[ RadSafe ] [Nuclear News] France's Areva wins deal to build China nuclear plant

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

France's Areva wins deal to build China nuclear plant
DTE: New Nuclear Plant Possible
Power plant, energy aid at heart of NKorea nuke deal 
Second nuclear plant to ease SA´s power crisis 
USEC ups cost estimate for plant 
NRC ruling upsets Pilgrim union: will have an effect on plant safety?
BP Device With `Small Amount' of Radiation Is Missing in Gulf 
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France's Areva wins deal to build China nuclear plant

BEIJING, Feb 13 (Reuters) - French state-run company Areva has won a 
deal worth about $5 billion to build two nuclear reactors with a 
total of 3.2-gigawatt (GW) generation capacity in South China, an 
official at the government-backed China Nuclear Society told Reuters 
on Tuesday. 
The deal, worth roughly $5 billion and pending final negotiations, 
follows Beijing's award at the end of 2006 of four reactors in 
coastal China to U.S.-based Westinghouse Electric, the official said
---------------

DTE: New Nuclear Plant Possible

DETROIT (AP) Feb 13  - The head of DTE Energy Co. said Monday the 
utility company will prepare a license application for a new nuclear 
power plant, although he emphasized that DTE has not yet decided 
whether it will build and operate one. 

The application will be for a new power plant at the site of DTE's 
nuclear-fueled Fermi 2 plant near Newport in Monroe County. 

"Let me be clear that we have not yet made a final decision to 
build," Anthony F. Earley Jr., DTE's chairman and chief executive, 
said in a speech to the Detroit Economic Club. "Rather, we are 
preserving our option to build at some point in the future by 
beginning the long and complex process now." 

The federal licensing process takes four to five years and the 
construction period would run another five to six years. Therefore, 
it's necessary to move forward with preparing a license application 
"to have any chance of having a new plant operating in the next 
decade," he said in a written statement released by the utility 
company. 

By moving ahead now with the application, DTE also preserves 
potential financial incentives under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, 
which the utility said would ultimately benefit customers with lower 
costs. 

The state's 21st Century Energy Plan, which the Michigan Public 
Service Commission released last month, says the state will need a 
new power plant by 2015 and more plants in the following decade. 

About 27 percent of Michigan's electricity is generated by four 
nuclear plants, Earley said. Coal fuels about 58 percent of the 
state's electric power and more than 11 percent comes from natural 
gas. 

The Tennessee Valley Authority's Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring 
City, Tenn., which went online in May 1996, is the newest nuclear 
power plant in the United States, according to the Nuclear Energy 
Institute, a Washington-based trade group. 

While no new plants are under construction, several large utility 
companies are performing feasibility studies.
-------------

Power plant, energy aid at heart of NKorea nuke deal 

SEOUL (AFP) Feb 13 - North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear power plant -- 
focus of a multinational disarmament deal under negotiation in 
Beijing -- has produced plutonium for bombs but little electricity in 
its 20-year history, analysts say. 
 
The talks, aimed at ending the North's nuclear weapons drive, 
appeared to have secured a major breakthrough on Tuesday with a joint 
agreement on first steps toward disarmament, envoys said.

Details were undisclosed, but media reports said they involved North 
Korea disabling its five-megawatt Yongbyon reactor and other atomic 
facilities within the next two months.

In return it would receive alternative energy equivalent to one 
million tonnes of heavy fuel oil each year,        South Korea's 
Yonhap news agency reported.

However, the deal still needed final approval from the governments of 
each of the six nations -- host China, the two Koreas, the United 
States, Japan and Russia -- and could yet fall apart, they warned.

Disabling the reactor would still leave the North -- which tested its 
first nuclear weapon last October -- with enough plutonium previously 
extracted from the reactor's fuel rods to make six to eight bombs, 
experts believe.

They said the key question is whether the communist state is 
genuinely willing to scrap its entire nuclear weapons programme -- as 
the United States insists -- in return for desperately needed energy 
aid.

The Yongbyon reactor 60 miles (96 km) from Pyongyang has a capacity 
of five megawatts, too small to make much difference to the nation's 
acute power shortage. It began operating in 1987.

Other key installations, according to a US Congressional Research 
Service report, are two larger reactors which have been under 
construction at Yongbyon and Taechon since 1984, and a plant to 
reprocess plutonium from fuel rods for nuclear weapons.

Washington in 2002 accused the North of operating a secret highly 
enriched uranium programme -- prompting a formal end to a 1994 deal 
under which the regime agreed to freeze its nuclear facilities in 
return for alternative energy aid.

Two South Korean experts say they believe that Yongbyon never 
produced electricity.

"North Korea claims the reactor produced electricity but the claim is 
a hard sell. Obviously, the five megawatt reactor is for producing 
plutonium for weapons," said Cheon Seong-Whun of the Korea Institute 
for National Unification.

Kim Young-Yoon, an expert on North Korea's economy at the same state-
financed research institute, agreed. But power shortages are more 
severe than ever before, he told AFP.

