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Temelin nuclear plant may be expanded-Czech minister
Index:
Temelin nuclear plant may be expanded-Czech minister
STP confirms cracks at South Texas 1 nuclear unit
Workers strike at AmerGen NJ nuclear power plant
Framatome ANP Announces SGT Award From Florida Power & Light Company
US frets at security of Russian radioactive matter
Japan Manufacturer to Inspect Nuke Plants
Ukraine appeals for European help on Chernobyl
Russia signs treaty to track nuclear waste
===================================
Temelin nuclear plant may be expanded-Czech minister
PRAGUE, May 22 (Reuters) - The Czech Republic could expand its
Temelin nuclear power plant even though its has yet to bring the
station's first two reactors fully online after years of breakdowns
and problems, the Industry Minister said on Thursday.
State-controlled CEZ the country's main power producer and the owner
of Temelin, is to make a decision on new power sources next year.
The daily Mlada Fronta Dnes quoted Industry and Trade Minister Milan
Urban on Thursday saying the expansion of nuclear power is one option
to replace at least 60 percent of the four gigwatt capacity at
obsolete coal-burning power plants over the next 15 years.
"I'll say it diplomatically. Temelin is not finished yet," he told
the paper.
Urban added that the two more reactors at Temelin would be built
after 2010, if the plan -- which would cost billions of dollars -- is
approved.
The Czechs have already built two reactors at Temelin and could add
two more if need be. But the first two, still in the testing phase
and years behind schedule, have been a diplomatic, as well as
technical nightmare for the Czechs.
The reactors were designed under Soviet plans, and then later
upgraded with western control systems. The Czechs claim the plant is
safe, but its neighbours -- mainly anti-nuclear Austria and Germany --
have consistently voiced worries over the untried technology.
CEZ, which covers 60 percent of the domestic market, operates two
nuclear power plants with a combined 3.76 gigawatts of installed
capacity. Nuclear power is the cheapest energy source for the
Europe's second biggest power exporter.
The minister's comments come at a time when the Czech government
plans to sell two brown coal mines. If CEZ votes for nuclear power,
it would put pressure on the minning companies to significantly cut
production in the future.
But the state has also a plan to sell a 68 percent stake in CEZ after
2005. CEZ is valued at $2.11 billion by the market.
----------------------
STP confirms cracks at South Texas 1 nuclear unit
HOUSTON, May 22 (Reuters) - Officials at the shut South Texas Unit 1
nuclear power plant confirmed Thursday they found small cracks in the
reactor vessel and stuck with earlier estimates it would be down
through the summer for repairs.
The cracks, discovered during ultrasonic testing of equipment at the
South Texas Project (STP) plant, were found on two instrumentation
tubes that contain devices that monitor the plant's operation.
Officials said there were no safety concerns.
The unit has a generating capacity of 1,250 megawatts, enough power
to run about a million homes.
It was shut for routine refueling in late March, when inspectors
found boric acid deposits at the bottom of the vessel, indicating
reactor coolant fluid had leaked.
CenterPoint Energy Inc. <CNP.N> unit Texas Genco Holdings Inc.
<TGN.N> owns 30.8 percent of the plant. Other owners include City
Public Service of San Antonio, with 28 percent, American Electric
Power Co. Inc.'s <AEP.N> AEP-Central Power and Light Co., with 25.2
percent, and Austin Energy, the City of Austin, with 16 percent.
Information about the cracks were released in a preliminary report
concerning the leak, but no information about how the cracks
developed would be available until the middle of June, plant manager
Ed Halpin told Reuters.
"At this point I don't want to speculate about the root cause," he
said.
The plant's outage is expected to keep electricity prices in the
state firm through the high-demand summer season, when record power
usage is expected.
The STP plant, which began commercial operation in 1988, is one of 69
pressurized water reactors active in the United States. A total of
103 nuclear units are in operation across the country, providing
about 10 percent of the nation's power supply.
Prior to the discovery at the STP plant, leaks at the bottom of
reactor vessels had not been a concern.
STP said it planned to replace one to two feet of the faulty tube
(0.3 to 0.6 meter).
"This fix has been performed successfully on the reactor cooling
system, but not this location," Halpin said, referring to the bottom
of the reactor.
-------------------
Workers strike at AmerGen NJ nuclear power plant
NEW YORK, May 22 (Reuters) - AmerGen Energy Co. and Exelon Nuclear
said on Thursday union members at the Oyster Creek nuclear power
plant in New Jersey walked off the job at noon on Thursday.
Officials at the plant said in a statement the walkout would have "no
impact on safety, plant operations or security at the station, or on
electricity supplies in the area.
