669 Days and Counting - CP&L's Brunswick Plant Sets New World Record

SOUTHPORT, N.C., Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- CP&L's Brunswick Nuclear Plant has set a new world record for the continuous operation of a light water reactor nuclear power plant.

At 4:36 p.m., January 21, Brunswick Plant Unit 1 surpassed the 668-day continuous run record that had been set by the Three Mile Island Plant in 1999. Breaking this record means that the Brunswick Plant now holds the world record for operating a light water reactor without a shutdown.

"Brunswick employees are committed to constantly improving our plant performance," said Brunswick Plant Vice President Jack Keenan. "I applaud their pursuit of excellence and high level of ownership in making the Brunswick Plant one of the top performers in the electricity generating industry."

"Our long-term goal is to maintain the plant's two generating units so that we can operate them 100 percent of the time between refueling outages," added Keenan. "However, if a unit needs to be shut down to ensure its safety and reliability, we will not hesitate to do so."

The Brunswick Plant operates on a two-year fuel cycle. Each spring, one of the plant's reactors is taken out of service for about one month to refuel approximately one third of the reactor's fuel assemblies and to perform a variety of maintenance activities. Unit 1, which is adding to the world record every day it continues to operate, is scheduled to begin a refueling and maintenance upgrade outage in early March 2002.

"The Brunswick Plant is coming off its best ever performance year since it began commercial operation in 1975," said Keenan. "Our plant's personnel safety record was the best in plant history and is among the top in any industry, and both units operated throughout the year without any unplanned shutdowns."

The facility generated more electricity in 2001 than ever before -- 13,843,547 megawatt-hours -- producing 25 percent of CP&L's electricity. Its best ever capacity factor (the measure of a plant's actual electrical output vs. its potential output) was 96.9 percent, exceeding the average capacity factor for the U.S. nuclear industry of 89.6 percent (2000 figure).

Worldwide, there are 431 nuclear power plants located in 31 countries. Light water reactors are in operation in nearly 350 of these plants. (In 10 countries, 29 new nuclear plants are under construction.) Nuclear energy provided 16 percent of the world's electricity in 2000. Currently, there are 103 commercial nuclear power plants producing electricity in the United States, located at 64 sites in 31 states. Today, nuclear power plants-the second largest source of electricity in the United States- supply about 20 percent of the nation's electricity each year.

The Brunswick Nuclear Plant is located near Southport, N.C. CP&L, a subsidiary of Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN), provides electricity and related services to more than 1.2 million customers in North Carolina and South Carolina. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., and serves a territory encompassing over 33,000 miles including the cities of Raleigh, Wilmington, Fayetteville, and Asheville in North Carolina and Florence and Sumter in South Carolina. For more information about CP&L, visit the company's Web site at: http://www.cpl.com

HELSINKI, Jan 17 (Reuters) - Finland's government voted on Thursday in favour of building a new nuclear reactor to help meet energy demands, setting the stage for a heated debate as the country bucks a general shift away from nuclear power.

The government's decision makes Finland, which already has four reactors, the only country in Western Europe currently to consider building a new plant as others are opting for alternative energy sources.

"A decision to increase nuclear energy is the most economical of all choices in terms of both the national economy and state finances," Trade and Industry Minister Sinikka Monkare told a news conference.

Monkare added that other ways to meet growing energy demands in the Nordic countries, including Finland, did not seem to be in the pipeline.

Of the 18 ministers in the five-party coalition, 10 voted for the proposal while six voted against it. Two were absent.

The proposal, originally made by Finnish energy group Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) in November 2000, will now go to parliament and could be voted on by summer.

Parliament stands divided on the issue, according to recent polls. Industry and trade union leaders have said they support the plan.

The decision passed largely unnoticed in Helsinki on Thursday, apart from a group of about 20 Greenpeace activists, wearing yellow oil drums bearing radiation symbols, and carrying banners with slogans such as "Radiating people."

The Finnish industry's last attempt to build a fifth nuclear power plant was put on ice in 1986 following the catastrophe at the Ukrainian power plant of Chernobyl, and once parliament did decide to vote on it in 1993 it was turned down.

Political parties have given their representatives free rein to vote according to their conscience, but so far the Greens, the Left Alliance and the Swedish Party, all junior partners of the five-party coalition, have said they oppose the plan.

Finland has its four nuclear reactors at two installations, and nuclear power accounts for about 30 percent of total electricity consumption.

But the country is grappling with how to satisfy increasing energy demand while ensuring it meets its greenhouse gas emissions obligations under the Kyoto protocol.

Backers say boosting nuclear capacity is the only way to meet those goals and keep Finland, which has no oil or gas of its own, from becoming dependent on imported electricity.

Monkare said Finland would continue to focus on reducing electricity consumption and developing renewable energy sources.

YANGON, Jan. 21 (Kyodo) - Foreign media reports on Myanmar's efforts in nuclear science were deliberate attempts to derail the program, Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win charged Monday.

Voice of America recently reported that Myanmar was seeking assistance from Russia to build a nuclear reactor, which was reported as unsafe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The radio report also said two Pakistani nuclear scientists visited Myanmar for the same purpose.

''We have been a member of the IAEA since 1957, and a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1992. Myanmar is also a signatory of the Southeast Asian Nuclear Free Zone agreement in 1995.

We did every thing aboveboard and nothing stealthily. We have had an atomic science department at the Union of Burma Research Institute since 1957. Our main objective to study nuclear science was for peaceful purposes, for the health and agriculture sectors, firstly to produce radio isotopes for medical purpose,'' Khin Maung Win said at a press conference.

