INPO - WANO News and Report

PSEG Nuclear's Hope Creek reactor back in service after shutdown for pump repair

2012-03-05T09:38:00.000-08:00

LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK TWP. — Less than 24 hours after being shut down for repairs to a key pump, PSEG Nuclear’s Hope Creek reactor returned to service here this morning, a spokesman for the plant’s operator said.

The reactor resumed sending out electricity over the PJM regional power grid at 3:17 a.m. today, said PSEG Nuclear Spokesman Joe Delmar.

The plant was shutdown at 11:02 a.m. Sunday to allow workers to make repairs to a pump at the nuclear plant.

One of Hope Creek’s two reactor water recirculation pumps tripped off-line Thursday afternoon prompting operators to cut the reactor’s output of electricity to 55 percent.

Since then, workers had attempted to find what caused the one pump to shut down and make the repairs needed to restart it, while the plant remained operating at reduced power. On Sunday it was determined that the reactor needed to be taken off-line for the repairs to be made.

Delmar said this morning that repairs were made to the motor generator circuitry associated with the reactor recirculation pump.

The pump that was involved is one of two that recirculates water to the reactor and helps control the amount of power the reactor generates.

The reactor recirculation pumps are part of electricity production and separate from the critical safety-related core cooling water system.

Hope Creek is one of three reactors operated by PSEG Nuclear at its Artificial Island nuclear generating complex on the shore of the Delaware River here.

Delmar said plant operators were gradually increasing power output at the plant, heading toward full power output.

The other two reactors — Salem 1 and Salem 2 — remained operating at full power this morning, Delmar said.

Scots May Extend Life of Reactors to Ease Move to Renewables

2012-03-05T09:35:00.001-08:00

Scotland may extend the life of the country’s two nuclear plants, which are operated by Electricite de France SA (EDF), to help the transition to producing all of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020.

The Scottish government said today it still plans to phase out nuclear power over time and rely on cleaner thermal energy to reduce carbon emissions, according to an e-mailed statement setting out its draft energy strategy. It said it was on track to meet the target in eight years time.

“This does not preclude extending the operating life of Scotland’s existing nuclear stations to help maintain security of supply over the next decade,” it said. “Subject to the relevant safety cases being made, the government would not oppose operating life extension applications at these sites.”

The Scottish administration in Edinburgh, which is campaigning for independence from the rest of Britain, has the most ambitious target in the European Union for generating electricity from wind, hydro and marine energy. Its nuclear policy differs from the U.K. government, which has agreed to build more power stations as part of its strategy of meeting EU targets to cut carbon emissions.

Electricite de France is planning to submit plans to extend the operating life of the Torness and Hunterston plants in Scotland by at least five years, the government said. Hunterston, which is situated on the west coast south of Glasgow, is otherwise due to close in 2016. Torness, which is east of Edinburgh, is scheduled to shut in 2023.

Scotland intends to de-carbonize all electricity generation by 2030 through the use of carbon capture deploying empty offshore aquifers that previously held oil and gas.

The government also plans to have 11 percent of heat generated by renewable energy by 2020, almost four times the current level of 2.8 percent. Heat accounts for about half of Scotland’s current energy consumption.

Scotland, the windiest country in Europe, accounts for 25 percent of EU offshore wind capability, the same proportion of tidal power and 10 percent of wave power, the government said.

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DOE Locks in Three New Public-Private Partnerships for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

2012-03-05T09:33:00.002-08:00

The project aims to support private sector testing, development and licensing of SMR technologies

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that it will begin developing small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) technologies along with its Savannah River Site (SRS) through three new public-private partnerships.

The three new partnerships are part of the Energy Department's efforts to cement nuclear power as an energy solution in the U.S. Over the past three years alone, the Energy Department has invested $170 million in research grants regarding advanced reactor concepts and safety. The Energy Department just recently made a $10 million investment in new research that seeks to solve common problems in the nuclear power industry.

"The Obama Administration continues to believe that low-carbon nuclear energy has an important role to play in America's energy future," said Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy. "We are committed to restarting the nation's nuclear industry and advancing the next generation of these technologies, helping to create new jobs and export opportunities for American workers and businesses."

Now, the U.S. Department of Energy, SRS, and Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) have locked in three separate agreements with private companies SMR, LLC, which is a subsidiary of Holtec International; Hyperion Power Generation Inc., and NuScale Power, LLC for nuclear energy.

The partnerships will help deploy SMR technologies at SRS facilities near Aiken, South Carolina. The project aims to support private sector testing, development and licensing of SMR technologies.

"We have a unique combination of nuclear knowledge and laboratory expertise, infrastructure, location and much more to make the Site a natural fit for advancing the small modular reactor technology," said Dr. Dave Moody, DOE-SR Manager. "We are about reinvigorating SRS assets to impact national needs and influence new missions for the future of the Savannah River Site."

While nuclear power received some bad publicity last year after the earthquake in Japan caused a nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi plant, which led to U.S. senators demanding that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) repeat a costly inspection of nuclear power, nuclear power is making a comeback. In December 2011, the NRC approved the First Gen. III+ Reactor design, which puts the U.S. only three years behind China as far as nuclear reactors go.

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Xcel Energy to give 2 Minnesota nuclear plants post-Fukushima upgrades

2012-03-05T09:31:00.001-08:00

MINNEAPOLIS

The owner of Minnesota's two nuclear power plants says it is preparing to spend $20 million to $50 million on safety upgrades and studies based on the lessons of the nuclear catastrophe in Japan a year ago this month.

Like other U.S. nuclear plant owners, Xcel Energy is buying more diesel pumps and portable generators that could be quickly deployed at its Monticello and Prairie Island plants if all backup electricity went out, as it did at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi plant.

"We are talking about large diesel pumps, with the capability of sucking water from the river and pumping it into the reactor vessel, similar to what the Japanese ultimately ended up doing," said Dennis Koehl, chief nuclear officer for the Minneapolis-based utility and a member of the industry's post-Fukushima steering committee.

The U.S. nuclear industry says these and other actions over several years will enhance the safety of the nation's 104 reactors at relatively modest cost. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) last week approved the first post-Fukushima measures, and plant owners likely will receive specific orders this week, just days before the March 11 anniversary of the disaster.

Yet some U.S. nuclear critics question whether the actions are sufficient, pointing with skepticism to the purchase of off-the-shelf pumps and backup generators, rather than more expensive equipment designed for nuclear power plants.

"This is a public relations measure to create the illusion that the industry is jointly taking the issue seriously," said Christopher Paine, who directs the nuclear watchdog program for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a nonprofit environmental group.

Regulatory Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko, who was among the four commissioners to approve the Fukushima-related orders last week, expressed concern about delays, especially for plants needing study of earthquake risks. "I simply cannot accept a timeline that puts this issue well into the later part of the decade," he wrote.

Xcel's two nuclear plants are the two-unit Prairie Island station near Red Wing, 50 miles southeast of the Twin Cities, and the one-unit plant at Monticello, 40 miles to the northwest. Monticello has a General Electric Mark 1 boiling water reactor like those damaged in Japan.

Koehl said in an interview that Xcel's safety costs could climb as high as $250 million if the utility is required to purchase nuclear-qualified equipment and take other costly steps such as building earthquake-proof off-site buildings to store and protect it.

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), which represents the industry, has directed its members to order portable response equipment this month. Xcel has already acquired five additional pumps, adding to the two it purchased after 9/11.

Last week at Monticello, Xcel officials showed two of the pumps that are parked in a warehouse not far from the reactor building. Trailers hold fire hoses and other equipment to bring river water to the plant in an emergency.

Under the industry's "flexible coping strategy" for a disaster, big-ticket items like filtration systems for radioactive water will be purchased by all plant owners and stored at one or more U.S. locations -- ready to be flown to a stricken plant.

Lessons from a disaster

Three of six Fukushima units were running when a record earthquake struck last March. The subsequent tsunami wiped out power lines and in-plant diesel backup generators, leaving about eight hours of battery life to control the plant.

Operators couldn't cool the reactors, resulting in damage to nuclear fuel and reactor cores, according to the NRC's account. At three units, hydrogen produced during the crisis exploded, damaging upper walls and roofs, exposing pools of spent fuel rods and releasing high levels of radioactivity.

It took the rest of the year for plant owner Tokyo Electric Power Co. to bring the damaged units into a state called cold shutdown.

One of the lessons the U.S. industry and its critics don't dispute is that nuclear power plants need more battery time to cope with a complete loss of power. That's something the NEI says has happened only once in the United States, at a Georgia reactor in 1990 and without disaster.

At many U.S. plants, including Monticello and Prairie Island, key batteries are rated for just four hours. Plant owners now are expected to extend that coping time, though the NRC hasn't said how or for how long, leaving plants to propose solutions to regulators.

At Prairie Island, for example, that may mean switching emergency lighting to other batteries that aren't critical to plant control, Xcel officals said.

Industry officials argue that many nuclear power plants, including Monticello, have multiple transmission lines connecting them to the grid, which lowers the risk of losing power. On the other hand, multiple-unit plants like Prairie Island have long counted on getting help during a disaster from an adjacent unit -- an assumption that proved wrong in Japan.

U.S. regulators, in the first of three phases of their post-Fukushima response, are expected this week to order plant owners to restudy earthquake and flood risks, improve emergency response and begin other safety-related improvements. Even in Minnesota, seismic studies are required, along with a fresh look at worst-case flood risks such as multiple dam failures.

Two other lessons from Japan are getting special attention. U.S. regulators want existing hydrogen vents on boiling-water reactors to be reliable during a crisis, which may require design changes. They also want more gauges to monitor pools holding spent fuel, which was exposed in the Japan disaster. Those fixes may not be in place for four years or more.

That's partly because engineers can't safely modify some equipment until plants are powered down for refueling, which typically occurs at intervals of 18 months or more, said Adrian Heymer, the NEI's executive director for Fukushima regulatory response.

"You don't want someone prying around in the back of a control cabinet or control room while you are at power," he said.

Safety measures not taken

Two nuclear industry watchdog groups have unsuccessfully urged regulators to consider doing more.

The Union of Concerned Scientists says the NRC should make operators of boiling-water reactors move spent fuel into dry steel casks in five years, instead of the more typical 10. The nonprofit group, which does not oppose nuclear power, also has urged better emergency cooling for the pools.

David Lochbaum, director of the group's nuclear safety project, said the explosions at Fukushima -- and subsequent open-air water pumping into the fuel pools -- prove that such changes are necessary.

"Had hydrogen not exploded those buildings, it would have been difficult to prevent damage to those pools," he said. "They would have no means to deliver water."

The NRDC's Paine unsuccessfully urged the NRC to order in-plant emergency systems driven by reactor steam. He said he now worries that the lessons learned in Japan will be lost in the NRC's slow, bureaucratic regulatory process.

"These serious accidents ... can happen and do happen, and they may happen more frequently as these plants get older," Paine said.

But Heymer of the NEI said the industry has learned from earlier accidents, and is doing the same after Fukushima.

"If you look at the improvements the industry has made, the possibility of getting to a reactor-damage situation have been reduced over the years quite dramatically," he said.

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China: Putian in Fujian to be site of next nuclear plant

2012-03-03T20:32:00.003-08:00

BEIJING - The first China-engineered improved third-generation nuclear power plant will be showcased in Putian county, Fujian province, by as early as 2013, Chen Bingde, chief engineer of Nuclear Power Institute of China and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, told China Daily on Saturday.

An extension of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant was constructed in December 2010. [Photo / Xinhua]

The institute is a division of China National Nuclear Corp, the largest State-owned nuclear enterprise in China. The company built the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, China's first, in 1991.

"The Putian plant will adopt China-developed nuclear technology model ACP100, which is considered much safer and having higher energy efficiency compared to current second- and third-generation plants," said Chen.

He said it will have some improved third-generation nuclear power facility's features, including smaller size, shorter construction time and higher safety level.

The new technology's final aim is to eliminate the emergency evacuation zone of a nuclear plant, he said. The construction time is expected to be shortened from the current 50 months to 30-40 months.

"In the near future, nuclear plants can be built right next to cities," he explained. The concept of the new plant is a 100,000-kilowatt-grade nuclear power facility, with very low cost.

After the Japan radiation leaks about a year ago, the demand for safer nuclear power plants has become stronger worldwide. Fourth-generation nuclear technology is now being studied by many countries, according to Chen.

South Korea leads the trend. Seoul is planning to acquire a construction license by the middle of this year. The United States has stronger theoretical development, while China performs better on the experimental aspects, added Chen.

He said China's nuclear plants are safe. After the Japanese accident, many third-generation reactors underwent 25 measures to improve safety, including strengthening the protection wall and adding back-up electricity power generators. Some second-generation reactors were upgraded with new technology.

Most of China's nuclear technology was imported from other countries, such as the US, France and Russia.

Only the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant applied China-developed technology, he said, and "it has maintained safe and stable operation for 20 years.

"We have exported Qinshan plant technology to Pakistan, and some other developing countries will be our next targets."

However, China still falls behind in some core technologies compared to Western countries.

"If China wants to export our own nuclear technology, we need to develop our own core technology and get rid of the dependence on foreign technology."

The China National Nuclear Corp invested 1.75 billion yuan ($278 million) on research and development last year, a 20 percent year-on-year increase.

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Can Babcock Wilcox Change The Game With The Modular Nuclear Reactor?

2012-03-03T20:30:00.001-08:00

By Simit Patel

One of the many reasons I'm so excited and so bullish on the nuclear industry is that we are seeing a cycle of innovation - something akin to the industry lifecycle - playing out in the nuclear sector (NUCL). I believe we are in the early stages of the innovation phase, and are going to see many innovations in nuclear technology that enable the industry as a whole to meet the challenge created by a world demanding more scalable, cost-effective power without fossil fuels. For investors, I believe this will create an abundance of opportunities.

One of the opportunities I'm most excited about - in addition to breeder reactors and uranium sea mining, which I discussed previously - are modular nuclear reactors. These devices have the ultimate effect of making nuclear power feasible on a smaller scale. They have lower upfront costs, and thus have the potential to reach customer segments that were previously locked out of the market due to the high upfront costs required in building a conventional nuclear power plant. Any innovation that enables price reduction so that a new class of customers can participate is a low-end or new market disruption - an opportunity that, if it gains sufficient traction and an innovation cycle of its own, can be the foundation for a much larger transformation in the entire industry. The pioneering writings of Dr. Clayton Christensen are essential reading for those looking to understand how cost-savings innovations transform markets and create outstanding investment opportunities.

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India: Centre hopeful of opening Kudankulam power plant 'very soon'

2012-03-03T20:27:00.001-08:00

CHENNAI: With pressure mounting on the Tamil Nadu government to ease the acute power situation, the Centre on Saturday hoped that it would "very soon" commission the Kudankulam nuclear power project as the state government was "very very positive" to the opening of the plant.

"My hunch is that Tamil Nadu government will take a decision as early as possible" on the project, work which has come to a standstill for many months following protests from locals, spearheaded by People's Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), minister of state in the PMO V Narayanasamy told reporters.

The state government was very positive and was cooperating with the Centre as the law and order issue was a state subject, he said, adding Central and state government officials were regularly interacting.

He denied any "double-game" by the Tamil Nadu government and said it was aware that it was in need of power and assured to provide 1000 mw of the energy from Kudankulam plant though its original share was 925 mw.

Narayanasamy's remarks assume significance in the backdrop of the state government appointed panel which went into the safety aspects last month also virtually giving a clean chit to the project.

