[ RadSafe ] US Energy Secretary: No Need For Incentives For Nuclear Plants

[Sandy Perle]

Index:

US Energy Secretary: No Need For Incentives For Nuclear Plants
Industry Leaders Challenged to Meet Need for New Power Plants
Quebec board OKs Gentilly nuke storage expansion
Bouygues Gets EUR100 Million Contract For Finland Nuclear Plant
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US Energy Secretary: No Need For Incentives For Nuclear Plants

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said 
Tuesday that while there has been some discussion in Congress about 
providing financial incentives for new nuclear power plants, the Bush 
Administration doesn't see a need for them.

"Based on our analysis and what we have heard from many stakeholders, 
we do not think these incentives are needed," he said, speaking 
before the National Energy Institute in Washington.

Bodman pointed out that nuclear power is a cornerstone of President 
George W. Bush's recommendations for a national energy policy. The 
president, he noted, has proposed that Congress pass legislation that 
would streamline the licensing process for new nuclear plants and 
that would also provide risk insurance for investors in nuclear 
projects.

"I believe that this is the appropriate level of assistance that the 
government should provide to encourage new plants at this point in 
time," Bodman said. "We believe the economic case to build new 
nuclear plants is already evident...and that is time for the private 
sector to step up to the plate."

Instead of giving financial incentives, the Bush Administration would 
like to see proposals for fixing problems with the government 
permitting process and regulatory system itself, he said.

"We believe that by doing this, the government will start encouraging 
and stop impeding the construction of facilities we believe can be 
economically viable," he said.
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Nuclear Energy Industry Leaders Challenged to Meet Nation's Need for 
New Power Plants

WASHINGTON, May 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Witnessing a convergence of events 
unparalleled in a generation, the nation's nuclear energy industry 
leaders were challenged today to take destiny into their hands and 
build new nuclear power plants that will strengthen the nation's 
energy security through the 21st century.

A confluence of world events, market conditions and public support 
unseen since the early 1970s has positioned the nuclear industry to 
meet the nation's need for clean, reliable and affordable 
electricity. While orders for new plants are not expected until later 
this decade, the industry must continue to take the necessary steps 
to address the regulatory and financial challenges that lie on the 
path to new plant construction, two industry executives said.

"Today, nuclear energy -- through its proven performance -- has 
captured the attention of leading policymakers, the investment 
community and even some of the world's top environmentalists," said 
the Nuclear Energy Institute's vice chairman, Robert McGehee, 
chairman and chief executive officer of Progress Energy Inc.

"We've arrived at this position because the nuclear energy industry 
has been building forward momentum over the past several years thanks 
to superb plant performance, enlightened regulatory changes and hard, 
steady work by the industry and the federal government to ensure the 
future of this vital technology," he said.

McGehee addressed more than 400 executives gathered at the Nuclear 
Energy Assembly, the industry's annual conference. The industry is in 
a very strong competitive position, and it is time to make the most 
of the opportunities ahead, he said.

McGehee identified these challenges that must be met: * Incorporate 
the safety-focused concepts that have proven effective in nuclear 
plant oversight into formal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 
regulations.  This oversight framework allows the industry and NRC to 
devote resources to those aspects of plant operations that are most 
safety-significant. * Achieve a greater measure of NRC regulatory 
certainty concerning the industry's improved security programs 
implemented over the past three- and-a-half years.  Stability in the 
security regulations will allow the industry to fully integrate 
security procedures into safe operations and improve coordination 
between federal and state resources. * Ensure that Congress increases 
funding for the YuccaMountainproject to expedite the licensing and 
opening of the used nuclear fuel repository in Nevada.  The program 
faces chronic funding shortages despite the fact that electricity 
consumers contribute $750 million a year to the Nuclear Waste Fund 
that contains a surplus of nearly $15 billion.  Concurrently, 
encourage the timely development of the Environmental Protection 
Agency's radiation protection standard and the Department of Energy's 
license application to the NRC. McGehee also discussed the twin 
challenges of an efficient licensing process and Wall Street support 
for financing new nuclear plants. He said that though untested, the 
industry's deliberative process for planning new plants through the 
submittal of early site permits and the combined construction and 
licensing process will prove successful.  

NEI's president and chief executive officer, Skip Bowman, echoed that 
theme. He emphasized that the key to laying the groundwork for new 
plants is to preserve the value of the existing fleet. To accomplish 
that, the industry must better balance short-term priorities and 
longer-term objectives.

"Each day, urgent tactical issues call out for attention that could 
easily consume every waking hour and more, but we must address the 
strategic issues that left unmanaged will frustrate all the good work 
we do in the short-term, and we cannot compromise either," Bowman 
said.