''We want to continue this program and sought the advice and assistance of the IAEA in September, 2000...the IAEA sent a delegation to Myanmar in June 2001 and gave us the necessary advice in their report. There was no safety problem in the IAEA report.''

''Foreign media reports of two Pakistani scientists are pure fabrication, no Pakistani scientists ever came to Myanmar,'' he added.

VIENNA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Nearly a sixth of Austrian voters signed a petition demanding that their country veto Czech membership of the European Union unless Prague shuts down a controversial nuclear plant, the government said on Monday. The interior ministry announced that 915,220 out of 5.8 million eligible voters -- 15.5 percent -- had signed the petition launched by Joerg Haider's Freedom Party demanding the closure of the Temelin plant.

The petition was not legally binding and the result will do little more than force Austria's parliament to debate Temelin.

Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel's conservative People's Party, which opposed the petition, said there would be no parliamentary majority for any attempt to enshrine a veto in law.

"I see no majority against Czech accession to the EU," said People's Party General- Secretary Maria Rauch-Kallat.

Prague insists the plant, 60 km (40 miles) from the border with Austria, is safe and says the petition was really aimed at preventing it from joining the EU.

Schuessel will feel vindicated by the fact that 85 percent of voters failed to sign the petition, despite near-universal opposition to nuclear power in Austria.

But the issue is likely to provoke increased public squabbling within the two-year-old coalition and could in time trigger early elections.

Haider, who dominates the Freedom Party although he is no longer leader, said earlier after partial results were known that the petition had been a "significant success."

"The population must now be listened to," he said in a statement. "This vote must be taken seriously and acted upon."

Haider added that the results showed that talks with Prague over the safety of its Temelin plant had been insufficient.

A Czech government spokesman had no immediate comment on the petition. Support for the petition is likely to have been boosted by weekend comments by Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman describing Haider as a "populist pro-Nazi" and suggesting that only an idiot would sign it.

Austrian President Thomas Klestil expressed his indignation over the remarks in a call to Czech President Vaclav Havel.

But populist politicians on both sides periodically try to stir up historical resentment over the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia or the post-war mass expulsion of German-speakers from the country.

LAGUNA NIGUEL, Calif. (AP) - A judge granted bail Friday to a fired nuclear power plant employee accused of threatening his former co-workers and amassing illegal weapons.

During the hearing, Reza pleaded innocent to multiple counts of possession of illegal weapons and making threats to employees at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

The 44-year-old mechanic was arrested last week after authorities investigating the alleged threats found a cache of weapons at his Laguna Niguel home and a San Juan Capistrano storage unit.

Among the 300 weapons seized were a hand-held, anti-tank rocket launcher, numerous assault rifles and four inert hand grenades, authorities said.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federalizing guard forces at nuclear power plants as some senators have proposed would create new problems and not increase security, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Thursday.

NRC Chairman Richard Meserve said the commission strongly opposes legislation introduced in the Senate that would replace private security forces at nuclear power plants with federal guards.

``We don't see that there is a problem'' with the current guards. ``These are people that take their jobs very seriously,'' said Meserve when asked about the legislation after a luncheon speech at the National Press Club.

The nuclear industry contends a federal force would weaken security, not strengthen it, and has urged Congress instead to give guards wider authority, including a green light to use deadly force when necessary.

The more than 5,000 security guards who protect the 103 nuclear power reactors in 31 states - many of them former military or police officers - currently are armed, but many states restrict what weapons they may carry and whether they may use deadly force.

Federalizing guard forces could create a conflict, Meserve said, since the NRC might be required to become a security agency at the same time as it regulates the plants and their security operations.

In his remarks, Meserve said the nuclear industry has been on high alert since Sept. 11, but ``there have been no specific, credible threats of a terrorist attack on nuclear power plants.''

``The physical protection at nuclear power plants is very strong,'' said Meserve, and plant employees must pass background checks, an FBI check and psychological testing.

But after the speech, Meserve, acknowledged that prior to Sept. 11, nuclear reactor operators frequently gave newly hired workers free access to power plants before all the security clearances - particularly criminal background checks - had been completed.

The NRC tightened the requirements after Sept. 11, he said, and told operators to keep employees out of vital areas of a plant and require them to have an escort until all background checks are finished - including the FBI security check, which usually takes the longest.

The legislation to federalize security guards at nuclear power plants was introduced by Democratic Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and independent Sen. James Jeffords of Vermont, chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee that has jurisdiction over the NRC.

COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 21, 2002--Duratek, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRTK) today announced that it is completing a workforce reduction in its Commercial Processing Operations.

The workforce reduction of approximately 130 employees will take place predominately at its low-level radioactive waste processing facility located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. During 2001, the Company processed a large portion of the waste inventory at the facility that had accumulated primarily from the contracts for the decommissioning of three commercial nuclear power plants.

These workforce reductions will bring the Company's staffing levels and cost structure for this facility in line with estimated production requirements. The Company estimates that these reductions combined with a recent reduction of 44 employees at its Memphis facility should generate in excess of $7.4 million in cost savings on an annual basis.

Robert E. Prince, President and CEO said, "The workforce reduction at the Oak Ridge facility is unfortunate, but necessary to position the Commercial Processing business with its marketplace and improve its financial results."

Duratek implements technologies and provides services, which protect people from radiation and the environment from radioactive material. Duratek's headquarters are located in Columbia, Maryland and the Company has major offices in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Columbia, South Carolina, Denver, Colorado and Richland, Washington.

Certain statements contained in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 21E(i)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.