Earlier the Centre's 15-member expert panel set up to allay the fears of the locals had vouched for the safety of the Indo-Russian project, where the work on the first two units to product 2000 MW of power has almost completed.

Japan: Reactivate nuclear reactors to prevent recession

2012-03-03T20:24:00.002-08:00

The bitter winter chill is gradually easing. It looks like the nation has been able to meet peak demand for electricity over the winter and avoid a greatly feared electricity crisis.

However, industry and individual households must not let their guard down. Power suppliers across the country are walking on a tightrope, and the electricity shortage has become chronic.

Almost one year has passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Most nuclear reactors across Japan have been left idle even after undergoing regular inspections since the crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric power Co.

Just two of Japan's 54 commercial nuclear reactors are still operating. In only about two months, all the reactors will be shut down--this will be an emergency situation.

We urge the government to make utmost efforts to promptly reactivate nuclear reactors once they have been confirmed safe to operate.

Kansai Electric Power Co., which has shut down all the nuclear reactors under its jurisdiction, had difficulties supplying enough power to meet demand. The utility was forced to crank up its remaining power plants, including obsolete thermal power stations, to maximum output to meet winter demand.

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By the skin of their teeth

Other electric power companies had no choice other than to depend on thermal power plants. However, malfunctions due to aging were frequently reported at such power stations. More than 10 plants across Japan had to be quickly shut down due to emergencies this winter.

The trouble at the Shin-Oita thermal power plant of Kyushu Electric Power Co. had a particularly serious impact. The utility barely managed to avoid implementing blackouts in its service area by hooking up to power supplies from five electric utilities in western Japan and TEPCO.

The government projects that if summer arrives before any nuclear reactors are reactivated, the country will face an electricity shortfall of about 9 percent. The forecast said KEPCO, which relies heavily on nuclear power, is facing an electricity shortage of about 20 percent for its service area. This estimate suggests Japan likely will experience a critical power shortage in a different league to the one this winter.

However, dependence on thermal power generation has its limits. In the event of a major problem at a thermal power plant, it could be impossible to prevent a blackout.

The country's imports of liquefied natural gas, a main fuel for thermal power generation, are rapidly increasing. The volume of LNG imports marked a year-on-year increase of 12 percent last year, and import costs jumped 37 percent due to surging LNG prices.

There also is growing concern over whether Japan can ensure a stable supply of the fuel. While the country has a 200-day crude oil reserve, it has only enough LNG for two to three weeks of power generation.

The nation must make every effort to procure enough LNG through diversified sources of supply by boosting cooperation between the public and private sectors.

Greater use of such natural energy as solar and wind power is definitely desirable, but the power generation capacity of these reusable energy sources is still meager. A considerable time will be needed before natural energy utilization becomes a principal power source.

Under these circumstances, it will be essential to generate more power at new, high-performance coal- and oil-fired plants that are more environmentally friendly as they emit less greenhouse gases than earlier models.

While diversifying power sources from a medium- and long-range viewpoint, how can stable electricity supplies be guaranteed for the time being? The government must buckle down to this knotty challenge.

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Diversified sources needed

In late February, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Yukio Edano said, "Given the current electricity supply-demand situation, the nation needs to have nuclear power plants restarted." We could not agree more.

However, it seems the government is not unified in addressing with seriousness the task of restarting nuclear plants. A key to getting local governments in areas hosting nuclear plants to support their resumption lies in whether the government can responsibly assure the safety and security of nuclear power generation.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda must waste no time in placing himself at the vanguard of government efforts to persuade the local governments to agree to their early restart.

Because the loss of power generation by nuclear plants had to be made up for by coal- and oil-powered plants, thermal power generation accounted for the 70 percent level of Japan's total power generation in the past year, up from the 50 percent level a year before. Fuel costs of power utilities have shot up by more than 3 trillion yen per year.

As a result of soaring power generation costs, TEPCO will raise its electricity charges from April. If the dependence on thermal power generation continues, other electric utilities could very likely follow suit.

Japanese industries face a double whammy: anxieties over power shortages coupled with rising production costs.

A Yomiuri Shimbun survey revealed 70 percent of major companies believe they will be unable to pass along higher power charges through their product prices. This will inevitably have an adverse effect on their business performance.

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Beware of hollowing-out

Last summer, efforts by companies and households to cut back on electricity use played a crucial role in preventing large-scale blackouts. However, these efforts also brought other problems.

As factories changed work shifts to holidays, early mornings or nights when overall power consumption is lower, employees' working hours became irregular in the summer of 2011, imposing considerable burdens on them.

In regions struck by the March 11 disaster, power saving dulled production activities to the extent of threatening the prospects of some recovery projects. There is no room to be overconfident in the effects of power saving.

According to a survey by the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren), 60 percent of Japanese companies said they would cut or halt domestic production should power shortages continue for two or three years. If more manufacturers shift production bases overseas, the pace of the hollowing-out of domestic industries will accelerate.

Although there are high expectations that recovery projects from the March 11 disaster will invigorate demand, the national economy as a whole has been in a lull.

The government has a heavy responsibility to prevent a power shortage from triggering an economic slump by dragging down business activities.

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Energy Department Spurs Nuclear Technology

2012-03-03T20:22:00.000-08:00

The Department of Energy announced Friday it has entered three private-public partnerships to for the development of small nuclear reaction technologies near Aiken, S.C. The partnerships are a part of the department's ongoing efforts to spur nuclear energy in America. Here are the details.

* The partnership agreements were between the DOE's Savannah River Site and Savannah River National Laboratory and SMR, a subsidiary of Hotlec International, Hyperion Power Generation and NuScale Power. The agreements will help those companies to gather information regarding a potential siting of a small nuclear reactor at Savannah River.

* In January, the department reported its intention to enter cost-sharing agreements with private companies in order to support the design and licensing of small nuclear reactors.

* At approximately one-third the size of current plants, small nuclear reactors offer a host of safety, siting, construction and economic benefits, the DOE stated. The DOE intends to fund two small nuclear reactor designs with deployment of the reactors within 10 years.

* In addition to the commitment to small nuclear reactors, the Energy Department also has announced $10 million in research funds for work to improve reactor safety, performance and cost competitiveness.

* The DOE also committed $8 billion in loan guarantees to support of the Vogtle project, which is two nuclear reactors to be built by Southern Company and Georgia Powers. An additional $200 million has been provided through a cost-share agreement to support the Vogtle license for the first nuclear power plant construction in more than thirty years.

* $170 million has also been given in research grants at 70 universities for the research and development of nuclear technologies.

* According to a Facebook posting offered by DOE Secretary Steven Chu in late February, nuclear power currently provides 20 percent of the electricity in the U.S. With an estimated 20 percent increase in overall energy demand and a 30 percent increase in electricity demand predicted over the next 25 years, Chu explained, "if we want to make a serious dent in carbon dioxide emissions -- not to mention having cleaner air and cleaner water -- then nuclear power has to be on the table."

Darlington nuclear plant to be refurbished by SNC-Lavalin, Aecon for $600-million

2012-03-02T10:29:00.001-08:00

SNC-Lavalin Nuclear and Aecon Construction have been awarded a $600-million contract for the overhaul of the four reactors at the Darlington nuclear plant.

The contract is the first of seven that will make up the multi-billion-dollar refit of the giant nuclear station, which is due for a mid-life refurbishment.

Previous nuclear projects in Ontario have gone badly over budget, and opposition New Democrats criticized the contract award

But Energy Minister Chris Bentley says this time meticulous planning and preparation will keep costs in line.

“What was announced today was a different approach,” said Bentley in an interview.

Planners will map out the work into 30-minute segments, Bentley said. And a training centre with mock-ups of complex components of the nuclear station will allow crews to practice tasks before they start on the real reactors.

“One of the reasons they’re doing such an extensive design, planning preparation exercise is so they can map out the construction, and transfer any risks of missing those construction timelines to the contractor,” he said.

The initial $600 million contract will cover the planning phase of the project.

The price for the second phase – executing the work – will be determined once the plan has been completed. Planning should be finished by 2016, and work completed by 2023.

Previous projects, like the construction of the Darlington plant and the refurbishment of the Pickering A and Bruce A nuclear stations, have collectively run billions of dollars over budget.

Electricity ratepayers remain on the hook for most of the over-runs, paying for them through the “debt retirement charge” on every hydro bill.

Bentley wouldn’t forecast the total cost of overhauling the four reactors at Darlington, though previous estimates have ranged between $6 and $10 billion.

Physical work on the reactors is expected to start in 2016.

SNC-Lavalin Nuclear’s parent company delayed announcing its financial results this week, saying that it is probing $35 million in payments that were not documented last year.

Bentley wouldn’t comment on the company’s problems, other than to say the company has a “long-excellent track record” on large projects.

The work on the present project involves removing and replacing the pressure tubes and calandria tubes for all four units at Darlington.

The tubes hold the uranium fuel bundles and coolant that run through the core of the reactor.

The four Darlington reactors have reached mid-life. The refit will allow them to operate for another 25 to 30 years.

Peter Tabuns, energy critic for the New Democratic Party, sharply criticized the contract award.

“I find it extraordinary, when they’re facing huge over-supply of electricity, that they aren’t putting this on hold,” Tabuns said.

“This will further drive up hydro costs in Ontario.”

Ontario faces a glut of power some days. Demand has never rebounded since the latest recession. Meanwhile two newly overhauled nuclear units operated by Bruce Power will come on stream this year, along with a growing number of renewable power projects.

Tabuns said he’s seen no business case for the project: “This is a decision that makes no sense in terms of Ontario’s economy.”

Conservative energy critic Vic Fedeli supported moving ahead, however. Ontario gets half its power from nuclear plants, and the Conservatives don’t advocate changing that.

“It’s the right step to make sure we understand what we’re getting ourselves into,” he said.

“Our caucus will watch very closely on this project, because we expect to become the government soon. We’re going to inherit a real mess in our electricity sector, and we want to know this project is progressing well.”

Shawn-Patrick Stensil, nuclear critic for Greenpeace, disagreed.

“This is a lot of money to spend on a project that has yet to gain any regulatory approvals,” he said. “OPG has yet to provide an economic case for rebuilding Darlington. And the Fukushima disaster raises questions about the safety of the station’s multi-reactor design.”

Vt. state board sets its own pace on nuclear plant's future

2012-03-02T10:28:00.001-08:00

Article by: Associated Press

MONTPELIER, Vt. - The Vermont Public Service Board says it will set its own pace in deciding whether the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant gets a state permit to operate for another 20 years.

A federal judge in January issued an order blocking an effort by Vermont lawmakers to close the plant down, and sent the issue back to the Public Service Board. The owner of the plant first said the board had all the information it needed to go ahead and issue a new permit.

Then, this week, Entergy Corp. asked the federal judge to make changes to his January decision and for the board to wait.

The board says its review is continuing.

Completion of Ga. Nuclear Plant Could be Delayed

2012-03-01T16:19:00.000-08:00

By: Associated Press | WSAV-TV
Published: March 01, 2012

AUGUSTA, GA -- New documents show that two nuclear reactors in eastern Georgia that would be the nation's first built-from-scratch nuclear plant in a generation might be delayed longer than expected.

The Augusta Chronicle reports that Georgia Power Co.'s latest construction report indicates the project might begin producing electricity eight months later than anticipated. The report was filed recently with the Georgia Public Service Commission.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted 4-1 last month to issue a permit to Atlanta-based Southern Co. to build and operate the two new reactors at its Plant Vogtle site south of Augusta.

The NRC last approved construction of a nuclear plant in 1978.

Indian Point Nuclear Plant Back in Service After Day Offline

2012-03-01T16:18:00.000-08:00

A nuclear plant in the New York suburbs has been reconnected to the electrical grid after a day and a half offline.

Entergy Nuclear says the Indian Point 3 reactor was put back into service Thursday afternoon.

It was disconnected from the grid Wednesday morning after gases built up in a transformer.

The transformer had been used to take electricity from the main generator, change the voltage and power some pumps and motors at the plant. Entergy spokesman Jerry Nappi says that with the transformer under repair, those pumps and motors are now using outside power.

In November 2010, a transformer explosion caused a 17-day shutdown of Indian Point 2, the other reactor at the site in Buchanan, about 35 miles from Manhattan.

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Nuclear Industry Sues to Reverse Grand Canyon Uranium Land Withdrawal

2012-03-01T16:15:00.001-08:00

WASHINGTON, DC, March 1, 2012 (ENS) - The Nuclear Energy Institute and the National Mining Association, Monday filed a federal lawsuit seeking to reverse the Obama administration's withdrawal of one million acres of public land in Arizona from uranium mining for 20 years.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced the continuation of the government's moratorium on new hardrock uranium mining claims on land surrounding the Grand Canyon on January 9. The public land at issue is not within the Grand Canyon National Park or the buffer zone protecting the national park.

Filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona, the industry lawsuit argues that Salazar "lacks legal authority to make withdrawals of public lands exceeding 5,000 acres."

The lawsuit contends that the land withdrawal is an "arbitrary agency action" under the Administrative Procedure Act, and that it fails to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to take the "hard look" at the withdrawal's consequences that the U.S. Supreme Court required in a unanimous 1989 decision.

Uranium mine in Arizona near the Grand Canyon (Photo by EcoFlight)

In support of their case, the two industry organizations cite the statement in the Arizona Wilderness Act of 1984 that, "Congress does not intend that the designation of wilderness areas in the State of Arizona lead to the creation of protective perimeters or buffer zones around each wilderness area."

"The proposed land withdrawal is not justified by information in the Interior Department's environmental assessment. The proposed land withdrawal is designed to protect against situations and circumstances that no longer exist," said Richard Myers, Nuclear Energy Institute vice president for policy development, planning and supplier programs.

"It is a mistake to judge today's uranium mining activities by practices and standards from 50 to 60 years ago," said Myers. "Yet that, apparently, is what the Interior Department has done in its final environmental impact statement."

The affected lands are situated in three areas, all in the vicinity of the Grand Canyon or Grand Canyon National Park, in Mohave and Coconino counties of northern Arizona. Approximately 3,200 mining claims are currently located in the withdrawal areas.

"A withdrawal is the right approach for this priceless American landscape," Salazar said on January 9. "People from all over the country and around the world come to visit the Grand Canyon. Numerous American Indian tribes regard this magnificent icon as a sacred place and millions of people in the Colorado River Basin depend on the river for drinking water, irrigation, industrial and environmental use."

The Public Land Order to withdraw these acres for 20 years from new mining claims and sites under the 1872 Mining Law, subject to valid existing rights, is authorized by the Federal Land Policy and Management Act.

The withdrawal does not prohibit previously approved uranium mining, new projects that could be approved on claims and sites with valid existing rights.

Without the withdrawal, there could be 30 uranium mines in the area over the next 20 years, including the four that are currently approved, with as many as six operating at one time, according to the Department of the Interior's Final Environmental Impact Statement, FEIS.

Environmental groups and tribes applauded the withdrawal decision. Gene Karpinski said on behalf of the League of Conservation Voters, "This is a big win for all of us who care about protecting the Grand Canyon's natural splendor. Extending the current moratorium on new uranium mining claims will protect tourism related jobs, drinking water for millions downstream, and critical wildlife habitats."

But Myers says that "contrary to the assertions by the administration, today's environmental laws ensure that ore extraction and production at uranium mines have minimal environmental impact on the surrounding land, water and wildlife."