"The situation gets worse in winter when its hydroelectric power 
stations remain idle because of shortages of water," Kim said.

"Households can have only a few hours of electricity but the voltage 
is quite unstable. Many factories are equipped with generators to 
cope with blackouts.

"Transmission grids are all in a miserable state and would have to be 
rebuilt to carry a large increase in power supply."

Kim said any energy aid resulting from a deal would greatly help the 
North.

"North Korea needs at least 2.5 million tonnes of fuel oil a year and 
has to produce some 6,000 megawatts of electricity," he said. 

The state-directed economy began declining sharply in the early 1990s 
with the collapse of communism in eastern Europe and a sharp fall-off 
in aid. 

"Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of 
years of underinvestment and shortages or spare parts," the US        
Central Intelligence Agency said in its factbook. 

"Industrial and power output have declined in parallel."
------------------

Second nuclear plant to ease SA´s power crisis  

CAPE TOWN - SA is to get its second nuclear power station in the 
Cape, with Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin announcing 
yesterday that a decision had been taken to build a new baseload 
nuclear power station "in the southern part of the grid". 

This comes after Eskom´s board approved investments late last year to 
provide up to 3000MW more nuclear and up to 6000MW more coal-powered 
electricity.

The construction of a new baseload station in the Cape is aimed at 
alleviating recent crippling power shortages in that region. The move 
also brings SA in line with international trends, with global 
electricity utilities poised to invest heavily in nuclear power, 
which they claim is more environment friendly. 

Speculation has been that a new nuclear plant would be built next 
door to the existing one at Koeberg, which is licensed for another 
two reactors and has access to cold cooling water for the power 
station.

Erwin said yesterday Eskom had taken the decision to go ahead with 
the plant late last year, with government´s support. It would decide 
on a preferred bidder in the first quarter of this year. It is 
expected to go public on details of the new power station within a 
couple of days. The new plant would be upwards of 1000MW, he said.

It is not yet clear what the new nuclear plant, which would not come 
on line until at least 2013, will cost - a coal-fired 2500MW power 
station costs about R25bn. An equivalent nuclear power station would 
cost more but would be cheaper to run.

Eskom spokesman Fani Zulu said yesterday that Eskom had stated 
previously that one baseload power station in the Cape was 
insufficient.

"In the absence of gas, we can´t build a gas turbine and we can also 
not opt for a coal-fired station, so we have decided to go nuclear. 
>From a policy point of view, there has always been consensus that 
nuclear would be part of our energy mix. 

"An EIA (environmental impact assessment) has yet to be done and that 
would be a participatory process. It is therefore difficult to say 
when construction will start. We have, however, seen some of the 
decisions (regarding the plant) taken this year and foresee that the 
EIA will also be initiated this year."

Eskom is committed to spending R97bn over the next five years to 
build new coal-fired power stations and reopen mothballed ones to 
address SA´s severe shortage of electricity. The parastatal has so 
far spent about R11bn. But government is committed to increasing SA´s 
reliance on alternative cleaner fuels, including conventional nuclear 
power and natural gas.

Though SA has traditionally relied on its plentiful thermal coal 
supply to produce electricity, coal-fired power stations are becoming 
very expensive because of the technology that has to be put in to cut 
emissions.

Erwin also said government was finalising a national nuclear energy 
strategy. It was working to develop a uranium mining and 
beneficiation strategy. The final biofuels strategy document would be 
taken to the cabinet in May and the Integrated Security of Supply 
Strategy, that brings together liquid fuels and electricity plans, 
would be tabled at the cabinet lekgotla in July.

Erwin also said the bus subsidy regime would be changed to a road-
based public transport subsidy from April, to ensure commuters 
benefited from subsidies regardless of whether they used taxis or 
buses. 
---------------

USEC ups cost estimate for plant 

USEC Inc., based in Bethesda, Md., is developing the American 
Centrifuge project at an old atomic weapons plant here. It would 
produce fuel for nuclear reactors. 

The company originally planned to pay for the project by raising its 
own money and borrowing, but now says that to raise money for 2008 
and beyond it will need to turn to investment or other participation 
by other companies or the U.S. government. 

USEC did a comprehensive review of the project last year and cited 
increased materials and commodities costs as the main difference from 
the initial estimate, which was developed using data from the U.S. 
Department of Energy's centrifuge project. 

However, the company said a one-year delay for testing of machines to 
be used at the plant turned out to be lucky because the machines 
built later had output that's 10 percent greater than originally 
expected. The increased efficiency will help offset cost increases, 
the company said. 

"The time we invested in obtaining better performance proved to be 
very beneficial," John K. Welch, USEC president and chief executive 
officer, said in a statement. 

"This is an ambitious plan from both a cost and a schedule 
perspective, and the target estimate assumes cost savings we are 
working to achieve in 2007." USEC plans to begin operations in late 
2009 and have about 11,500 machines working in 2012. The towering 
machines would rise 43 feet in the air and use centrifugal force to 
separate the uranium, concentrating isotopes into forms that can be 
used as fuel. 