The 650 megawatt plant, which generates enough power for about
650,000 homes, has been shut for repairs since May 20.
"The strike should not increase the length of the outage," plant
spokesman Craig Nesbit said, noting the company had a plan in place
to complete the work and return the plant to service in the event of
a strike.
Nuclear operators generally do not comment on the length of outages.
Members of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
Local 1289 have been without a contract since Jan. 31, 2003. The last
negotiations to work out a new contract were held mid-April.
IBEW officials at the Local, based in Lakewood, New Jersey, were not
immediately available for comment.
AmerGen, which owns Oyster Creek, said it made its "last, best and
final offer" on April 14.
On Monday, the National Labor Relations Board sided with AmerGen in
denying union allegations that AmerGen's decision to implement the
final offer was unfair.
About half of the 450 employees at Oyster Creek are members of Local
1289 and walked off the site on Thursday.
The strike has no impact on members of the plant security force, who
are not represented by the IBEW.
AmerGen and Exelon Nuclear, which operates Oyster Creek, said the
plant will be staffed and operated by non-union employees and
management drawn from the station and other Exelon Nuclear plants.
Exelon Nuclear, a subsidiary of Exelon Corp. <EXC.N> of Chicago,
operates 10 nuclear plants, the largest commercial nuclear fleet in
the United States.
AmerGen is a joint venture between Exelon and British Energy Plc
<BGY.L> of Edinburgh, Scotland.
------------------
Framatome ANP Announces SGT Award From Florida Power & Light Company
to Support Nuclear Reactor Vessel Closure Head Replacements
LYNCHBURG, Va., May 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Framatome ANP Inc., an AREVA
and Siemens company, and Washington Group International, Inc.
announce that their SGT Ltd. joint venture has signed a contract with
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) to provide engineering and
construction services for the replacement of reactor vessel closure
heads at four nuclear power generating units: Turkey Point Units 3
and 4, and St. Lucie Units 1 and 2.
The work involves offloading and heavy haul transportation of the
reactor vessel heads at the plant sites, rigging and handling inside
the containment building, temporary plant modifications to support
replacement, creating an opening in the concrete reactor buildings,
and closure of the opening once the reactor vessel heads are inside
and the old heads are removed.
"SGT completed FPL's first steam generator replacement at St. Lucie
Unit 1 in what was considered record time in 1997, so we know we can
be successful again as a team," said Framatome ANP Inc.'s Bill Fox,
president of SGT. "SGT was initially focused on steam generator
replacements, and the same engineering and construction capabilities
can be applied to other major component replacement projects like
these," added Fox.
The projects will be performed during regularly scheduled maintenance
and refueling outages at the four units, currently scheduled to begin
with Turkey Point Unit 3 in 2004, and continuing with Turkey Point
Unit 4 and St. Lucie Unit 1 in 2005, and St. Lucie Unit 2 in 2006.
--------------------
US frets at security of Russian radioactive matter
MOSCOW, May 22 (Reuters) - The United States is speeding up efforts
to help Russia safeguard radioactive material that could be used to
make a "dirty bomb," following 30-40 cases of theft of such matter, a
senior U.S. official said on Thursday.
Security at military bases storing Russia's nuclear weapons was
generally tight, the department of energy official said. But
Washington was concerned terrorists might obtain radioactive material
from sprawling, poorly guarded civilian sites.
Countries including Iran and North Korea were also likely to be in
the market for the material, he said.
"There is some highly radioactive material that is not very well
secured," said the official.
"I think the Russians have a very good handle on where all their
weapons are," he said. "The more you get down to materials, that is
inherently harder."
Russian officials had no immediate comment. They have said in the
past they need millions of dollars to improve security around
thousands of sites containing radioactive material, which are often
guarded by unarmed pensioners.
The U.N. nuclear watchdog said in March stricter security measures
were urgently needed to stop terrorists obtaining radioactive
material which they could attach to conventional explosives to make
"dirty bombs."
The United States is already helping its former Cold War rival
improve security at nuclear sites, dispose of radioactive material,
and prevent nuclear scientists from selling services overseas.
The official, in Moscow for regular discussions of those projects,
said they were going well despite continuing problems with access to
some sensitive sites.
SPRAWLING SITES
But the biggest problem now was at civilian sites, such as nuclear
power and food sterilisation plants, where radioactive material was
often stored in several different buildings, making it hard to guard,
the official said.
"Even in the best of circumstances, we're not going to have
everything done we want for a few years so there's still a window of
vulnerability to terrorists and I want to close that as fast as
possible," the official said.
"Since the administration has been in office we've sped up completion
of this by about two years and if I can find a way to speed it up a
little more, I'll speed it up a little more."