Uranium resources in the Arizona Strip represent some of the highest-grade ores located in the United States. These uranium resources are higher grade than 85 percent of the world's uranium resources, according to the Interior Department's FEIS.

These resources represent as much as 375 million pounds of uranium, approximately 40 percent of U.S. reserves and more than seven times current U.S. annual demand, he said.

The world's nuclear power plants currently consume more uranium than is produced. Current worldwide uranium demand is roughly 180 million pounds per year, but worldwide production is approximately 140 million pounds per year, Myers said. The balance comes from secondary sources of supply, including inventories held by the U.S. and Russian governments. U.S. uranium production in 2010 was approximately four million pounds.

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Energy Northwest - Columbia Generating Station one step closer to license renewal

2012-03-01T16:12:00.000-08:00

Mar 1, 2012

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on March 1 issued its final safety evaluation report (SER) for the proposed renewal of the operating license for the 1,150 MW Columbia Generating Station and concluded that there are no open items that would preclude license renewal for an additional 20 years of operation.

The report documents the results of the NRC staff’s review of the license renewal application and site audits of the plant’s aging management programs to address the safety of plant operations during the period of extended operation. The NRC said the results show that the applicant has identified actions that have been or will be taken to manage the effects of aging in the appropriate safety systems, structures and components of the plant and that their functions will be maintained during the period of extended operation.

The NRC staff is in the process of reviewing the environmental part of the Columbia plant’s license renewal application. That review must be completed before a final decision is made on the renewal.

Energy Northwest submitted an application to the NRC in January 2010, to extend the plant licenses by 20 years for each unit. The plant, operated by Energy Northwest, is about 160 miles southeast of Seattle. The current 40-year operating license for Columbia is due to expire on Dec. 20, 2023.

(NRC) on March 1 issued its final safety evaluation report (SER) for the proposed renewal of the operating license for the 1,150 MW Columbia Generating Station and concluded that there are no open items that would preclude license renewal for an additional 20 years of operation.

LINK

Ontario Power Generation inks $600-million initial deal for nuclear refurbish plan

2012-03-01T16:10:00.001-08:00

Ontario Power Generation has inked an initial contract in what promises to be a decade-long, multi-billion-dollar refurbishment of its Darlington nuclear plant – the province’s largest-ever nuclear rejuvenation undertaken in one go.

At the same time, the provincial NDP argues the deal’s a rush job on ambitious project that doesn’t have enough data to back it up, and is still awaiting final go-ahead from Canada’s environmental watchdog.

For $600-million, SNC-Lavalin Group (SNC-T38.861.463.90%) and will spend the next three years on “planning and preparation” for a single crucial aspect of refurbishing Darlington’s four reactors – the massive, drum-like calandria housing fuel bundles of uranium, and the feeding tubes that carry heavy water to and from each reactor’s core.

That planning phase includes the construction of a life-size replica reactor for engineers to practise on. And practise, and practise, until they’re able to fit finicky nuclear parts in their sleep – or in an eight-year schedule so exacting it’ll be measured out in 30-minute intervals.

When you’re working to refurbish a nuclear reactor piece by piece, there’s no room for error, but there’s no room for trial-and-error, either: Workers can only spend a strictly limited amount of time exposed to highly radioactive sites; they can’t spend hours futzing around until they find something that works.

“If you’re working on something like a turbine, you can be there all day. … You can’t do that in a reactor, ‘’cause you’re limited in how long you can be there. You’re only allowed a certain dose of radiation a year,” said OPG spokesman Ted Gruetzner.

“It’s a lesson we’ve learned from other projects that have run into trouble.”

The mock reactor is the first of its kind on this scale. It’ll be built on a field near the Darlington plant, Durham Region, just east of Toronto.

The exceptional step, and the long time period set aside for planning alone, is no mistake: Energy Minister Chris Bentley says Ontario’s learning from others’ experience: Costly overruns at a nuclear refurbishment project at Point Lepreau in New Brunswick, for example, sent the project years behind schedule and millions over budget.

“That is a completely, fundamentally different approach,” he said. “It’s fine-tuned planning, basically.”

Actual construction work on refurbishing the nuclear plant is supposed to begin in 2016, with workers taking each of the four reactors offline one by one. It’s expected to wrap up in 2024.

While Ontario Power Generation won’t give a firm price tag on the total cost of the project because several aspects have yet to be tendered, Mr. Gruetzner said it could range from $6-billion to $10-billion.

For that price tag, the province hopes to rejuvenate four reactors, all in their early 20s, to give them another 25 years of useful life.

With a total maximum output of 3,500 megawatts, Darlington is Ontario’s largest single power source.

At the same time, OPG is waiting for approval from federal and provincial governments to move forward on new reactors at the same site. Last year, it went through an environmental assessment on an application for up to four new reactors.

“I’m not in a position to speak to any further details about that,” Mr. Bentley said. “We’re still working on it.”

Last year SNC-Lavalin bought up the reactor-refurbishing arm of Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., previously an arms-length Crown corporation. Mr. Bentley said AECL’s absence in the bidding period for this latest refurbishment didn’t affect the province’s price tag.

Ontario New Democrat MPP Peter Tabuns argues the province is flying blind - embarking on a multi-billion-dollar project without a sufficiently detailed energy plan for the province’s future.

“They have not brought forward a business plan on this, that I’m aware of. They don’t have a power supply plan,” he said. “We have no review showing whether we even need this, frankly.”

Mr. Tabuns also noted the refurbishment’s still awaiting the green light from the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency, due later this year. Mr. Gruetzner said the anticipated verdict on OPG’s environmental assessment of the project shouldn’t disrupt their timelines.

In last fall’s election the Liberals faced pressure, especially from the provincial NDP, to shift away from radioactive sources of electricity. But Mr. Bentley said the province has no plans to put the brakes on nuclear power.

The provincial Liberals have gone to great pains to focus on renewable energy - losing support from wind-power’s rural opponents in the process. But those in charge of regulating the power-hungry province’s electricity needs say green energy by its nature is extremely unpredictable; it doesn’t look as though the province will be able lessen its reliance on nuclear any time soon.

“Nuclear has been a very important part of our baseload. … It will continue to be,” he said. “It’s an important part of our ability to supply reliable, affordable power.”

Florida's Crystal River nuclear plant vexes Progress Energy

2012-03-01T08:02:00.002-08:00

John Murawski - The (Raleigh) News & Observer

Progress Energy can congratulate itself for skirting major controversy at its three nuclear plants in the Carolinas in recent years. But 700 miles south of here, the Raleigh-based utility's nuclear plant in Florida is experiencing one of the most exorbitant and bewildering mishaps in the history of the nation's nuclear industry.

The Crystal River nuclear plant, on Florida's west coast, has been shut down since the fall of 2009 and is expected to remain off-line until at least 2014 - that is, if the company decides to resurrect the damaged facility at all.

The bill for repairs and replacement power could top $2.5 billion, and it's been unclear who - company shareholders or its Florida customers - will cover those costs since the utility's insurer stopped paying claims in mid-2011.

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/03/01/2416141/floridas-crystal-river-nuclear.html#storylink=cpy

In the coming months, Progress is expected to disclose an updated cost estimate for rebuilding the Crystal River facility. The company is also awaiting a decision from the insurer as to whether the claims will be paid or whether Progress will have to appeal to an arbitrator.

The nuclear fiasco has no direct bearing on customers in North Carolina, because the Florida utility is operated separately from the Carolinas utility. But it could result in steep bill increases for the company's Florida customers, who already pay about $124 a month for power.

It could also dilute the benefits of Progress's pending $26 billion merger with Charlotte-based Duke Energy by introducing a costly liability. But Progress CEO Bill Johnson has told company employees in the past that the rationale for the merger is rising operating costs, including unforeseen financial calamities like the Florida setback.

"What's happened here is a first of its kind," said Florida Public Counsel J.R. Kelly, that state's consumer advocate. "There's nothing like this that's ever occurred in the world."

The problems experienced at Crystal River stem from a botched attempt to replace the plant's steam generator. The replacement required cutting a giant hole - measuring 23 feet by 27 feet - in the 42-inch-thick protective wall of the building that contains the nuclear reactor. To save money, Progress opted to manage the project on its own and awarded the contract to an engineering firm that had no experience in such repairs.

The work resulted in three instances of "delamination," a term used to describe an internal separation of the building wall. Each delamination is the size of a basketball court, said Florida's Deputy Public Counsel, Charles Rehwinkel. "They were definitely three separate events, or discrete incidents," he said.

The blunder shows that a highly experienced nuclear operator with a sterling reputation in the industry is not immune from a total breakdown in procedures that raise questions about judgment and competence.

The sequence of mistakes has put Progress in a state of crisis management for more than two years. Company officials are dealing with persistent questions from Wall Street analysts while they negotiate data requests from the insurer, Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, known as NEIL.

The case rides on NEIL's decision whether it is obligated to pay up to $2.75 billion for repairs and replacement power under its confidential contract with Progress. Because NEIL was not expected to voluntarily pay the full coverage Progress sought last year, the utility suspended recording further insurance receivables in its corporate accounting statements. To date Progress has received $298 million in insurance payments, and the company stopped working on the Crystal River site last year to focus on refining its strategy and budget.

"We're not in a dispute yet," Progress CEO Bill Johnson told analysts two weeks ago. "We're still working positively and engaged with them on explaining what happened, what the repair plan is, and to make sure it's covered."

Earlier this year, Progress was able to avoid another dispute by reaching a rate settlement with Florida's consumer advocate, the Florida Public Counsel. That state agency had been building a negligence case against Progress to prevent the utility from passing on the repair and power costs to Florida customers. The Florida Public Counsel had conducted depositions with a dozen employees and contractors to expose errors and poor judgment, potentially leading to harmful disclosures that could have proved disastrous in Progress' negotiations with NEIL.

With the settlement done, Progress executives publicly express confidence that everything will work out. They say that NEIL, a pool created by the nation's nuclear operators, will ultimately agree to pay all claims, the full amount of which won't be known for several months. Kelly, the consumer advocate who wants to protect Florida customers from the staggering costs, agrees that the company is entitled to the insurance payments.

"It clearly was an accident," Kelly said.

The coverage from NEIL would make rebuilding the Crystal River facility the most economically feasible decision. It would prevent having to weigh whether to decommission the 36-year-old facility that provided about 8.5 percent of the electricity in Progress's Florida service area and its 1.6 million customers there.

It's not clear why NEIL has delayed payments, but Johnson said these cases can take months, and the Crystal River matter is by far the most complicated and costly NEIL has ever been asked to pay for. Johnson is a member of NEIL's board but as a matter of policy is not involved with the committee assigned to review Progress' claims, Kelly said.

NEIL, based in Delaware, declined to say what its biggest payout has been to date. According to news reports, NEIL declined a $200 million claim in 2007 to the operator of the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station in Ohio, but malfunctions at that plant were so serious that they resulted in criminal charges against company employees.

LINK

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/03/01/2416141/floridas-crystal-river-nuclear.html#storylink=cpy
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Nuclear plant safety urged

2012-02-29T23:25:00.002-08:00

By James Minton

Baker-Zachary bureau

March 01, 2012

ST. FRANCISVILLE — The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman spoke to River Bend nuclear power plant employees Wednesday about the importance of instilling a culture of safety in their daily work.

Gregory Jaczko said he spoke to members of an industry group, the National Association of Employee Concerns Professionals, in New Orleans on Wednesday morning before visiting the West Feliciana Parish plant.

“Nuclear power plants have what are called employee concerns programs as a place where employees may go if they have (safety) issues that they want to address,’’ Jaczko said.

“This is one of the things we’re concerned about at River Bend. We’ve seen some things, that I wouldn’t say raise concerns, but that we’re watching to make sure that they’re doing the right kinds of things to address the safety culture,” he said.

The NRC wants to make sure that employees are being conservative in their decision-making, ask the right questions and are free to raise questions, Jaczko said.

Last year, Entergy Operations Inc. and Entergy Nuclear Operations Inc. agreed to take additional steps to ensure the effectiveness of the quality-control programs and safety-conscious work environment at 11 nuclear power plants.

The agreement with the NRC stemmed from a River Bend employee’s complaint that he suffered retaliation after questioning inspection activities that were thought to be part of the plant’s quality control program.

Entergy chose to resolve the matter through a mediation process and agreed to reinforce its commitment to a safety-conscious work environment and to reorganize the quality control chain of command, the NRC announced in August.

Entergy also agreed to conduct a safety culture survey at River Bend, the NRC said.

In January, the NRC levied a $140,000 fine against the plant after an investigation revealed that nine plant operators violated procedures by surfing the Internet while on duty in the control room.

Jaczko said distraction issues have arisen in nuclear plant control rooms across the nation down through the years, but “this may be the first one involving accessing the Internet.”

The decisions to visit Internet sites while on duty are not in the interest of safety or consistent with procedures, he said.

“Those are very important issues, and it was an opportunity for me to come here and really reinforce the importance of that with the employees,” Jaczko said. “I had a great opportunity to talk to a group of employees, and they asked some very good questions. We had a very candid dialogue about these issues.”

While touring the plant, Jaczko said, Entergy officials gave him an update on the steps the plant has taken since the 2011 Japanese nuclear disaster to cope with the extended loss of off-site power to safely shut down the plant in an emergency.

The NRC will soon begin implementing new requirements for U.S. plants based on the experience in Japan, he said.

LINK

Nuclear Regulatory Commission tells public Palisades nuclear power plant is safe

2012-02-29T20:32:00.001-08:00

SOUTH HAVEN — Living between two nuclear power plants, Bette Pierman has some concerns about Palisades nuclear power plant.

"I guess I'm looking for reassurances that they (the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) are holding this company accountable," the Benton Harbor woman said Wednesday.

The NRC held a public meeting Wednesday to discuss recent events at Palisades, operated by Entergy Energy and located in Covert, south of South Haven.

Problems at the plant have resulted in its standing with the NRC being downgraded, requiring more inspections for the rest of the year.

The downgrade stems from two events: an August coupling failure in one of the plant's service water pumps, which the NRC said was of "low-to-moderate safety significance;" and a September electrical fault caused by plant workers, and incident that resulted in the plant shutting down for a week and that the NRC said was of "substantial significance to safety."

The downgrade put Palisades among the agency's four lowest-rated nuclear power plants in the country.

The hall at the Beach Haven Event Center in South Haven where Wednesday night's meeting was held was filled with more than 80 people, including concerned residents like Pierman, anti-nuclear activists and plant workers.

NRC officials provided dozens of handouts on nuclear safety. Resident inspectors stationed at Palisades were on hand, as well as others involved in special inspections of the plant.

The NRC started with a presentation about the individual events that led up to the plant's downgrade, explaining each in detail.

In none of those incidents was the public in danger, and the plant meets all federal guidelines, according to the NRC.

"So we have confidence that the plant can operate safely," a NRC official said.

Still, officials said there have been significant issues at the plant that have required extra attention from regulators.

The events have resulted in an additional 1,000 inspection hours at the plant in 2011, in addition to the routine 2,500 hours, they said.

After the presentation, many people in the audience had questions and comments for the NRC about the plant. They ranged from general concerns about its safety to the impacts it has on the health of residents and the environment.

Some opponents of nuclear energy said they worry a nuclear disaster could happen at Palisades.

Michael Martin, a 69-year-old Gobles resident, said it comes down to nuclear plant technology being too dangerous. He contends that Palisades should be shut down.