Bowman summarized prevailing market conditions, including the 
expected 50 percent increase in the demand for electricity by 2025, 
unsustainable demands on imported natural gas, the overall aging of 
America's generating capacity and the need to develop new and 
efficient baseload capacity of which coal and nuclear provide 70 
percent.

"The nation will need hundreds of new power plants of all types to 
meet new demand and to replace older, less efficient power plants. 
For purposes of planning a large power project, we must act today," 
he said.

Bowman emphasized that to achieve this goal, the industry will work 
with Congress, federal and state governments, regulators, grass-roots 
organizations and the public to build support for new plants.

The latest public opinion survey conducted for NEI -- with 1,000 
nationally representative U.S. adults contacted May 5-8 -- showed 
that a record-high 70 percent of Americans favor "the use of nuclear 
energy as one of the ways to provide electricity in the United 
States." The survey also found 69 percent acceptability "to add a new 
nuclear power plant next to the nearest nuclear power plants that are 
already operating" and 77 percent agreement "that electric utilities 
should prepare now so that new nuclear power plants could be built if 
needed in the next decade." The survey, conducted by Bisconti 
Research Inc. with NOP World, has a margin of error of plus or minus 
three percentage points.

To promote a diversity of energy sources, especially emission-free 
sources like nuclear energy, clean coal and renewable energy, 
enactment of comprehensive energy legislation is urgently needed, 
Bowman said.

"We need to encourage energy conservation, but we can't meet future 
energy demands with even the most optimistic conservation measures 
and with all the wind, solar, geothermal and hydro power this country 
can support," Bowman said. "It's going to take an investment in new 
nuclear to meet these demands while protecting our environment."

Energy security and national security are inextricably linked, and 
the nuclear industry has a vital role to play in enhancing America's 
energy security by reducing our reliance on unstable nations for 
energy supply, Bowman said.

"Now that we're united behind a common agenda, our industry has the 
potential to ensure our prospects for decades to come. This is our 
time to play a leading role in securing our country's energy future," 
he said.

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
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Quebec board OKs Gentilly nuke storage expansion

NEW YORK, May 16 (Reuters) - Quebec's public environment review board 
has recommended that Hydro-Quebec be allowed to expand the 
radioactive waste storage facility at the 675-megawatt Gentilly 2 
nuclear power station.

The province-owned energy company has said the storage facility will 
be full in 2007.

The recommendation by the board, the Quebec Bureau d'audience 
publiques sur l'environnement was made public earlier this month.

Premier Jean Charest and his ministers must now decide whether to 
allow Hydro-Quebec to expand the waste storage facility, a 
spokeswoman at the Ministry of Sustainable Development, Environment 
and Parks said.

The spokeswoman did not know when the ministers will take up the 
Gentilly issue.

The proposed expansion of the storage facility, estimated to cost 
about C$130 million, is only the first phase of a proposed C$1 
billion refurbishment of Gentilly to keep it operating until 2035.

Without the refurbishment, the company will have to close the station 
by 2013.

Gentilly 2 entered service in 1983. By 2002, Canadian-owned nuclear 
engineering firm Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL), which designed 
the plant, and Hydro-Quebec started to look at refurbishing the 
facility.

If it wins approval from the province, the company has said it 
expects to enlarge the waste facility in 2006 and 2007 before 
shutting the station for about 18 months for the main refurbishment 
in 2008 and 2009. The company has said the timetables were estimates, 
which depend in part, on whether the government wants to refurbish or 
shut the reactor.

The Gentilly station is located near Trois-Rivieres about 90 miles 
(145 km) northeast of Montreal along the St. Lawrence River.

The reactor shut on April 15 for its annual maintenance outage. 
During the outage, expected to last several weeks, the company will 
inspect the feeder pipes and turbine, chemically clean the boilers, 
inspect and replace some of the feeders, and reposition some of the 
pressure tube spacers.

Hydro-Quebec subsidiaries own and operate more than 33,000 MW of 
generating capacity, market energy commodities in Canada and the 
United States, and transmit and distribute electricity to 3.6 million 
customers in Quebec.
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Bouygues Gets EUR100 Million Contract For Finland Nuclear Plant

PARIS -(Dow Jones)- Bouygues Construction, part of French 
conglomerate Bouygues SA (12050.FR), said Tuesday it has signed a 
contract worth more than EUR100 million for the construction of a 
building to house Finland's planned new nuclear reactor.

The contract was signed with nuclear engineering group Framatome ANP, 
a joint venture between Areva (427583.FR) and Siemens AG (SI), 
Bouygues said in a statement.

Work on the building is expected to start early this summer and to 
last three years, Bouygues said.

In addition to the reactor's building, the contract also requires 
Bouygues to build four annexes and a building to stock used nuclear 
fuel.

Bouygues has already built nuclear power stations in France, 
including those at Bugey, Saint-Alban and Chooz.

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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) 296-1902 

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