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France to unveil 30-year energy plan next week
Index:
France to unveil 30-year energy plan next week
Canada's AECL offers to build Bulgarian n-plant
Nuclear Industry Echoes President Bush's Call For Energy Legislation
Kansai Electric finds 464 cracks in heat tubes of Takahama reactor
Dominion seeks to renew Millstone nuke license
NRC to inspect clogged safety pumps at Wis. nuke
Japan proposes ITER data center for France, reactor in Japan
==================================
France to unveil 30-year energy plan next week
PARIS, Jan 22 (Reuters) - French Industry Minister Nicole Fontaine
said on Thursday she will unveil next week a bill that will determine
France's energy policy for the next 30 years.
Fontaine said all options have being kept open, including building
newnuclear power stations as part of France's decision on how to
replace 30 of its 58 reactors that will reach the end of their
lifespan by 2020.
The controversial energy source supplies 80 percent of the country's
electricity.
"I am ready. By next Monday, we will be in a position to announce the
new version of the draft law," Fontaine told a press conference.
Fontaine said in November she backed the inclusion in the energy bill
of a prototype of the European pressurised water reactor (EPR), the
latest model in nuclear generation technology, sparking protests from
opposition parties that they had not been consulted.
Fontaine said consultations had since taken place on the draft law to
be debated before parliament.
The minister did not elaborate on changes from the November
consultative white paper, but reiterated that the government would
look at all options to ensure energy supplies.
"It is for the government to take responsibility for all technical
means to ensure security of supply."
The consultation paper focused on increasing the use of green energy
and greater energy efficiency, taking into account the need for
security of supply while avoiding making France more dependent on
oil, coal and gas imports.
The government will also have decide whether to support a proposal
from state-run Electricite de France to build the EPR project, which
has waited two years for the green light amid protests from anti-
nuclear groups.
If the law ratifies the EPR project, Fontaine has previously proposed
that EDF, which operates all of France's nuclear power plants, should
be allowed build a prototype model as soon as possible.
EdF has plans to build a three billion euro ($3.81 billion), 1,600
megawatt model by 2010 before launching a commercial reactor by 2015.
The white paper also proposed ambitious measures to improve energy
efficiency and reduce its energy consumption intensity by two percent
a year.
It reiterated the government's policy of increasing the role of
renewable energy to account for 21 percent of consumption by 2010,
from about 15 percent in 2002.
Supporters of nuclear power say the energy source will help France
reduce its greenhouse gas emissions as it is emission-free.
Like France, Britain has kept its options open on nuclear power in
its energy white paper.
Finland has also decided to build a new nuclear reactor although
Germany, Belgium and Sweden have decided to quit atomic generation.
---------------
Canada's AECL offers to build Bulgarian n-plant
SOFIA, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) said on
Friday it was ready to build a new nuclear power plant in Bulgaria,
which needs new capacity to compensate for the closure of old units
at its only existing plant in Kozloduy.
Robert Van Adel, President and CEO of the Canadian nuclear reactor
producer, told a news conference his company had offered to build a
brand new plant instead of completing the halted construction of the
Belene plant. Italy's Ansaldo Nuclear and Japan's Hitachi Corporation
would partner AECL, he said.
The Bulgarian government decided in late 2002 to restart building
Soviet-designed Belene, where construction started in the 1980s but
stopped in 1990 due to a lack of cash and environmental protests.
Sofia has yet to choose whether to build a new plant at the Belene
site or complete the initial project, for which a Soviet 1,000-
megawatt reactor had been supplied.
"Our project is more attractive from many, many aspects -- practical,
safety, technology," said Van Adel, who met Prime Minister Simeon
Saxe-Coburg to promote the project.
"It is a modern plant that is more accepted by the international
community, it is a plant that's similar to the type of plant we've
been building in Romania, which is accepted by the European Union and
meets all international standards."
Bulgaria is the main power exporter in the Balkans and seeks to keep
its leading position after it bowed to EU pressure and shut two of
Kozloduy's six 3,760-megawatt reactors early last year.
Bulgaria, which hopes to join the EU in 2007, has also agreed to
close two more Kozloduy reactors by 2006. Brussels says the Soviet-
designed reactors could not be made safe at a reasonable cost.