"I don't think this is going to change anything," Matin said of Wednesday's meeting. "We've been having the meetings since day one — it's getting old."

Mark Savage, spokesman for Entergy, said there is little fact in many of the accusations made by members of the audience who say the plant is dangerous.

"It's mostly opinion," Savage said. "The plant continues to operate safely."

LINK

Entergy nuclear plant in NYC suburbs disconnected from grid for repairs to transformer

2012-02-29T13:30:00.000-08:00

BUCHANAN, N.Y. - Entergy Corp.'s Indian Point 3 nuclear power plant in the New York City suburbs has been disconnected from the electrical grid because of a problem with a transformer.

Plant owner Entergy says there was no release of radioactivity and no threat to workers or the public.

The company says operators saw signs of degradation in the transformer on Tuesday. It was disconnected Tuesday night for repairs.

Entergy says Indian Point 3 will go back online when alternate power is connected to pumps and motors.

Indian Point 2, the other reactor at the site in Buchanan, is still operating at full power.

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Utah clears first hurdle for nuclear power plant

2012-02-29T07:15:00.000-08:00

By PAUL FOY

The Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY —

State Engineer Kent Jones is setting the stage for Utah's first nuclear power plant to seek federal approvals.

Jones rejected an appeal Tuesday from environmental groups that questioned the developer's ability to raise money for a multibillion-dollar power plant near the Green River.

Jones acknowledged the first investors sought by Blue Castle Holdings have been dropped but that the developers can probably find other backers.

"We have reason to believe they could pull that money together and construct the works," he told The Associated Press.

Jones granted a water right for the plant last month but reconsidered his decision with the appeal on the financial question by the Sierra Club, Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah and Moab-based Uranium Watch.

He wasn't required to inspect Blue Castle's books or the project's likely success in the financial markets, but found it probable that the developers could find investors if the project moves ahead.

Jones said he can always reverse the water-right transfer if the project fails.

His final ruling clears the way for Blue Castle to seek approval from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — a review that can take years and millions of dollars for studies.

"They have asserted they are gathering funds from investors and they have done quite a bit of work to get to this point," Kent said Tuesday. "They just have to go out and get investors. There are some concerns with that, but based on what they've done in the past I believe they have the ability to obtain funds and construct the proposed works."

He added, "A project of this scope takes a lot of money."

In Tuesday's ruling, Jones acknowledged that his first decision in January incorrectly stated that Blue Castle had tentative agreements to sell electricity to 17 utilities. Jones, however, said his original decision didn't hinge on that mischaracterization and that it wasn't relevant.

"My opinion remains unaltered," he wrote.

Kane and San Juan counties have agreed to lease water rights for the nuclear plant. It amounts to 53,600 acre-feet of water a year from the Green River, a major tributary of the Colorado River. That's enough to serve about 100,000 households.

Opponents decried Jones' rulings by saying it would harm endangered fish, use a significant amount of scarce water on the arid Colorado Plateau and threaten recreational opportunities.

"The lack of scrutiny the Herbert administration has shown towards this nuclear reactor scheme is inexcusable," said Matt Pacenza of HEAL Utah. ""We're appalled that the State Engineer has so brazenly ignored law and precedent in his willingness to advance Governor Herbert's dirty and dangerous energy agenda."

The 3,000-megawatt power plant would sit near the intersection of Interstate 70 and State Road 6 about six miles west of the Green River.

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Veteran scientist Baldev Raj vouches for safety of Kudankulam nuclear plant

2012-02-29T06:22:00.001-08:00

NEW DELHI: Veteran scientist and director of India's Kalpakkam nuclear project, Dr. Baldev Raj, has vouched for the safety of the controversial Kudankulam plant in Tamil Nadu by calling it 'one of the world's safest reactors.'

"If you make a list, the Kudankulam nuclear plant will certainly be among one of the most advanced and safest reactors in the world today. We have implemented all provisions that we feel are required to prevent any accident or disaster in the plant. We have also revised and revisited the existing norms after the Fukushima disaster in Japan. All this has been done by specially-appointed committees and the regulatory body," Raj told media here after a seminar.

Over the last few months, Kudankulam has been at the epicentre of a wave of heated protests, with environmental activists and agitators voicing their ire at the Central Government's apathy towards the dangers posed by the plant.

Despite repeated assurances, irate locals have stepped up their protests in the past few weeks, aiming to ratchet up pressure on the government to shutdown the Kudankulam project, fearing a possible recurrence of the recent disaster witnessed in the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan.

Raj also appealed to activists to visit other projects such as Kalpakkam to see whether any harm had been caused to the people living there.

"We urge people agitating against the Kudankulam plant and the Jaitapur project to come to the nuclear facilities operating in Kalpakkam, Tarapur and Kaiga, and tell us what safety provision have we not followed there. Are the people living and working in and around these nuclear plants not happy and satisfied? Have their lives not improved? Are they suffering? They have only gained," said Raj.

Raj further said that there is an urgent need for India to tap nuclear power to meet its growing energy requirements.

"See, it is not possible to generate much energy without nuclear power. The power generated by solar or wind energy projects, is one megawatt, two megawatt, five megawatt. However, in the case of nuclear energy, with even six reactors, nearly 6000 megawatt power can be generated. In Jaitapur, one reactor alone produces 1250 megawatt energy. Six reactors of Jaitapur can produce 7500 megawatt power. You see the difference? This country needs a lot of power, if it wishes to grow at 8 percent. In many places of India, there is still no electricity. We have to provide energy in those areas. However, all this must go hand in hand with safety," said Raj.

India has a total installed power generation capacity of 164 gigawatts (GW) and aims to raise it to 187 GW by the end of March 2012.

There are 20 reactors in operation at six power plants, generating over 4,000 megawatts of electricity, while five other plants are under construction.

LINK

Unusual Event Declared at Byron Nuclear Plant

2012-02-29T06:20:00.000-08:00

BYRON (WIFR) -- The Byron Exelon Nuclear Plant declared another unusual event. The declaration came at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.

Exelon believe a failed insulator in the station's switch-yard was the cause of the power loss. They say that both units are now operating at 100%.

An unusual event event is the lowest of four emergency classifications established by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

LINK

Nuclear safety report cites Duke Energy plant in S.C.

2012-02-29T06:18:00.001-08:00

BY BRUCE HENDERSON - bhenderson@charlotteobserver.com

A watchdog group's report Tuesday on nuclear plant safety cites Duke Energy's Oconee plant, which regulators say relied for 28 years on a backup emergency cooling system that didn't work.

The Union of Concerned Scientists report reviews the 15 special inspections the Nuclear Regulatory Commission made last year in response to safety, security or other problems at nuclear plants. Among them was an inspection of Oconee, Duke's oldest nuclear plant, near Seneca, S.C.

Plant workers had discovered a problem with a backup system designed to cool the reactor after an accident. The Union of Concerned Scientists said Duke had installed the system in 1983, a few years after the partial meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island plant. The two plants share a similar design.

The problem was in electrical breakers that are part of the plant's Standby Shutdown Facility, a backup control room that could be used to stabilize the plant in an emergency. The breakers were designed to open if they sensed overheating but turned out to open at too-low temperatures inside the reactor building.

If an accident occurred, the open breakers could hurt the system's ability to cool the reactor core.

The breakers Duke used had not been tested to verify they would work at elevated temperatures, the NRC said. "As a result, the (standby facility) was inoperable from 1983 until June 1, 2011," the agency said in citing Duke for a violation in December.

The NRC rated the incident as being of "substantial safety significance." Duke corrected the problem, it said.

'Oconee is a safe plant'

The problem "posed no danger to the public," Oconee spokeswoman Sandra Magee said by email. "We have more than one method for cooling the reactor system. Oconee is a safe plant."

The problem would occur only if the breakers were operated from the standby facility, which has never been needed in Oconee's 38 years in operation, Magee said. They're normally operated from the plant's control room. Duke replaced the breakers with fuses, she said.

The Union of Concerned Scientists report said many such problems occur "because reactor owners either tolerated known safety problems or took inadequate measures to correct them."

While NRC inspectors uncovered some problems, it charged that the agency itself failed to enforce some regulations, including those covering fire safety.

LINK

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/02/29/1892058/nuclear-safety-report-cites-duke.html#storylink=cpy

Ohio nuclear plant owner: Weather caused cracks

2012-02-29T06:16:00.001-08:00

TOLEDO, Ohio—The owner of an Ohio nuclear plant along Lake Erie says a lack of exterior weatherproofing coating caused concrete to crack in the outer shell protecting the plant.

FirstEnergy Corp. told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that the exterior cracking at the Davis-Besse (BEHS'-ee) plant near Toledo traces back to a 1978 blizzard when wind, rain and a drastic temperature drop caused moisture to penetrate the concrete. The Blade newspaper ( http://bit.ly/woM18U) reports the utility says the moisture caused the concrete to freeze and expand, prompting the cracks found in October.

FirstEnergy is proposing it could apply a weatherproofing coating and make sure the cracks haven't spread. It also proposes a long-term monitoring plan.

The NRC allowed the plant to begin producing electricity again in December after the first cracks were found.

LINK

World's oldest nuclear plant shuts in Britain

2012-02-29T06:15:00.000-08:00

By Karolin Schaps

OLDBURY-ON-SEVERN, Britain, Feb 29 (Reuters) - The world's oldest running nuclear reactor is due to shut at 1100 GMT on Wednesday after 44 years of operation, starting the countdown to 2025, by when a new British nuclear station is expected to open on a site just a few hundred metres away.

Some local residents who have lived in this quaint village for decades say they had no choice when the plant was first built in the 1960s and have little prospect of preventing a new station now, given that the Oldbury site has already been shortlisted for new nuclear plants by the government.

Allan Knapp, 86, remembers when the local government started speaking in 1958 of the construction one of the world's first civil nuclear plants on a huge field, a site next to his childhood home, on the banks of the river Severn, 12 miles north of Bristol.

"Nobody wants a nuclear plant on their doorstep," he said. "But back then people accepted it in the end because radiation was little known about. If a power station is going to be, it's going to be."

A joint venture of two German utilities, E.ON and RWE, plans to build a new Oldbury nuclear plant more than six times the capacity of the current station by 2025, relying on a strong government drive in favour of nuclear power to help reduce carbon emissions.

The new plant will use so-called pressurised water reactors (PWR), which require the construction of huge cooling towers containing water, a part of the project residents fear will further spoil their landscape.

Horizon, the German joint venture, said its preferred choice of cooling towers was only around 15 metres higher than the plant's current reactor buildings, two blue and white striped cylinders that peak out between trees and fields from miles away.

The project is early in the planning stages, and Horizon is still far away from applying for necessary planning and environmental permits from UK agencies and the local government, which will give Olbury-on-Severn residents a say.

Japan's Fukushima nuclear crisis nearly one year ago has not swayed nuclear plant developers or the UK government's opinion about the necessity for new nuclear capacity, although developers such as EDF Energy admit the incident has pushed back timetables for other new stations.

"People here just want to get on with their lives. They don't want a new nuclear plant," said Reg Illingworth, who lives in a cottage decked with solar panels less than one mile from the Oldbury station and who also leads a local anti-nuclear movement.

"Fukushima has galvanized the idea that nuclear should and could be stopped."

OLDBURY SHUTDOWN

On the site of the world's oldest nuclear plant, run by U.S.-owned Magnox, with its weather-worn paint and 1960s-style concrete architecture, employees say Fukushima has strengthened their will to run their nuclear plant even more safely and are sad to see it turned off.

"Control room staff requested not to press the shutdown button, saying 'I don't want it to be me'," Site Director Phil Sprague said.

"Some of the workers got quite emotional; they have worked here for 40 years."

Most plant staff will continue working on site for another 12 to 18 months to start dismantling the nuclear plant, but headcount will drop by around one quarter after that, with most workers going into retirement, Sprague said.

For Project Manager Matt Thames the new Oldbury nuclear plant is likely to be a future employer as the south-westerner wants to continue working in the nuclear industry in his home region.

"We join fairly young. I never intended to stay within the same industry for 22 years, it kind of happens," he said, wearing his wind-proof black Magnox jacket proudly.

"It's the availability of work in the industry that attracted me to it."

LINK

Vermont nuclear plant may not see smooth sailing

2012-02-29T06:12:00.000-08:00

MONTPELIER, Vt. (WTW) — It looked a month ago like the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant was in the clear for continued operation after a federal judge ruled against the state's efforts to shut it down.

Judge J. Garvan Murtha of the U.S. District Court in Brattleboro had ruled Vermont laws pointing toward a shutdown for the state's lone reactor unconstitutional or pre-empted by federal law.

But now the Vernon reactor's owner, New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., is saying through its lawyers that it and the judge may have missed a legal trap, one that could force the plant to shut down on its 40th birthday, barely three weeks from now.

So the fight over Vermont Yankee's future rages on.

Entergy lawyers filed a series of court papers Monday night. One was a notice of appeal of Murtha's Jan. 19 order to the 2nd U.S. Circuit of Appeals in New York. The company is expected to flesh out its reasons for appealing a largely favorable order later. Lawyers following the case say the only issue on which it lost was on its argument that, because Vermont Yankee will be selling all of its electricity out of state for the foreseeable future, the state has little or no regulatory authority over it.

Another Entergy legal filing was of a more immediate nature. The company went back to the District Court, asking Murtha to reopen the case he heard during a three-day trial in September just enough to block the possibility that the state might try to close the plant by barring it from storing highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel produced by the reactor after its original shutdown date of March 21.

Entergy bought the plant from a group of New England utilities that had owned it previously in 2002, with 10 years left on its initial operating license. The company had three goals: increase Vermont Yankee's power output by 20 percent, to 605 megawatts; get permission to build new storage capacity for highly-radioactive spent nuclear fuel, since the plant's existing capacity was running out; and win a 20-year license extension by 2012.

Entergy got the power boost and the waste expansion by mid-decade. But in 2005, the Vermont Legislature made Vermont the only state in the country saying that before a nuclear plant got a license extension, lawmakers had to approve before the question went to the Public Service Board, which regulates utilities.

The question came to a head in early 2010. In January, it was revealed that radioactive tritium was leaking from underground pipes in the plant into soil and groundwater, and that plant officials had misled state lawmakers and regulators by saying the plant didn't have the sort of underground piping that carried tritium. In February, with the plant at its political nadir in the state, the Vermont Senate voted 26-4 against letting the Public Service Board grant the permit for continued operation of Vermont Yankee. Because the Senate killed it, the measure was never taken up by the House.

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission gave the plant a 20-year extension of its federal license in March of 2011. Entergy filed suit against the state a month later for declining to follow the NRC's lead.

When Murtha ruled for Entergy last month, he essentially told the Legislature to butt out and let the Public Service Board decide whether to issue the new state permit. Part of the board's response came last week, when it asked a series of questions, some relating to the storage of nuclear waste after March 21.

The board noted that when it allowed Entergy to expand its waste storage, it gave the company permission to store only spent nuclear fuel that was generated from operations up to March 21, 2012.

"Does Entergy VY plan to operate past March 21, 2012, if the Board has not yet issued a (state permit)? If so, what does Entergy VY plan to do with spent fuel generated as a result of such operation?" a board memo says.

That and similar questions prompted Entergy's filing in Murtha's court Monday night, the company said.

The board memo containing the questions raises a "palpable risk" that the lack of permission for ongoing waste storage "requires Vermont Yankee to shut down on March 21, 2012," the company's lawyers said.

