforts, meanwhile, are the most economical response to climate change in the US, Rowe said. He mentioned Exelon cutting its energy use by 50% at its older corporate offices. It "gets more complicated when you start discussing what our customers can do with efficiency. They aren?t doing it for a whole lot of reasons. One is they haven't gotten used to the idea of electricity prices continually rising," he said. -- Gail Roberts, gail_roberts@platts.com ------------ Darlington site picked to host new reactors in Ontario Washington (Platts)--16Jun2008 Darlington has been selected as the site for a new two-unit nuclear power plant that Ontario Power Generation will operate, Infrastructure Ontario said Monday. There already are four 934-MW reactors operating at Darlington. Infrastructure Ontario is the government procurement department managing development of new nuclear construction in the province. The government also had been considering the Bruce site for building new reactors. The selection of Darlington marks the second phase of the department's Nuclear Procurement Project Request for Proposals. Building a new nuclear power plant and refurbishing existing reactors to maintain Ontario's nuclear generation capacity at 14,000 MW is part of the government's energy plan. Under the second phase, the government also will evaluate proposals from Areva NP, Atomic Energy of Canada and Westinghouse Electric, the reactor vendors that were invited to respond to the RFP. A preferred vendor will be chosen by the end of the year, Infrastructure Ontario said. --Tom Harrison, tom_harrison@platts.com ------------ British Energy mulls series of JVs as alternative to sale: source London (Platts)--16Jun2008 British Energy is considering parceling the company's nuclear sites into a series of joint ventures rather than sell the whole company to one bidder, a source close to negotiations told Platts Monday. The UK nuclear generator has been thinking of returning to what the source called "Plan A" after failing to flush out any offers that have matched its own estimation of the company's worth. The source confirmed Monday a report in the London Sunday Times that the board of British Energy have been working on the joint-venture plan in parallel with putting the company up for sale, believing that it could offer more long-term value than an outright takeover. "As per the announcement last week, British Energy hasn't yet received any proposals that meet its valuation of the company," the source said. "The board is now looking at reverting to its original idea--Plan A--and to focus on a series of joint ventures for the company's nuclear development sites," the source said. French utility EDF is the only company to have made a firm offer for BE, believed to be around GBP6.80/share, which values the company at around GBP11 billion. BE shares were trading at around GBP7.20 in London at 10:30 GMT. Last Monday, British Energy released a statement saying it considered the offer too low as it failed to take full account of soaring electricity prices. According to French business daily Les Echos, the UK government, which owns over 35% of the company, backs EDF's bid for British Energy Group as it feels it is the best way of accelerating a relaunch of the UK's nuclear power program. A number of other European utility giants, including Germany's RWE, France's Suez and the UK's Centrica, considered bidding for the UK nuclear provider but have since either formally or informally distanced themselves from the process. Spain's Iberdrola, however, told the London Stock Exchange Friday it could still make a bid within the next six months, either on its own or in partnership with another company. And many of the European energy businesses are still thought keen to have a role in the resurgence of nuclear power in the UK. British Energy sites are considered the best locations to build new power plants, being well suited to new reactor designs. EDF has already bought parcels of land adjacent to many of British Energy's sites to aid potential development and construction of new plants. British Energy declined to comment when contacted by Platts Monday. --James Allen, james_allen@platts.com ------------ Analysts see no signs that uranium price will weaken further Washington (Platts)--13Jun2008 Despite some differences as to the precise level of the current spot uranium price, there was more agreement among analysts that the price had not weakened over the past week. Ux Consulting kept its spot price at $59/pound in its June 9 report, while TradeTech kept its price at $60/lb in its June 6 report. One analyst said that the price seemed to be "hovering" within a 50-cent range on either side of $60/lb. Based on discussions with market sources, spot U3O8 transactions over the next week likely will be concluded within the range of $58-$64/lb U3O8. Ux Consulting suggested that buyers still might be able to entice sellers to part with material if they offered to buy near published prices, but TradeTech noted that fewer sellers appeared willing to heavily discount material in order to conclude transactions and that "the price gap between willing buyers and willing sellers remains narrow." Some analysts said they are still expecting investment funds to enter the market for sizable blocks of uranium. But those funds -- Uranium Participation Corp. and Nufcor Uranium -- only will enter the spot uranium market when their stock prices support such buying decisions. UPC was said to be on the verge recently of buying up to 1 million lb, but it decided not to act right away, some analysts said. ------------ DOE to submit EIS on canister system to NRC June 16 Washington (Platts)--13Jun2008 DOE's evaluation of the potential impacts of a cradle-to-grave spent fuel canister system it wants to use at a Yucca Mountain repository will be sent to NRC June 16, DOE spokesman Allen Benson said June 13. Benson said the supplemental final environmental impact statement, or EIS, updates information, as appropriate, included in a 2002 EIS. The TAD canister -- which can be used to transport, age (store), and dispose of utility spent fuel -- was initially evaluated in the 2002 document as the "mostly canistered" scenario, Benson said. DOE announced its plan to develop TADs in 2005, saying the multipurpose canister system will eliminate the need to repeatedly repackage the spent fuel as it moves from one operation of the federal waste management system to another. The submittal will be sent to NRC nearly two weeks after DOE submitted a license application for a high-level nuclear waste repository in Nevada to the agency June 3. DOE's evaluation of the potential impacts of a cradle-to-grave spent fuel canister system it wants to use at a Yucca Mountain repository will be sent to NRC June 16, DOE spokesman Allen Benson said June 13. Benson said the supplemental final environmental impact statement, or EIS, updates information, as appropriate, included in a 2002 EIS. The TAD canister -- which can be used to transport, age (store), and dispose of utility spent fuel -- was initially evaluated in the 2002 document as the "mostly canistered" scenario, Benson said. DOE announced its plan to develop TADs in 2005, saying the multipurpose canister system will eliminate the need to repeatedly repackage the spent fuel as it moves from one operation of the federal waste management system to another. The submittal will be sent to NRC nearly two weeks after DOE submitted a license application for a high-level nuclear waste repository in Nevada to the agency June 3. DOE's evaluation of the potential impacts of a cradle-to-grave spent fuel canister system it wants to use at a Yucca Mountain repository will be sent to NRC June 16, DOE spokesman Allen Benson said June 13. Benson said the supplemental final environmental impact statement, or EIS, updates information, as appropriate, included in a 2002 EIS. The TAD canister -- which can be used to transport, age (store), and dispose of utility spent fuel -- was initially evaluated in the 2002 document as the "mostly canistered" scenario, Benson said. DOE announced its plan to develop TADs in 2005, saying the multipurpose canister system will eliminate the need to repeatedly repackage the spent fuel as it moves from one operation of the federal waste management system to another. The submittal will be sent to NRC nearly two weeks after DOE submitted a license application for a high-level nuclear waste repository in Nevada to the agency June 3. ------------