Other companies that have shown interest in building the Belene plant
inlude U.S. Westinghouse, France's Framatom, Czech's Skoda and
Russia's Atomstroiproect.
The government has said some $1 billion would be needed to complete
Belene, in which $1 billion had already been invested and which was
initially projected to have two 1,000-megawatt reactors.
Van Adel declined to say how much AECL's project would cost but said
his company would secure the necessary investment with loans from
export credit agencies and international lenders.
He said the financial cost of any Bulgarian project would be
comparable to the one it had been carrying out in Romania.
According to media reports the construction of a second 710-megawatt
reactor at Romania's Cernavoda nuclear plant has been estimated at
$700 milllion.
-----------------
Nuclear Industry Echoes President Bush's Call For Swift Enactment of
Energy Legislation
WASHINGTON, Jan. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- In his State of the Union address
to Congress last night, President George W. Bush urged enactment of
comprehensive energy policy legislation. "I urge you to pass
legislation to modernize our electricity system, promote
conservation, and make America less dependent on foreign sources of
energy," President Bush said. The following is a statement on the
president's remarks by John Kane, the Nuclear Energy Institute's
senior vice president of governmental affairs.
"The nuclear energy industry joins with President Bush in calling for
Congress to approve a new energy policy now. Energy security doesn't
come overnight, and the longer that the current comprehensive
legislation languishes in Congress, the more intractable our nation's
energy challenges will become.
"The conferenced energy bill pending before the Senate will help
provide the American people with the energy security they expect and
deserve. This bill provides important, new provisions for all energy
sources as part of the diversification that a strong energy portfolio
needs. Significantly, the bill also includes provisions for nuclear
energy to play an expanded role in helping the nation meet its
economic and environmental goals.
"Nuclear energy is one of the foundations of the nation's electricity
infrastructure. Nuclear power plants operating in 31 states provide
electricity to one of every five homes and businesses, and they do so
safely, affordably, efficiently, and without emitting pollutants into
the atmosphere. Given these benefits, it is appropriate for national
energy policy to support investment in new nuclear plants, just as it
encourages investment in wind, solar, clean-coal and natural gas-
fired power plants."
The Nuclear Energy Institute is the nuclear energy industry's policy
organization. This news release and additional information about
nuclear energy are available on NEI's Internet site at
http://www.nei.org
---------------
Kansai Electric finds 464 cracks in heat tubes of Takahama reactor
OBAMA, Japan, Jan. 23 (Kyodo) - Kansai Electric Power Co. said Friday
it has found 464 cracks on 311 heat transfer tubes of three steam
generators in the No. 3 reactor at its Takahama nuclear power plant
in Fukui Prefecture.
The company said the cracks, discovered during a regular inspection,
pose no danger of radiation leakage as they run no deeper than 20% of
the thickness of tube walls.
The inspection used the latest equipment, capable of finding cracks
undetectable in the past.
The 870,000-kilowatt pressurized water reactor in the town of
Takahama is scheduled to resume operating March 10. But crack-
plugging work is expected to delay the resumption of operations.
The reactor has 10,146 heat transfer tubes.
----------------
Dominion seeks to renew Millstone nuke license
NEW YORK, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Dominion Resources Inc. filed an
application with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to renew the
operating licenses of its two units at the Millstone nuclear station
in Connecticut, the company said in a statement Thursday.
If the licenses are approved, the 870-megawatt Unit 2 would continue
operating until 2035 and the 1,150-megawatt Unit 3 until 2045. The
license for unit 2 is now scheduled to expire in 2015, while unit 3's
license will expire in 2025.
Combined, both units provide enough electricity to power more than 1
million homes and businesses in Connecticut.
The NRC originally issued 40-year initial operating licenses for
commercial nuclear power units. In applying for 20-year renewals,
owners must demonstrate there would be no adverse impact to public
health and safety or the environment by continued operation of the
units.
The NRC will schedule public meetings as part of the renewal process.
The NRC was expected to take about two years to review the
applications, Dominion said.