They asked Murtha for an amended order blocking this outcome.

"Based on the (board's) questions, we made a number of filings asking the Court to provide clarity for all parties regarding certain aspects of Judge Murtha's decision and its impact on the continued operation of Vermont Yankee while the (board) considers our pending application for a Certificate of Public Good," company spokesman Michael Burns said in a statement.

Sandra Levine, a lawyer with the environmental group Conservation Law Foundation, said the company's stance violated an earlier promise it had made to abide by the board's decisions on waste storage post-2012.

"Entergy continues its streak of broken promises," Levine wrote in an email. "Entergy now seeks to force Vermont to store additional spent fuel without approval and contrary to Entergy's own agreement with the State."

LINK

Progress NC Brunswick 1 reactor to refuel early

2012-02-27T22:21:00.003-08:00

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Progress Energy Inc's  938-megawatt Unit 1
at the Brunswick nuclear power plant in North Carolina will
not restart from an unplanned outage and instead will begin
a refueling outage a few days early than scheduled, a
company spokesman said on Monday.     

The unit shut Thursday after a problem with the power supply
for the plant's emergency core cooling system.    

The spokesman said repairs needed following the unplanned
shutdown have been completed and Brunswick 1 is transitioning
to the refueling outage work schedule which had been scheduled
to begin later this week.      

Meanwhile, Brunswick 2, rated at 920 MW, was operating at full
power Monday.

LINK

GCC aides meet today to weigh nuclear energy options

2012-02-27T22:19:00.000-08:00

Today, senior officials and nuclear experts of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will hold a meeting in Riyadh to study a project on the use of nuclear energy and to review a plan to boost cooperation between member states and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The meeting has been convened by a GCC working panel, which has been entrusted with the task to prepare detailed studies for the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in member countries.

"The meeting will discuss a number of topics related to uses of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, including among others an action plan for addressing nuclear emergencies," Ahmed Al-Kabi, a spokesman for the GCC General Secretariat, said yesterday.

He pointed out that the meeting will also discuss several other topics related to nuclear energy, how to promote alternative sources of energy and energy saving methods besides other initiatives taken by member states in this field.

He said the meeting is significant keeping in view the keen desire of the Gulf states to pursue renewable energy and nuclear power projects with an aim to cut dependence on oil. "Then, there is a need to review our own preparedness to deal with nuclear emergencies," said Al-Kabi, while referring to the growing threat from Iran and Israel.

He said the GCC working panel will also discuss a proposal to hold training sessions and workshops to be organized and attended by officials and experts from the GCC as well as from other nations.

"In fact, more than 60 percent of all oil production in the GCC will go toward producing electricity by the year 2030, if current demand levels continue to grow at the same pace," said a report released by the GCC yesterday. Referring to the GCC panel’s meeting, which will eventually map out a plan to promote GCC nuclear energy projects, the statement said there would also be discussions on a paper submitted by the GCC on nuclear energy.

A plan to invite experts in various disciplines to present latest advances in the usage of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes will also be discussed in the meeting, said the statement. It said the meeting would also discuss in detail the scope and extent of the GCC’s cooperation with the IAEA. “We are looking ahead to contributing to the discussions ahead and sharing and hearing best practices from across the GCC,” said the statement released before the meeting.

According to the statement, a pilot study project on the use of nuclear energy, a plan to boost cooperation between the GCC and the IAEA, and how to promote alternative sources of energy and energy saving methods will top the agenda. On an individual level, some of the Gulf states including the Kingdom have signed several agreements with nuclear nations and international agencies to enable them to produce nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

LINK

Nuclear Energy Group Sues Over Uranium Mining Ban in Arizona

2012-02-27T22:15:00.001-08:00

By Edvard Pettersson

eb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The Nuclear Energy Institute and the National Mining Association said they sued the U.S. to reverse a ban on new uranium mining on federal land around the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

The two organizations, representing mining and nuclear power companies, today asked a federal court in Arizona to reverse a U.S. Interior Department ban, announced Jan. 9, on new hard-rock mining claims on about 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of land, according to an e-mailed statement. The lawsuit couldn’t be independently confirmed from court records.

Richard Myers, vice president for policy development with the nuclear power group, said in the statement that the proposed land withdrawal was designed to protect against circumstances that no longer exist. The land involved isn’t within the Grand Canyon or the buffer zone protecting the national park, according to the statement.

“Contrary to the assertions by the administration, today’s environmental laws ensure that ore extraction and production at uranium mines have minimal environmental impact on the surrounding land, water and wildlife,” Myers said.

Arizona Strip

The uranium resources in the so-called Arizona Strip represent about 40 percent of U.S. reserves and some of the highest grade uranium located in the U.S., according to the group’s statement.

Adam Fetcher, a spokesman for the Interior Department, declined to comment on the suit.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said when he signed the 20-year ban on Jan. 9 that it was part of an effort to safeguard the $3.5 billion spent by visitors to the national park each year.

“Tourism, leisure are very much a part of job creation of the United States,” Salazar said at the time. “The jobs associated to the Grand Canyon are not jobs that can be exported anywhere, those are truly American jobs.”

The ban will prevent new uranium and other hard-rock mining near Grand Canyon National Park, which was visited by 4.5 million people in 2010. Previously approved mining and new projects on claims and sites with existing rights will be allowed, potentially leading to development of as many as 11 uranium mines, the Interior Department said last month.

The 20-year ban on new mining claims was based on an environmental impact study prepared by the Bureau of Land Management, which estimated that as many as 30 uranium mines would be developed without the ban, according to the Interior Department.

Large stretches of very remote desert land, including an area tourists pass through on their way to the popular North Rim, were put off limits.

The case is National Mining Association v. Salazar, U.S. District Court, District of Arizona.

LINK

Russia Pitches Baltic Nuclear Plant to Europe

2012-02-27T13:50:00.004-08:00

MOSCOW, February 27 (RIA Novosti)

Russia is holding talks with European energy companies on building the Baltic nuclear power plant in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, the press office of Russia’s civilian nuclear power corporation Rosatom said on Monday.

“Currently, talks are underway with some major west European energy companies that have displayed serious interest in joining the project to build the Baltic NPP,” the press office quoted Sergei Boyarkin, director of the Rosatom program for managing engineering projects, as saying at a roundtable in the Latvian capital on nuclear power development in the Baltic region.

Russia started the construction of the two-unit Baltic Power Plant in Kaliningrad in 2010 a bid to combat an increasing energy crisis in the region. The units will each have 1,194 MW of capacity.

The first unit is to go into service in 2017. The construction of the second unit is planned to begin in 2012 and be completed in 2018. Each unit will have a service life of 60 years.

Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant's future remains up in the air

2012-02-27T13:48:00.001-08:00

MIDDLEBURY — Local lawmakers continue to be concerned about the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant owner’s ongoing legal fight to remain open and to remain part of the state’s long-term energy future.

Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell on Feb. 17 announced that he will appeal a federal district court judge’s ruling that gave new hope to Entergy Nuclear’s quest to keep its Vernon-based power plant open.

State lawmakers had opted to allow the aging plant’s license to expire this year, but Entergy has been seeking a 20-year renewal. Vermont Yankee supplies roughly a third of the state’s power, though state officials have been working to replace that source through new energy contracts with HydroQuebec, more imported electricity from out-of-state and development of more renewable energy sources, among other things.

Judge J. Garvin Murtha last month ruled that federal law in this case pre-empts state law when it comes to matters of nuclear power regulations and safety concerns.

Some lawmakers and local citizens assembled at last Monday’s legislative breakfast at the Middlebury American Legion voiced concerns about VY’s ongoing operation and the fact that Entergy had not yet amassed the funding necessary to decommission (close and make arrangements for irradiated equipment and fuel) the plant.

Rep. Betty Nuovo, D-Middlebury, is a member of the House Natural Resources and Energy Commission. She placed the VY decommissioning fund’s balance at around $435 million to $485 million — far short of the $900 million officials believe is needed to safely close the plant.

Vergennes resident Jim Sullivan suggested the state look for a buyer for VY — “someone we trust” — to provide better oversight of the decommissioning fund and resolve safety concerns at the plant that might allow it to stay open for another 20 years.

But several local lawmakers said they would prefer to see the plant close and focus on efforts to make sure the site is safe and secured.

“In order to sell it, (VY) has to be an asset someone would want to acquire,” said Democratic Rep. David Sharpe of Bristol, noting the plant’s 40-year age and recent history of leaks.

Rep. Willem Jewett, D-Ripton, said Entergy has not “placed a dime” in the decommissioning fund since acquiring VY in 2002.

“Their plan to make up the half-billion or so dollars is to let Wall Street deliver, and it makes no sense,” Jewett said. “It can’t be done, as far as I can tell, if you study inflation and the expected rate of return on this thing.”

Rep. Harvey Smith, R-New Haven, said VY’s decommissioning fund “has shown the same stress as all of our retirement funds and investment funds have shown during the past few years.”

He noted a proposal to mothball the plant, let it sit for 20 to 40 years, and allow the decommissioning fund grow for the closure process.

Rep. Paul Ralston, D-Middlebury, questioned whether the state really needs power from VY and urged the state to explore more opportunities to use natural gas. He noted that while the cost of other energy sources has been increasing dramatically, natural gas prices have declined to the tune of 37 percent during the past year.

“There are natural gas generating electric plants that are providing plenty of inexpensive energy that Vermont is tapping into because we are part of a New England-wide grid,” Ralston said, while acknowledging the need to ensure the state does not support the process of hydrofracking in the search for natural gas.

He added that maintaining the status quo with VY would likely require the construction of large electricity transmission towers and associated lines through Addison County to get to the growth centers of Chittenden County.

“If you didn’t like the (Vermont Electric Power Co.) project a few years ago, you’re not going to like the next expansion,” Ralston said.

LINK

Kenya: Nuclear Energy Is the Way to Go If We're Serious About Achieving Vision 2030

2012-02-27T13:46:00.002-08:00

Location: Kenya, Africa

By Basett Buyukah, 26 February 2012

opinion

Three significant developments took place in the world of nuclear energy recently. In Nairobi, the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep) released its 2012 Yearbook.

In London, the UK and France signed a deal to strengthen cooperation in the development of civil nuclear energy.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, safety regulators gave the go-ahead for the construction of two nuclear power reactors in Georgia, USA.

Let us first delve into the Unep Yearbook report, which has elicited lively debate. The piece focuses on decommissioning of nuclear power reactors at the end of their lifespans.

One of the experiences highlighted is that decommissioning the first generation of nuclear reactors would have been easier and less expensive if they had been designed with this stage in mind.

These findings are important and can enrich Kenya's pre-feasibility study. Recent debate has juxtaposed nuclear energy with renewable energy.

One school of thought leans on the premise that Kenya should concentrate on renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal.

Indeed, Kenya has a geothermal potential of about 7,000MW, although only a fraction of that has been harnessed.

The Least Cost Power Development Plan 2011-2031 indicates that Kenya requires an installed capacity of at least 16,000MW.

That means that even if all the geothermal potential is harnessed, we would still have a significant deficit.

For Kenya to industrialise under the Vision 2030 blueprint, it requires a huge base load. This can be obtained from coal, nuclear, oil, and geothermal.

Wind, solar, and hydro are good for peaking rather than base load -- the constant or permanent load on a power supply.

It is distinguished from peak load, which is the maximum demand for electrical power. No country in the world has ever industrialised on wind, solar et al.

These are good enough for peaking purposes, but woefully inadequate to provide the electricity required for Vision 2030 to become a reality.

The reason is simple: industry requires an assured base load to function.

Planned megacities such as Konza and Tatu and major industrial projects will not see the light of day if the position that renewable energy alone suffices to power them becomes the preponderant view.

Currently, the installed generation capacity of the whole of Africa -- 50-odd countries -- is about 110GW, less than Germany's capacity.

Over 500 million of the world's 1.6 billion people who currently do not have access to electricity live in Africa.

Only about one-fifth of the sub-Saharan population has access to electricity. Can renewable energy alone surmount this huge gap?

The arguments made in favour of renewable energy cannot pass muster if we are sincere in our desire to enter the league of newly industrialised countries.

Kenya's energy mix must of necessity include hydro, geothermal, solar, wind, coal, thermal, and nuclear.

For instance, China and South Korea, two of Asia's booming economies are making substantial investment in nuclear energy for electricity generation.

Kenya is currently at the pre-feasibility stage of the nuclear electricity project.

A political decision has been taken regarding nuclear electricity. That is what gave rise to the formation of the Nuclear Electricity Project Committee.

The pre-feasibility study, which centres around 19 infrastructure issues, will provide the ultimate technical opinion on whether or not the country should go ahead with plans for nuclear electricity.

Therefore, calls for Kenya to "abandon" nuclear electricity in favour of renewable energy are premature.

The issue of radioactive waste management is relevant during all phases of a nuclear power plant.

So Kenya has time and best practice that will be obtained and learnt from those countries with end-of-life nuclear plants.

The deal between France and the UK to enhance civil nuclear energy cooperation and the green light for the construction of two nuclear power plants in Georgia, USA demonstrates that nuclear electricity generation is growing, buoyed by the fact that it is a clean, affordable, and reliable source of energy, not susceptible to vagaries of weather or international fossil fuel prices.

OPPD’s nuclear problems: how far will they go?

2012-02-27T13:43:00.002-08:00

By Robyn Wisch, KVNO News

February 27th, 2012

Omaha, NE – Omaha Public Power District has come under heavy criticism from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in recent days over its handling of the nuclear power plant just north of Omaha: Fort Calhoun. The plant has been offline for several months as crews work to repair damage from last year’s Missouri flood. And in the interim, more problems at the plant have surfaced.

RW: So even before the great flood of 2011 hit Fort Calhoun last summer, the plant has been on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s radar for quite some time as a utility with potential problems. (The plant was cited for inadequate preparations for a flooding emergency in 2010)

But much of that only came to light when the plant actually came under threat of the Missouri waters. The plant has been offline since then – for just about a year now – and in that time the problems have only deepened. Take us back in the story to last summer.

The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant was surrounded by a sea of muddy water last summer. This picture was taken approximately June 17, 2011 and provided by OPPD.

(A report from KVNO News for NPR on the flooding at both Fort Calhoun and Cooper Nuclear Power Plant last summer)

JJ: The plant’s been offline since April 9th of a year ago, 2011. At that point, it was a routine inspection situation. The plant was taken offline as intended by the utility. Then came the flooding. And because of the flooding and the concerns that the water was going to reach the plant, obviously the plant stayed shut down. Since that time though, in that interim, in June of 2011, there was a fire at Fort Calhoun, which didn’t get a lot of attention at the time. But several months later, the NRC realized the gravity of what took place at that fire, and it’s still not, I don’t think, completely clear to the public how significant that fire was because the plant was already shut down. So there was no health risk to the community as such, but the NRC made it very clear that among other things, OPPD failed to timely tell the rescue people in that area that there was a fire at the plant, and because of that the NRC pretty much gave them a slap on the back of the head and said don’t do that again.

OPPD was reprimanded by the NRC for taking too long to notify officials about an electrical fire at the plant on June 7, 2011. Regulations require notification within 15 minutes. OPPD took 16 minutes to respond. According to OPPD, the plant “temporarily lost power to a pump that cools the spent-fuel pool.”