He said there had been 30 to 40 cases of theft of small amounts of
radioactive material in Russia in the last five years or so. There
was no evidence that there were large amounts missing but the thefts
proved there was a market, he said.
"What we know is that there are persistent documented cases of
attempts to sell terrorist organisations nuclear materials," he said.
-------------------
Japan Manufacturer to Inspect Nuke Plants
TOKYO (AP) - Japan's largest builder of nuclear power plants said
Wednesday it planned to check for defective workmanship at five
reactors in western Japan after it was threatened by a former worker
for one of its subcontractors who claimed he had deliberately
underwelded parts.
A spokesman for Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.
described the checks as precautionary and said computer simulations
indicated there was no safety risk even if the man's claims were
true.
Mitsubishi Heavy recently received three letters from a man who used
to work for one of the company's subcontractors in the western state
of Hyogo saying he had made weaker welds on plates used to support
pumps in the steam generators of nuclear power plants, said spokesman
Hiroyuki Yamakado.
The man threatened to inform the utility companies that operate the
plants unless Mitsubishi Heavy instructed the subcontractor to pay
him 40 million yen ($350,000), Yamakado said.
He said Mitsubushi Heavy had alerted police and was preparing to
carry out safety checks in conjunction with the operators of five
reactors in western Japan that may have used parts from the
subcontractor.
One of the operators, Kansai Electric Power Co., said Wednesday its
workers had already visually inspected the plates in question at two
of its reactors and found nothing unusual. The company is planning to
conduct ultrasonic wave checks on the welds, said spokesman Kimihito
Kawabata.
A spokesman for police in Hyogo confirmed that Mitsubishi Heavy had
reported the threatening letters but declined to comment further.
Yamakado declined to name the subcontractor or its former worker.
-------------------
Ukraine appeals for European help on Chernobyl
KIEV, May 21 (Reuters) - President Leonid Kuchma appealed to Europe
on Wednesday for more money to help deal with Chernobyl, saying
Ukraine, unlike other countries, could never run away from the legacy
of the world's worst civil nuclear disaster.
Chernobyl closed in 2000, nearly 15 years after its reactor No. 4
exploded, with Europe pledging to help complete two new reactors, a
new concrete shelter for the stricken Chernobyl facility and clean up
contaminated land.
But negotiations on the new reactors and construction of a new
"sarcophagus" for Chernobyl to block escaping radiation have been
delayed by wrangles over financing.
Kuchma has previously said that the conditions set by the West would
mean subjecting Ukraine to "eternal servitude."
"We would like to hear a signal from your conference. Ukraine cannot
alone deal with Chernobyl, not only in terms of comprehending the
global warning, but cleaning up the consequences of the catastrophe,"
Kuchma told the Fifth Conference of the Environment for Europe.
European Union officials told journalists they too hoped for swift
construction of the new "tomb" but said Ukraine must build new
reactors according to Western safety standards.
"We need to make sure the new sarcophagus is built," said Margot
Wallstrom, European commissioner for the environment. "But we also
need to make sure new reactors are built and are maintained to the
highest safety standards, those that are used in the West."
The two new reactors in western Ukraine at Rivne and Khmelnitsky are
to make up for Chernobyl's lost generating capacity, although
environmental campaigners and some European officials believe the ex-
Soviet state should turn its back on nuclear power after Chernobyl.
The 1986 blast has been blamed for thousands of deaths due to
radiation-linked illness and an increase in thyroid cancer.
Ukraine and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
restarted stalled talks earlier this year on a $21.5 million loan to
help complete the reactors.
-------------------
Russia signs treaty to track nuclear waste
STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Reuters) - Russia, the European Union and the
United States signed a nuclear safety treaty Wednesday aimed at
cleaning up Russian atomic waste and stopping it from getting into
the hands of militant groups.
The Multilateral Nuclear Environmental Program in the Russian
Federation, or MNEPR, treaty provides a legal framework for handling
spent atomic fuel from, for example, decommissioned Russian nuclear-
powered submarines.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and his French counterpart
Dominique de Villepin signed the treaty at a ceremony in Stockholm.
Several European countries as well as the EU and the United States
are also signatories.
Villepin said the accord was "important for us all because it enables
us to control the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."
National governments and the European Union have already committed
110 million euros ($128.8 million) to an environmental partnership
support fund for Russia.
"If we don't do anything at all, then it is not a question of if, but
when, we will have a great catastrophe," said Swedish Foreign
Minister Anna Lindh at the ceremony.
Ivanov said cleaning up the naval bases in northwestern Russia was
vital for the health of people living nearby.
-------------------------------------------------
Sandy Perle
Director, Technical
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service
ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100 Extension 2306
Fax:(714) 668-3149
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/
ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/
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