The project would also generate tons of radioactive waste -- enough 
over 30 years to fill 41,000 cylinders weighing about 14 tons apiece, 
according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

The new cost estimate includes $371 million USEC spent through 2006 
to develop and demonstrate the American Centrifuge technology. 

USEC said it plans to spend about $340 million on the project in 2007 
and about double that amount in 2008. 

USEC said it is also looking at ways in which customers, project 
participants and vendors could help support the financing. 

The company says a small number of centrifuges have been installed at 
the site, about 65 miles south of Columbus, and have been operated in 
the last three months. Related systems have been conditioned with 
uranium hexafluoride gas, and USEC expects to introduce the uranium 
gas into the centrifuges soon.
----------------

NRC ruling upsets Pilgrim union: Local says go-ahead for staffing 
change will have an effect on plant safety

PLYMOUTH (The Patriot Ledger) Feb 12 - The union that represents a 
majority of the unionized employees at the Pilgrim nuclear power 
plant is disappointed that federal regulators have refused to stop 
its owner from reducing the nighttime safety-worker staffing.  

``It´s disheartening,´´ David Leonardi, a spokesman for Utility 
Workers Union of America Local 369, said yesterday. ``We represent 
people who have worked there for 25 to 30 years. We look at ourselves 
as the stewards of safety at the plant.´´

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced last week that it does 
not need to approve a staffing change at Pilgrim.

The plant´s owner, Entergy Corp., has said the plant would go from 
having two radiation protection technicians, who handle radiation 
monitoring in case of an accident, to one on an overnight shift.

A chemistry technician would be retrained to handle some of the other 
technician´s duties.

Under federal rules, most plants are required only to have one of 
each class of technician on duty at a time.

No job losses will result from the changes, according to the company.

``It´s a shuffle of people,´´ Pilgrim spokesman David Tarantino said. 
``It´s not downsizing. We certainly don´t think of it as a safety 
issue.´´

Tarantino said one of the radiation protection technicians would be 
transferred to the busier day shift.

The plant will train chemistry technicians to help in emergencies 
before it reduces the number of radiation protection technicians on 
shifts, Tarantino said.

Leonardi said the workers feel the NRC let them down.

``We don´t blame Entergy,´´ he said. ``They are there to make a buck. 
We are disappointed the NRC didn´t take the views of the workers 
seriously enough. This is not a labor-management issue.´´

Leonardi´s Braintree-based union, which represents 334 of the 550 
unionized workers at the plant, had petitioned the NRC to stop 
Entergy from reducing the number of radiation protection technicians 
on night shifts.

The union says that if a nuclear reactor has a leak on a weekend 
night, there could be only one radiation protection technician to 
check and test 80 sites.

In a letter to the NRC last summer, Entergy wrote about the staffing-
level changes it was planning. It asserted that requiring Pilgrim to 
have more than one radiation protection technician on duty at a time 
would be unjustified.

In an emergency, the duties of radiation protection technicians 
include testing contamination levels, ensuring that contaminated 
materials do not leave the plant, and taking injured workers to the 
hospital, according to Tarantino.

Leonardi said the union would continue to pursue a hearing with the 
NRC on the matter.

The union also represents NStar, National Grid, RCN Corp. and Boston 
Generating workers.
--------------

BP Device With `Small Amount' of Radiation Is Missing in Gulf 

Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) -- BP Plc, Europe's second-largest oil company, 
has lost a device in the Gulf of Mexico that contains a small amount 
of radioactive material, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Agency. 

The so-called foam pig, used for maintenance on an underwater 
pipeline from BP's Atlantis Platform in the Gulf, has a silver wire 
inside that contains Tantalum-182, according to a report dated Feb. 
10 and posted today on the agency's Web site. The report cited BP 
Pipelines of North America. 

The pig has a level of radioactivity that is lower than category 3 as 
defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency, meaning it is 
either ``very unlikely'' to cause permanent injury to individuals or 
contains ``a very small amount'' of radioactive material that would 
not cause any permanent injury, the U.S. agency said. 

The pig, 16 inches in diameter and 52 inches long, surfaced from a 
depth of 5,000 feet when a remotely operated vehicle lost control of 
the device, the report said. BP Pipelines is actively searching for 
the pig, though the company expects it ``will be difficult to find 
because it will be floating just above or below the surface'' and 
will eventually sink, the report said. 

``It happened on Saturday,'' BP spokesman Neil Chapman said in a 
telephone interview from Houston today. ``We carried out a search and 
we are continuing to work on how best to locate the pig.'' 

The incident took place about 100 miles off the Louisiana coast, 
Chapman also said. The radioactive material is used to trace the pig 
as it runs through the pipeline, he added.

Sandy Perle
Senior Vice President, Technical Operations
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.
2652 McGaw Avenue
Irvine, CA 92614 

Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714  Extension 2306
Fax:(949) 296-1144

E-Mail: sperle at dosimetry.com
E-Mail: sandyfl at cox.net 

Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/ 
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