Joe Jordan asked OPPD President Gary Gates about last year’s fire at a meeting with reporters:

And then just the other day we found out, the NRC said, even without the flooding, even if there hadn’t been a flood, the fire alone was going to be enough to keep the plant in a shutdown situation. Add the flood to the fire and other problems, and now other problems that the NRC has realized at Fort Calhoun, and we now we have a situation where we’re going on, as you said, almost a year and the plant remains shutdown.

RW: How much do we know now about the extent of the damage from the flood and how precarious the situation really was at the time?

JJ: Well, what we know now is that the plant suffered certain damage from the flood. Most recently, the NRC said its biggest concern is they’ve checked out the plant, and I think they’ve gone through what they can see above ground. Their biggest concern right now is below the ground, and how much damage was done underneath the earth where the Fort Calhoun plant sits on. And according to the NRC, they haven’t determined that yet, that’s still open for questions. There was a public hearing in Omaha in January. And some members of the public actually raised that issue, before I think we heard it from anybody else. Some people in the general public were wondering is the ground underneath Fort Calhoun secure? And now NRC is making it very clear they don’t know the answer to that yet, and they’re still trying to figure it out.

RW: So last week, OPPD came under fire at a meeting at NRC headquarters in Washington. As you reported, NRC Commissioner William Magwood said the issues at Fort Calhoun “sound like a safety culture problem.” And others wondered “what’s going on in that organization.” (Watch the briefing in full here)

To that, Gary Gates, president of OPPD responded: “We’re clearly not satisfied with our performance. We’d like to assure you we have the support of our entire company and our board per resources. Also, the majority of the workforce at Fort Calhoun are experienced, long-term employees. They have operated at a high level. We lost our edge.”

Video of Gary Gates’ remarks, edited by Nebraska Watchdog:

RW: “We lost our edge.” Quite a significant admission from the President of the company. What do you think the repercussions of this could be for the management at OPPD?

JJ: First of all, I don’t think you’ll ever hear Gary Gates or anyone from OPPD say “we lost our edge.” I think those words have probably been banned from OPPD. In terms of the impact, ultimately it’s up to the board of directors. It’s an eight-member board. Most people know that there’s an OPPD board of directors. But I venture to guess if you ask somebody to name one, they’d have a hard time doing it. So at the moment, the OPPD board seems to be okay with Mr. Gates and his management team. Could that change? Certainly it could. But for the moment, it looks like Gates’ job is safe.

(In this briefing on Fort Calhoun by Bill Borchardt, Executive Director of Operations at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, dated Feb. 22 at the “management changes” are listed as an element of a sustainability plan for Fort Calhoun)

But again, part of this will depend on further challenges by the NRC and possibly if the public steps up and says more and more, what’s going on at that plant? Then I think all bets would be off in terms of how secure some of those people’s jobs are.

Meeting about Palisades Nuclear Power Plant's safety is Wednesday

2012-02-27T13:40:00.000-08:00

South Haven —

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will discuss the performance of the Palisades Nuclear Power Plant at a public meeting from 6-8:30 p.m. Wednesday at Beach Haven Event Center, 10420 M-140 in South Haven.

The meeting is in responses to two incidents at the plant near South Haven that led to the downgrading of the plant’s status.

The downgrade is the result of an NRC investigation of an electrical fault caused by personnel at the site in September. The incident resulted in a reactor trip and the loss of half of the control room indicators. Radioactive steam was released into the environment as a result of the fault, though the radiation levels were within acceptable levels.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission classifies plants in one of five grade levels. The lower the ranking, the more inspections it gets. Palisades was moved from the top category to the No. 2 category after faulty maintenance by plant employees caused a water pump shutdown in May.

On Feb. 14, the plant was lowered to the No. 3 category, joining the Perry 1 facility northeast of Cleveland and Susquehanna 1 site in eastern Pennsylvania.

The next lowest level has one facility.

There are no other plants in the fifth column.

The plant at 27780 Blue Star Highway in Covert Township provides about 18 percent of the power for Consumers Energy.

Parts of Allegan County are within a 10-mile-radius Emergency Planning Zone — the prime area where people could be effected by a radiation leak from the plant and evacuations would be mostly likely in an emergency.

LINK

Turkey keen to build Korean nuclear power plant: envoy

2012-02-27T13:39:00.000-08:00

Turkey is stepping up efforts to build a Korean nuclear power plant on its soil as it strives to become one of the top 10 economies in the world by 2023, Seoul's top envoy to Ankara said Monday.

The Turkish government's vision for 2023, the 100th anniversary of the establishment of its modern republic, includes becoming a top 10 economy from its current position of 17th in the world, Ambassador Lee Sang-kyu said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.

"(Such economic growth) is linked to large power consumption, which is why Turkey is planning to build nuclear power plants," he said. "At the moment, Turkey meets most of its energy needs through gas imports, but it has decided that it will need atomic power plants to provide cheaper supplies of energy in the long run."

During summit talks earlier this month, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to restart stalled talks on a project to build two power-generating nuclear reactors on Turkey's Black Sea coast.

The talks on the atomic power plant have been suspended since 2010 due to wide differences on the location of the reactors, electricity prices and government payment guarantees.

Amb. Lee said he expects Turkey to reach a decision on the project within this year as it may take up to 10 years to complete construction of the nuclear power plant.

On Turkey's relations with North Korea, the envoy said the two countries established diplomatic ties in 2001, although neither side has opened an embassy in each other's country.

Diplomats from the two nations hold policy consultations every two to three years, and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kung Sok-ung visited Turkey last September mainly to ask for food aid, the ambassador said.

"Turkey is willing to give humanitarian aid to the North, and is in contact with international organizations such as the United Nations Development Program and the World Food Program (WFP) to send nutritional aid targeting pregnant women and children," he said.

North Korea is known to suffer chronic food shortages due to economic mismanagement and natural disasters. The communist country has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s when it suffered a massive famine, which was estimated to have killed 2 million people.

Last year, the WFP said a third of all North Korean children under five are chronically malnourished and many more are at risk of slipping into acute stages of malnutrition unless targeted assistance is sustained. (Yonhap)

LINK

NRC to give public report on Kansas nuclear plant

2012-02-26T09:57:00.001-08:00

BURLINGTON -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has scheduled a public meeting to address a recent inspection report on Wolf Creek nuclear power plant near Burlington.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that the meeting is scheduled for March 6 in New Strawn to discuss the report that was done after the plant experienced an off-site power loss Jan. 13.

The federal agency says the power loss resulted in the failure of a main generator electrical breaker and the loss of power to a startup transformer, temporarily cutting the plant's connection to the electrical power grid.

The NRC says emergency diesel generators were automatically activated and powered all safety systems normally. The event lasted about three hours.

LINK

Nuclear Regulatory Commission sea change?

2012-02-26T09:51:00.003-08:00

Chairman Jaczko wants red tape removed for Fukushima contentions

PLYMOUTH —

While the Nuclear Regulatory Commission seems to be moving quickly now, dispensing with the objections and legal contentions standing in the way of relicensing the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, as those impediments are brushed aside something quite remarkable may be taking place.

Almost hidden in several recent decisions by the NRC – decisions which went against critics of relicensing – is the core of a sea change, a belief on the part of certain key individuals in this government bureaucracy that, at least in the case of recent concerns about the relevance of the Fukushima disaster to Pilgrim and other American nuclear power plants, business as usual is no longer acceptable.

That is not to say that there is even a hint that the NRC will not, perhaps within days, approve a 20-year license extension for Pilgrim. The signs all still point to that happening and happening imminently.

Just this week, the presidentially appointed commission that oversees the NRC rejected two more post-Fukushima contentions filed by the Pilgrim Watch organization regarding the license renewal application for Pilgrim.

That leaves one contention raised by the state Attorney General and two more filed by Pilgrim Watch, all three filed post-Fukushima.

Both of the contentions dismissed this week challenged the Severe Accident Mitigation Alternatives (SAMA) analysis performed by Entergy as part of its license renewal application.

One contention argued that, in light of new information about the possible re-criticality of nuclear fuel at Fukushima following the disaster, the old analysis was now deficient.

The other asked the NRC to review whether that same SAMA analysis effectively accounted for off-site releases of radioactivity, in light of apparent problems encountered with the vents that were supposed to release hydrogen and prevent explosions at Fukushima.

A majority of the commission upheld the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) panel that first reviewed, and rejected, these contentions.

But while brushing aside these two Fukushima-related contentions, the commissioners publicly declared their sensitivity to the underlying issues.

The fine print

The commission’s written decision directly referenced the NRC’s ongoing review of – and the concerns of citizens groups with – the Fukushima disaster.

“Although we have made, and continue to make, significant progress in identifying and implementing lessons learned and prioritizing regulatory actions,” the announcement of this latest ruling noted, “the NRC continues to analyze the Fukushima events, to engage stakeholders, and to develop further recommendations.”

The commissioners further assured concerned citizens that if they find changes are needed to maintain the safety of plants of a similar design to the GE boiling-water reactors in Japan, such as Pilgrim, they will order those changes made regardless of the status of the affected plants.

In short, even if the plant were relicensed tomorrow, changes in response to the Fukushima disaster could and would still be enacted.

“We have in place well-established regulatory processes by which to impose any new requirements or other enhancements that may be needed following completion of regulatory actions associated with the Fukushima events,” the decision announcement stated.

“All affected nuclear plants ultimately will be required to comply with NRC direction resulting from lessons learned from the Fukushima accident, regardless of the timing of issuance of the affected licenses.”

Additionally, the vote to reject the contentions was not unanimous.

Gregory Jaczko, the commission’s chairman, offered a strong dissenting opinion.

“Fundamentally, I believe that the reopening standard is not appropriate for Fukushima-related contentions,” Jaczko argued. “Therefore, I believe the admissibility of these contentions should have been considered solely under the criteria applicable to non-timely filings.

“As the majority observes,” the chairman added, “the higher threshold for contention admissibility imposed for reopening a record places a heavy burden on a litigant seeking the admission of new contentions.

“In my view, this more stringent contention admissibility standard is not appropriate for contentions arising from the unprecedented and catastrophic accident at Fukushima.”

Put simply, Jaczko seems to think that, overall, the events at Fukushima are unprecedented, and so deserve special treatment. He suggested these kinds of contentions should receive expedited consideration: Rejecting them based on admissibility standards is a mistake.

“Given the significance of that accident and the potential implications for the safety of our nuclear reactors,” Jaczko argued, “we should allow members of the public to obtain hearings on new contentions on emerging information if they satisfy our ordinary contention standards.

“Applying more stringent admissibility standards to Fukushima contentions because a board has taken the administrative action of closing the record on an unrelated hearing will lead to inconsistent outcomes and, more importantly, unfairly limit public participation in these important safety matters.”

Though this may be a remarkable change in the tone of the discussion, it is not unprecedented.

Over the past several years, NRC Administrative Judge Ann Marshall Young has dissented with several majority decisions on contentions offered by Pilgrim Watch and others, even prior to March 11, when word of the earthquake and tsunami first reached America.

Young dissented again, in part, earlier this year, when the two contentions that were just dismissed first came before the Atomic Licensing and Safety Board. She concurred with regard to the Re-criticality Contention but would have admitted the Direct Torus Vent Contention.

In addition to her rulings on the admissibility of these contentions, Young also opined that Pilgrim Watch’s contentions raised significant issues and, therefore, using an argument similar to Jaczko’s, warranted sua sponte (without being prompted) review.

Young further recommended that the commission “consider having the staff look more closely – take a ‘hard look’ – into the issues raised in these contentions, as well as any other issues arising out of the Fukushima Daiichi accident that relate particularly to Mark I BWR reactors (the GE design used by Pilgrim and dozens of other American plans), prior to any decision on the license renewal application.

“I believe this would serve the interests of both public safety and public trust in the process the NRC utilizes for attending to such safety and environmental issues, which I find is particularly warranted given the seriousness of the Fukushima accident and the effect it has had on public perceptions of the safety of nuclear power. Whatever the outcome of such an inquiry, in my view, taking such a ‘hard look’ would provide an important public service.”

License to license

A few dissenting opinions, however, do not offset the majority.

The two contentions were dismissed and the expectation, again, is that the remaining three contentions will suffer the same fate.

Pilgrim Watch founder Mary Lampert characterized the NRC’s decision on these last two contentions in terms of its ethics.

“Germany and some other countries responded to the ongoing tragedy in Fukushima by stopping operations until they were 100 percent certain they understood what the problems were and were certain they could go forward without risking the public’s safety,” Lampert said.

“In contrast, this decision (like the recent decision to grant a license to build two new reactors) shows that NRC commissioners have decided to go forward with licensing until they are certain that it is not alright to do so.”

Lampert said this reflects a clear bias on the part of the NRC “in favor of the nuclear industry – not to take the conservative route and slow down until 100 percent convinced it is safe to do otherwise.”

At least in the case of Jaczko and Young, though, the bias appears to be in a different direction.

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Battle against emissions gives nuclear a new chance

2012-02-26T09:44:00.002-08:00

This time last year, Britain was in the midst of a global nuclear power renaissance. Then the earthquake hit. The Tohoku quake triggered a tsunami which caused a reactor meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in east Japan and became the worst nuclear energy disaster for 25 years.

Within days, a large number of the 500 reactors planned or proposed in about 40 countries, were thrown into doubt. In the ensuing panic, Japan switched off all but three of its 54 reactors and Germany announced plans to exit nuclear power completely by 2022 (see box).

As the world's third and fourth-biggest economies, Japan and Germany consume a huge volume of electricity and have traditionally been fierce advocates of nuclear power. The sense that the world was staging a mass exodus from nuclear power was intensified by their strong reactions and industrial profiles.

Support for the technology in the UK tumbled by 11 percentage points to stand at a record low of 36 per cent last June, according to a survey by Ipsos MORI.

"Always, when you get a major disaster, people instantly stand back with a lot of antipathy," says Angelos Anastasiou, an analyst at Investec. "But it doesn't usually last."

He's right: in the UK and much of the rest of the world, it didn't. Almost as quickly as the opposition to nuclear power had increased, it evaporated, more or less in line with television coverage of the disaster. In fact, according to a poll taken in December and published last month, UK support for nuclear had not only rebounded, but actually hit a record of 50 per cent. It was as if the relationship had emerged stronger as a result of the doubt.

"After the body blow suffered by British public opinion following the Fukushima incident in Japan last year, support for nuclear newbuild has recovered robustly in just a few months," said Ipsos MORI's director, Robert Knight, as he unveiled the survey results. "It seems the public see Japan as a long way away and memories are short, but concerns about the future of the security of energy supply closer to home are ongoing and persistent."

Nuclear sentiment in the UK was turbo-charged by the results of the hugely influential Weightman report, commissioned by the Government to determine the future of Britain's fission-generated energy in the aftermath of Fukushima.

Reporting his findings in October, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Nuclear Installations, Mike Weightman, concluded: "I remain confident that our UK nuclear facilities have no fundamental safety weaknesses."

Mr Weightman observed that the extreme natural events that preceded the accident at Fukushima – the nine-magnitude earthquake and massive resulting tsunami – were not credible threats to the UK.

"We are 1,000 miles from the nearest faultline and we have safeguards in place that protect against even very remote hazards," Mr Weightman said, while reassuring the public that the British nuclear power industry is "not complacent ... Our philosophy is one of continuous improvement."

Nor was Britain alone in being able to shake off the horrors of Japan's meltdown. Only five of the 40 countries with existing civil nuclear programmes changed their plans following the disaster.