The NRC renewed the operating licenses for Dominion's two Virginia
nuclear power stations, North Anna and Surry, in 2003.
Dominion, with more than 24,000 MW of generation, transmits and
distributes electricity to 2.1 million customers and natural gas to
1.7 million customers in five states.
----------------
NRC to inspect clogged safety pumps at Wis. nuke
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission has launched a special inspection of clogged safety pumps
at the Kewaunee nuclear power plant on Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, an
NRC spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
The NRC sent two inspectors to the 545 megawatt plant north of
Milwaukee "to investigate all circumstances" of how silt and weeds
from Lake Michigan got into the plant's cooling system, said NRC
spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng.
Kewaunee, which can produce power for more than 500,000 homes, is
jointly owned by the Wisconsin Public Service unit of WPS Resources
Corp. and the Wisconsin Power & Light subsidiary of Alliant Energy
Corp. and operated by Nuclear Management Co.
Richmond, Virginia-based Dominion Resources Inc. has agreed to buy
the plant in a deal expected to close in autumn 2004.
Mitlyng said pump-clogging problems have occurred in the past at
other nuclear stations, including Point Beach in Wisconsin, Salem in
New Jersey and Ginna in New York.
The Kewaunee plant -- which was forced to close Jan. 16 after the
clogging was discovered in heat exchanger equipment that cools
lubricating oil -- has two large pumps that are part of the plant's
backup safety system, Mitlyng said.
They are designed to flood the reactor in an accident, but clogging
could prevent them from operating.
The NRC inspectors arrived at Kewaunee Tuesday, but the length of
their work or how long the plant will remain closed have not been
determined, the NRC spokeswoman said.
The inspectors "will examine the sequence of events that led to the
clogging, and evaluate the immediate and long-term corrective actions
taken by the plant," the NRC said.
A spokeswoman for Nuclear Management Co. said the company does not
discuss the timing of plant operations.
------------------
Japan proposes ITER data center for France, reactor in Japan
PARIS, Jan. 23 (Kyodo) - Japan proposed to France on Friday that a
data analysis and remote control center for an international nuclear
fusion project be built in France and the fusion reactor be built in
Japan, as a way to resolve a deadlock over the project.
Japanese Ambassador to France Hiroshi Hirabayashi proposed in the
French daily Le Monde that the data and control center for the
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) be located in
Cadarache, southern France, and the reactor in Rokkasho, Aomori
Prefecture, northeastern Japan.
In the article, titled "Let's not fight over ITER," published Friday,
Hirabayashi emphasized that international cooperation is the key to
the success of the project.
Referring to French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's recent
remarks that Europe may go ahead with the project on its own,
Hirabayashi asked if France is really up to implementing the plan
without any international cooperation.
In the article, the ambassador said it is widely recognized by the
world's scientists that Japan has more accumulation of scientific
studies and experience in the field of nuclear fusion than France.
He also said that there would be transportation problems concerning
the 96 kilometers of road from a port near Marseille to Cadarache
when carrying the reactor, which is a huge precision instrument. He
said France has failed to clarify its plan for improving the roads,
including road-widening, reinforcement of 26 bridges, and detours for
existing tunnels on the roads.
The six parties to the ITER project have been unable to agree on
where the world's first prototype nuclear fusion reactor should be
located. They met in Washington last December, but failed to reach an
accord, mainly because of a sharp division over two rival sites -- in
Japan and France.
The U.S. and South Korea back Japan's plan to host the reactor in
Rokkasho, while Russia and China support a European Union plan to
build the prototype in France. The six are expected to make a final
decision in February.
Rokkasho is already the site of a uranium enrichment plant, and a
nuclear fuel reprocessing plant is scheduled to be completed there by
2006.
Under the ITER project, the construction of the experimental nuclear
fusion reactor is supposed to start in 2004, with operations
scheduled to begin in 2014. After operating for 20 years, the reactor
would be dismantled.
------------------------------------
Sandy Perle
Vice President, Technical Operations
Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc.
3300 Hyland Avenue
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100 Extension 2306
Fax:(714) 668-3149
E-Mail: sperle@globaldosimetry.com
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net
Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/
Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.globaldosimetry.com/
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