And, although its switched-off reactors remain dormant for now, Japan isn't one of those countries which have turned away from nuclear power. Instead, it is conducting a review which could eventually result in safety changes.

Of the five who changed their ideas, by far the most significant is Germany with its plans for a full-scale retreat from an entrenched tradition of nuclear power. Italy and Venezuela are re-evaluating their nuclear policies, but only from tentative proposals to enter the industry for the first time. Switzerland has decided not to build any new reactors, while Bulgaria has cancelled plans to extend the lives of existing plants.

"The fact is that the fundamental drivers of the nuclear renaissance have not gone away, not just in Britain but across the world," says Rebecca Holyhead, a former project manager at the World Nuclear Association and now senior consultant at PricewaterhouseCoopers .

"The demand for electricity is growing rapidly and will double by 2050, which is making energy security an even bigger concern. At the same time, governments are fighting to reduce carbon emissions," she added.

For its part, the British government has signed the country up for legally binding carbon emissions-reduction targets of 34 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050, against 1990 levels. Nuclear power presently generates 16.5 per cent of the UK's electricity and the Government wants to increase that to 30 per cent by 2030. With analysts believing the UK will struggle to replace existing nuclear capacity over the next decade, many are sceptical that its longer-term target will be met. Renewable sources such as solar and wind will go some way to producing a secure, low-emission energy supply, but are expensive and intermittent, making nuclear a vital component of the power mix.

The global nuclear power industry has been shaped by three key events, starting with the Three Mile Island meltdown in Pennsylvania, in 1979. The fear factor prompted by the world's first major civil nuclear disaster effectively closed down the industry. It was just starting to recover in 1986 when the Chernobyl disaster struck in the Ukraine, which is widely considered to be the greatest civil nuclear disaster. Again the industry battened down the hatches, but eventually recovered.

Fukushima was shorter-lived and less dramatic and it emerged that the main issues that caused the problems with the 40-year-old plant are no longer a threat, analysts have said.

Now that the battle for hearts and minds appears to have been won, the big challenge is the small matter of raising the estimated £50bn needed to satisfy Britain's lofty nuclear power ambitions and getting the new capacity in place not too many years and billions over budget. The UK got off to a good start last week, with an Anglo-French civil nuclear agreement that included a £500m investment at Hinkley Point in Somerset.

But the agreement only scratches the surface of what needs to be done, an enormous task made all the more pressing because a quarter of the UK's aging generating capacity is due to close by the end of this decade. Centrica is the only UK energy generator proposing to invest in the next generation of nuclear power but has yet to make a final decision. Its chief executive, Sam Laidlaw, says: "It is vital that the Government provides the clarity and assurance that will be needed if the [nuclear] industry is to step up and deliver the massive investment that the country requires."

Centrica is deciding whether to help EDF build four nuclear power stations at an estimated cost of £20bn. Mr Laidlaw praises the performance of the recently departed energy secretary Chris Huhne for "setting the nuclear power industry off on the right path". The challenge for Mr Huhne's successor, Ed Davey, is to "get the investment framework for the next generation of power stations sorted out", he says.

Three consortiums of companies, including Centrica, Germany's EON and RWE and France's EDF, currently have options to build on five sites, but no final decisions have been made on any of the projects.

Two government decisions will be crucial. The first relates to the level of "price support" that nuclear power generators can expect to get.

The other is the "carbon floor price", to be introduced in April next year. This will determine the minimum amount that the big coal and gas power plants must pay for their carbon emissions, which, in turn, will influence the price of electricity – and which will dictate the profits made by low-emissions nuclear power plants and, in turn, their viability.

With both decisions expected in the first half of the year, it's "make your mind up time" for the Government.

How leading nations are responding post-Fukushima: Japan on hold while Germany changes course

Japan: The one most likely to reassess its nuclear future post-Fukushima, Japan is doing just that. Some 51 of its 54 reactors remain shut, while the country has put three reactors that should have started construction – and plans for a further nine – on hold. However, construction continues on the two reactors already being built when the earthquake struck and Japan's nuclear future is still very much up for grabs.

France: France has always been one of the most gung-ho nuclear power advocates and excels on the engineering side. However, there is a sense that the country may lose some of its enthusiasm for nuclear if, as seems increasingly likely, President Nicolas Sarkozy is ousted by the Socialist challenger, François Hollande, at the elections this year.

Germany: Germany's reaction has clearly been the most extreme, not least because its decision to exit nuclear power entirely came less than a year after the Chancellor, Angela Merkel, had decided to extend the life of existing nuclear plants into the 2030s. The closure of 17 nuclear stations will turn Germany from a net exporter of energy to a net importer.

UK: The UK's nuclear power programme is entirely unchanged by Fukushima. It still has the hugely ambitious target of almost doubling nuclear power's contribution to Britain's energy by 2030, when the Government hopes it will be supplying about 30 per cent of our needs. With an estimated price tag of £50bn – and in an industry that notoriously overruns on time and money – this is indeed a lofty ambition.

Sweden: Although Sweden has been generating nuclear power since the 1970s, a large part of the population has traditionally been opposed to it. In a 1980 referendum, Swedes voted to phase out nuclear power by 2010, although the decision was overturned in February 2009, amid mounting fears about energy security and carbon emissions.

Kudankulam nuclear power plant set to roll in six weeks

2012-02-26T09:42:00.001-08:00

NEW DELHI: The controversy-hit Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu is set to be operationalized, with its first 1,000mw unit to be opened soon as the project's safety audits have been completed and local resistance now reduced to a few hundred protesters.

While the report of the expert group set up by the Tamil Nadu government is awaited, the state government is more supportive of the project being commissioned and the Centre's action against NGOs alleged to have diverted foreign funds to fuel the stir is seen a precursor to the plant being activated.

"I am hopeful of moving forward. The expert committees have done their job. Safety issues have been addressed. The plant's first unit can be in working order once we are able to move in the required staff," Srikumar Banerjee, secretary at the department of atomic energy, told ToI.

The head of India's nuclear establishment said it will not be easy to outline a timeframe, but the process of loading fuel can get underway once the atomic energy regulatory board is consulted. "The plant has been idle and so the AERB will lay down guidelines. Once these are followed, the plant will generate power," Banerjee said.

The two units are "99% and 94%" ready, according to the Nuclear Power Corporation of India and it is estimated that the first unit can be up and running within six to eight weeks.

MoS in PMO V Narayanasamy has said that the NGOs that have been banned were channeling funds meant for sectors like health and education for sustaining the anti-nuclear protests.

The prolonged standoff at the plant site had led to a 100 staff being allowed to access the project site in two batches daily. This has made keeping the plant in running order difficult as a nuclear installation cannot be switched off in the manner of a conventional factory. The plant needs to be tended to by 3,000 workers, scientists and technicians to get it going.

But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decisive intervention in stating that foreign NGOs insensitive to India's developmental needs were backing the stir and the government's action in banning three groups indicates a resolve to end the stalemate.

The decision follows some quiet exchanges between the centre and state government and spadework in the project area where fishing communities have been leading the agitation. The role of church organizations, perhaps worried that the project might reduce their influence, were active in opposing the plant.

The government has reached out to the church groups and sought to convince them that the plant has some of the best safety equipment available globally. Talks with anti-nuclear groups did not, however, make much headway with officials claiming that the protestors were fundamentally opposed to nuclear power and did not set much store by the government's assurances.

The move against NGOs is seen as a last resort as the UPA has been sensitive about not getting into a confrontation with such groups although it has had a showdown with sections of civil society like the Anna Hazare movement.

It is significant that the Tamil Nadu government, which has been concerned about local reactions, has not contradicted the PM's remarks on the role of foreign funds being diverted from the purposes that they were received. A home ministry probe is understood to have established the diversion of funds.

Nuclear plants are safe: AEC chief

2012-02-26T09:38:00.002-08:00

Location: India

MANGALORE: Fatalities from nuclear power plant related mishaps across the world are far less when compared to other power generation sources, according to Srikumar Banerjee, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission on Saturday.

Delivering the convocation address at the ninth annual convocation of National Institute of Technology - Karnataka at Surathkal near here he said, "Out of the three known such incidents- Three Mile Island, Chernobyl and Fukushima - the casualty due to nuclear plant malfunction is 50-60 in Chernobyl and zero in the other two incidents. While Fukushima incident is no doubt disturbing, the mishaps at nuclear power plants worldwide are few and far between. Globally, we have clocked 14,000 reactor years for nuclear plants and 350 reactor years in India, and we have just above three incidents to show far."

Admitting that fears of people on long shelf life of radioactive isotopes, some of which are active for as long as 10,000 years, Srikumar said the challenge for the future engineers was to reduce it to manageable period. "It is up to budding engineers to find methods to handle nuclear waste," he said adding reactors now are far safer than they were in the early and mid 1960s.

Exhorting the students to strive for inclusive growth of the nation, he said the challenge for future generation was to influence more lives around them rather their own. "Careers no doubt are important. But the aim should be to shun careers that are driven by fashion and peer pressure and be more influenced by individual passion to achieve more in life. Such thinking can change the future course of individual actions and result in greater good," he added.

Rohit Sarkar, a BTech student of metallurgical and materials engineering, who bagged three gold medals told STOI that he was vastly influenced by Srikumar's extempore speech. Now a corrosion and inspection engineer with Reliance Industries Ltd in Gujarat, Rohit said he saw himself as a materials researcher in future pursuing a doctoral degree in an American or European varsity, where cutting edge research in being carried out in the field.

Rashma RSV, who scored a perfect 10 in her cumulative grade point average (CGPA) in the MTech programme was elated and attributed her success to her parents and teachers at NITK. An alumnus of TKM College of Engineering, Rashma had a CGPA of 8.35 in her BTech programme there. While Sandeep Sancheti, in-charge director, NITK presented degree certificates to over 700 UG and PG students, Srikumar Banerjee gave away the gold medals and cash prizes to students.

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Nuclear industry will thrive despite Fukushima: energy czar

2012-02-24T22:41:00.005-08:00

By Ian MacLeod, Postmedia
News February 23, 2012

Tom Mitchell, president and CEO of Ontario Power Generation

OTTAWA — With the approaching anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster as a backdrop, Ontario's top energy executive is urging Canada's nuclear industry not to retreat in the face of renewed public skepticism.

"While other jurisdictions may be scaling back their nuclear energy commitment because of Fukushima, we are not," Tom Mitchell, president and CEO of Ontario Power Generation (OPG), declared in an address Thursday to several hundred Ottawa delegates at the Canadian Nuclear Association's annual conference.

Nations around the world are reconsidering plans for increased reliance on nuclear power, while others, such as Germany, have vowed to pull the plug on nuclear power altogether as a result of Fukushima.

But instead of retrenching, Mitchell told the crowd that the worst nuclear accident in 25 years has given the industry "a great opportunity."

"It's once again made people aware of nuclear energy. It may have put some aspects of the industry on the spot. But it's also put us in the spotlight."

OPG owns and operates 10 CANDU reactors at Ontario's Darlington and Pickering nuclear stations, and Mitchell said the public utility is pressing ahead with plans to refurbish and to expand Darlington.

Combined with eight other OPG-owned reactors leased to the private operator, Bruce Power at Kincardine, Ont., nuclear generation now supplies close to 60 per cent of Ontario's energy needs.

Following Fukushima, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission ordered OPG and other nuclear operators to thoroughly assess the safety of their operations.

"What we will do — and are doing — is incorporating the lessons of Fukushima into our refurbishment and new build planning and design. That is a definite commitment on our part," Mitchell said.

One key lesson is "the absolute necessity to guard against external events, specifically those that threaten to overwhelm the design basis of the plant's systems and equipment," as the tsunami did at Fukushima. (When the Tohoku earthquake hit that day, all three of the plant's operating reactors shut down automatically as designed and emergency generators operated until sea water disabled them.)

Mitchell said OPG has almost a dozen Fukushima-related projects underway or planned by the end of 2016.

Already, equipment that operates independently of any electrical source has been installed at one Pickering reactor to help mitigate potential and dangerous hydrogen gas buildups, as happened at Fukushima. Three other Pickering reactors are to be similarly upgraded this year.

Mitchell said "significant progress" also has been made securing emergency, portable diesel generators and pumps that can supply critical electrical power for essential fuel cooling. Four new diesel-driven pumps and a diesel generator are now stationed at Darlington.

The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant began unfolding last March 11 when the 9.0-magnitude earthquake triggered a wild series of tsunamis along Japan's northeast coast. More than 25,000 people were killed, injured or went missing.

A 15-metre-high wall of sea water flooded the plant and knocked out the emergency cooling systems for three reactor cores, causing the uranium fuel to overheat. Over the following three days, the cores largely melted down. Additional systems used to cool thousands of deadly spent fuel rods also failed.

The resulting buildup of hydrogen gas soon detonated, destroyed one of the reactor buildings and spewed radioactive contamination over a wide swath of the countryside. Contaminated sea water also escaped. Cleanup costs are estimated at hundreds of billions of dollars.

This week, scientists reported the contamination has been detected as far as 640 kilometres off Japan in the Pacific Ocean, with water showing readings of up to 1,000 times more than prior levels.

But those results for the radioactive isotope cesium-137 are far below the levels generally considered harmful, either to marine animals or people who eat seafood, said Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Mitchell said the renewed attention on nuclear power is an opportunity to address some "misconceptions" about the industry and nuclear science.

"Like the fact that the management of nuclear waste is somehow this big vulnerability in our industry — and not one of our greatest strengths. Which it is."

Investing for the future management of that nuclear waste has been less successful. For the nine months ended Sept. 30, 2011, OPG's net income decreased by $278 million compared to the same period in 2010, primarily as a result of lower investment earnings from $11 billion in funds set aside for future nuclear plant decommissioning and for nuclear waste disposal.

Mitchell said there is also considerable misinformation on the issue of radiation.

"Yes, we need to respect even small quantities of radiation. Our industry always has. But we also need to convey to people that it's been proven that radiation can be measured, controlled and handled very safely in ways that deliver huge benefits to society, in science, in medicine and in energy," he said.

"Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima. These words are perpetual reminders that we can never be complacent, and that safety, despite our industry's excellent record, can never be taken for granted.

"As an industry, we have not been complacent. We are a better and safer industry after (Three Mile Island in 1979), than before. We are a better and safer industry after Chernobyl (in 1986), than before. And we are — and will be — a better and safer industry after Fukushima, than before.

"Which is why I believe our industry will not fade. It will not grow obsolete. It will thrive."

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Limerick Nuclear power plant enters refueling outage

2012-02-24T13:52:00.002-08:00

Feb 24, 2012

Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) said more than 2,000 supplemental workers are at the 2,345 MW Limerick Generating Station near Pottstown, Pa., to support the plant’s 2012 refueling outage. Exelon Nuclear employees and supplemental workers will perform over 13,000 outage-related activities, including equipment upgrades, safety inspections and plant improvements.

Major work to be performed includes the replacement of service water piping systems, an integral part of the plant’s cooling systems; installation of new automatic speed drives that supply power to vital systems; and a number of electrical upgrades. Exelon said these activities cannot be performed while Unit 1 is online.

Limerick Unit 2 will continue to generate electricity during the Unit 1 outage.

Units 1 and 2 received their operating licenses from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 1984 and 1989.

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Over 10 United States nuclear reactor licenses could be modified, suspended, or revoked pending NRC findings

2012-02-24T13:48:00.002-08:00

On Thursday, February 16, 2012, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff issued 10 CFR 50.54(f) letters to plants that use Westinghouse realistic emergency core cooling system (ECCS) methods (ASTRUM or CQD) and have a peak cladding temperature (PCT) greater than 2000 degrees F. The NRC is concerned that aging nuclear fuel used in Westinghouse reactors in Beaver County and elsewhere could have reduced ability to transfer heat and therefore exceed the 2,200-degree Fahrenheit limit in loss-of-coolant accidents.

Westinghouse informed the NRC in early December that a worst-case loss-of-coolant accident at a Westinghouse pressurized water reactor could raise the peak cladding temperature by more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit “

The NRC said there was a fundamental flaw in a computer program Westinghouse used in determining how reactor fuel loses the ability to conduct heat, a phenomenon known as “thermal conductivity degradation.” Because of that error there is a possibility that plants could underestimate how hot their fuel could get in an accident.

The NRC’s review could result in some nuclear plants being ordered to “dial back” their power-generating capacity to meet safety standards, NRC spokesman Scott Burnell said.

“The NRC alerted the industry to this problem in 2009, and Westinghouse needs to do more to account for thermal conductivity degradation in its fuel performance codes,” said Eric Leeds, director of the NRC’s Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. “We need information from a few nuclear power plant licensees to maintain assurance that they can continue to operate safely with sufficient margin.”

The letters required that the plants listed below provide information regarding the effect of a potentially significant error, as defined in 10 CFR 50.46(a)(3)(i), associated with thermal conductivity degradation (TCD), on peak cladding temperature in the Westinghouse Electric Company-furnished realistic ECCS evaluation models, to enable the NRC staff to determine whether the affected plant licenses should be modified, suspended, or revoked.

The 11 reactors are located at FirstEnergy’s Beaver Valley in Pennsylvania, Exelon’s Byron in Illinois, Duke Energy’s Catawba in South Carolina and McGuire in North Carolina, American Electric Power’s Cook in Michigan, and Dominion’s Kewaunee in Wisconsin.

The plants have until March 19th to provide the requested information to the NRC staff. If the information received does not demonstrate that NRC regulations are met, the staff will recommend imposing restrictions on reactor operating limits until acceptable action has been taken.

The press release states that:

“NRC regulations set a fuel thermal limit of 2200 degrees Fahrenheit for ‘peak cladding temperature’ under predicted loss-of-coolant accident conditions. Above that limit, the fuel rod is considered susceptible to damage. Thermal conductivity must be accounted for in realistic computer models used to evaluate a reactor’s emergency core cooling system. An error in the models may underestimate the fuel’s calculated peak cladding temperature. An error is considered significant if it would result in a difference of 50 degrees F or more in the predicted peak cladding temperature during the worst postulated loss-of-coolant accident scenario.”

BACKGROUND
Licensees operating nuclear power stations employ a series of computer codes to analyze plant behavior in the safety analyses they perform to demonstrate compliance with the Commission’s regulations. The computational approach models various physical processes to predict transient and accident events. These models simulate reactor conditions for postulated events and compare predicted plant performance to applicable regulatory criteria.

The simulation of the fuel element is an integral part of the safety analysis. Within the analysis, the fuel pellet thermal conductivity model determines the rate at which heat is transferred from the fuel pellet, first to the gas gap, then to the fuel cladding, and subsequently to the coolant.

A lower fuel pellet conductivity results in higher fuel temperatures at a given linear heat-generation rate. Therefore, the analytical prediction of the fuel thermal conductivity will affect the results of several types of safety analyses.

Any codes used for safety analyses that incorporate data starting at the fuel rod level and generated by the pre-1999 models may mischaracterize the expected plant performance.

A list of plants that received the 10 CFR 50.54(f) letters and ADAMS Accession number is below:

Beaver Valley, Units 1 and 2 – ML120400672
DC Cook, Units 1 and 2 – ML12041A384
Kewaunee – ML120410195
Byron, Unit 2 / Braidwood, Unit 2 – ML120410134
Catawba, Units 1 and 2 – ML12044A018
McGuire, Units 1 and 2 – ML12044A019

The NRC said it also sent copies of the request for information to an additional 23 plants that use the Westinghouse performance models to ensure that they too are aware of their obligations to address this error.

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Nuclear plant shutdowns taking heavy toll on local economy

2012-02-24T13:46:00.000-08:00

TOKYO --Unit 3 of the Takahama nuclear power station (NPS) operated by the Kansai Electric Power Co., Inc. was shut down on February 20 to undergo a periodic inspection. In Japan, operators of nuclear reactors are obligated in principle to start a periodic inspection of their respective reactors within 13 months of the completion of the preceding periodic inspection. Since the Fukushima nuclear accident, many reactors have not been able to restart even after completion of their periodic inspections. With the recent shutdown of Takahama unit 3, 52 of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors are now offline. The impact is spreading beyond power supply and demand, and now affecting various areas including local economy and employment.

In Fukui Prefecture, where the Takahama NPS is located, all of the prefecture's 13 nuclear reactors are currently suspended with no clear prospects for resumption. The construction and wholesale industries in the region are becoming increasingly apprehensive of the ongoing situation, as their operations rely on businesses associated with nuclear plants such as construction work and material supply. There is also concern that the prolonged shutdown of the nuclear plants may accelerate the drain of human resources having expertise in reactor maintenance.

Yutaka Nose, mayor of Takahama Town, Fukui Prefecture, made a plea citing the difficulties faced by the local industries during his speech in January this year by saying, "For construction companies with a size of only 10 employees or so, staying in business for as few as six months will not be viable without receiving construction contracts related to periodical inspections." He added, "With no prospect in sight for the reactors to be restarted, companies are facing a situation where they cannot secure bridge loans from financial institutions."

Florida's Gulf Power May Get Nuclear Power Plant

2012-02-23T18:30:00.001-08:00

Next week the Florida Public Service Commission will make a major decision about your power bill and the future of a possible Gulf Power Nuclear Plant.

An important recommendation has been made and it has many people talking.Gulf Power customers are reacting to an influential recommendation from the staff of the Florida Public Service Commission.

The commission's staff says Gulf Power should get about $30 million less than the more than $93 million the company is asking for money that could partly come from Gulf Power customers. To be clear the staff of the Florida Public Service Commission doesn't make the decision. But analysts say its recommendation will likely play a big part in how commission members vote.

Gulf Power says the money it wants will fund operating costs and land it has purchased near McDavid. That land may be used for a possible power plant.Gulf Power says it could wind up being a nuclear facility, which is getting a mixed reaction from local residents.. Gulf Power says the money is needed in part because of rising costs and the tough economy.

The Florida Public Service Commission is set to make a decision on the deal on Monday. It will then decide how rates for customers will be affected on March 12th.

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Lithuania’s Planned Visaginas Nuclear Plant to Cost $6.5 Billion

2012-02-23T18:27:00.000-08:00

February 23, 2012, 7:10 PM EST

By Matthew Brown and Milda Seputyte

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Lithuania’s planned nuclear power plant will cost as much as $6.5 billion, making it the biggest investment in the Baltic country since independence from the Soviet Union 22 years ago.

Lithuania plans to control 34 percent of the plant, while Estonia, Latvia and Poland would each take a 20 percent stake, with the remaining 6 percent paid by companies leasing the atomic technology, Vytautas Nauduzas, a Lithuanian ambassador for energy and transport policy, said yesterday in an interview in London.

The Baltic region is seeking to cut its dependence on energy imports from Russia after closing the Soviet-era Ignalina facility at the end of 2009. Lithuania is planning to build the new 1,300-megawatt reactor in Visaginas by 2020 together with Latvia and Estonia and Hitachi Ltd., a strategic investor in the facility and Japan’s second-largest builder of nuclear reactors.

PGE SA, Poland’s largest utility, dropped plans to invest in the new reactor to instead focus on other projects, the Warsaw-based company said Dec. 9.

The Polish government hasn’t pulled out officially and Japanese banks might make up the shortfall should Poland abandon the project, Nauduzas said today in a subsequent interview.
“Participation by Poland is a little confusing at the moment,” he said.

Japanese financial institutions have confirmed their interest to provide credit for the project, Arvydas Sekmokas, Lithuania’s Energy Minister, said today in a radio interview with Ziniu Radijas, the national broadcaster, without providing names.

Hitachi expects to sign the final contract to begin constructing the atomic plant this year, it said in December. The reactor will be built by Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd., a joint venture with General Electric Co. Hitachi offered its advanced boiling water reactor technology with a proposed capacity of 1,300 megawatts.

Power production costs at Visaginas may average 7 centai ($0.03) to 10 centai per kilowatt hour, lower than current costs in the country, Sekmokas said on Feb. 15.

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India to push ahead with nuclear power

2012-02-23T18:23:00.003-08:00

NEW DELHI, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- India needs nuclear energy to sustain its economic growth, a government official said.

Speaking in New Delhi Wednesday at the International Nuclear Symposium, Indian Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Srikumar Banerjee said, "Without nuclear energy, the economic growth of the country would be slowed down."

While acknowledging concerns regarding the safety of nuclear power in the wake of Japan's magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami last March 11 that led to a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, Banerjee said India can't renounce nuclear power.

"There is no point in avoiding the questions that have come up in people's minds -- we need to address them head-on," Banerjee said. "It is important for the public to understand India cannot renounce nuclear power," he said.

"There is a fear that accidents will have extensive consequences on human population and the environment. It is important to drive home the point that technology will not allow that to happen."

Banerjee has insisted that India's existing nuclear power facilities are safe.

Speaking Monday in advance of the symposium, he said: "All atomic energy plants in the country are totally secured as per the international standards and are also capable of dealing with natural calamities like (a) tsunami or earthquake."

Meanwhile, anti-nuclear protesters this week announced a 72-hour hunger strike against the commissioning of two reactors at the Kudankulam nuclear power project site in Tamil Nadu.
India's energy consumption -- fueled mostly by coal -- continues to grow about 6 percent annually, yet nearly 40 percent of households have no access to electricity.

Banerjee cited a study by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay that says India's renewable energy sources would yield less than half the anticipated electricity demand by 2070, when sources of fossil fuels become scarce.

Also speaking Wednesday at the symposium, organized by the World Nuclear Association, Indian Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said India aims to have 63,000 megawatts of installed nuclear capacity by 2032.

India has 20 nuclear power plants in operation with an installed capacity of 4,780 megawatts, and another seven reactors under construction.
The increase in nuclear power generation, Shinde said, would come from both domestic technology and imported reactors.

"Nuclear technology has several distinct advantages -- it is compact and highly manageable in terms of handling, transportation and storage of the fuel," he said, adding that it is greener than all other power generation technologies.

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EDF Energy stops Hinkley Point nuclear unit

2012-02-23T18:21:00.000-08:00

Feb 23 (Reuters) - EDF Energy, Britain's largest nuclear power producer, stopped its 480-megawatt (MW) Hinkley Point B7 nuclear reactor on Wednesday evening to repair a hydraulic fluid leak, the company said.

"I can confirm the reactor went offline at around 2220 GMT last night," a spokeswoman said on Thursday morning.

The reactor stopped so engineers could attend a hydraulic fluid leak on a valve and the unit is expected to restart on Saturday, EDF Energy said.

The utility is also expected to stop its 450-MW Heysham 1-2 nuclear reactor for a scheduled shutdown on March 2, National Grid data showed.

Europe's oldest nuclear reactor, Oldbury 1 near Bristol, is planned to shut down permanently next week.

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Poland to engage more partners in nuclear program

2012-02-23T18:20:00.000-08:00

WARSAW Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:35pm EST
(Reuters) - Poland will seek to engage more partners to help its top utility PGE build the country's first nuclear power plant, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday.

Poland, the European Union's largest eastern economy, relies on highly polluting coal for nearly all its energy needs and Warsaw has started a number of new energy projects, including nuclear, to lower the reliance.

"Immediately after naming the new management at PGE, we will look into the nuclear program," Tusk told a news conference.

"We may recommend increasing the number of entities partnering PGE in this undertaking," he said, adding this would reduce any financial risks for any single company, particularly given current difficult economic conditions.

"So we will aim to engage a larger number of partners to join the financial and organizational aspect of building Poland's first nuclear power plant," he said.

So far, Poland's no.2 utility Tauron as well as copper producer KGHM, among others, have said they could join PGE in the project.

Earlier on Thursday Poland sold some 7 percent stake in PGE for 19.20 zlotys per share. The company has yet to name its new chief executive after the centrist government let go of the former head in late 2011.

TECHNOLOGY

Westinghouse, a U.S. unit of Japan's Toshiba, France's Areva and American-Japanese GE Hitachi want to supply technology for the 3 gigawatt station, which is expected to become operational in 2020s and doubling that capacity in 2030s.

GE Hitachi said on Thursday it was offering two types of reactors to Poland - an active and an entirely passive one, which could go on without power supplies for more than seven days.
"GE Hitachi declares it takes 39 months from pouring concrete to first fuel load. Its investments have never run behind the schedule so far," Michael Tetuan of GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy told Reuters.

GE Hitachi's Polish supply chain could include boiler manufacturer Rafako and builder Polimex-Mostostal, among others.

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NC Brunswick 1 reactor manually shut

2012-02-23T18:18:00.000-08:00

Feb 23 (Reuters) - Progress Energy Inc manually shut the 938-megawatt Unit 1 at the Brunswick nuclearpower plant in North Carolina early Thursday after a problemwith the plant's emergency core cooling system, the company toldregulators in a report. The unit shut from 73 percent power, after being reducedfrom 88 percent output, according to reports from the U.S.Nuclear Regulatory Commission. A Progress spokesman said the plant experienced anelectrical fault Wednesday evening that led to a loss of powerto the emergency core cooling system for both units. Temporarypower was restored to the emergency cooling system, but the lossof power for Unit 1's circulating water intake pumps requiredthat the unit be manually shut. The shutdown went safely and workers are currently replacingthe electrical bus to restore the normal power supply, thespokesman said. Unit 1 is scheduled to refuel early next month, according toReuters data. The spokesman said Unit 1 will be brought online as soon asthe repairs are made and operate until its planned refueling. Output at Unit 2, rated at 920 MW, was trimmed to 95 percentfrom 100 percent a day earlier.

Kansas Wolf Creek reactor repairs advancing slowly

2012-02-23T18:16:00.001-08:00

HOUSTON Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:24pm EST
Feb 23 (Reuters) - Operators at the 1,166-megawatt Wolf Creek nuclear power plant in Kansas have replaced electrical equipment that forced the unit to shut in mid-January, but no return date has been set, a spokeswoman said.

"We are moving forward with taking care of the plant, taking the time to understand what happened and implementing corrective actions," the spokeswoman said. Other maintenance tasks also are being performed while the unit is shut, she said.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will hold a public meeting on March 6 to discuss results of an inspection conducted at the plant in late January, according to an NRC release.

The Wolf Creek Nuclear station declared an "unusual event," the NRC's lowest-level emergency, on Jan. 13, after the failure of a main generator electrical breaker and an unexplained loss of power to a startup transformer shut the plant, the NRC said.

The switchyard was de-energized, meaning the plant lost its connection to the electrical power grid, the NRC said.

All safety systems responded and emergency diesel generators automatically powered safety-related equipment, the NRC said.

The unusual event was canceled about three hours later when off-site power was partially restored.

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North Anna nuclear plant reports elevated tritium reading

2012-02-23T07:04:00.000-08:00

Location: Central Virginia, U.S.A.

By RUSTY DENNEN

For the second time in 16 months, elevated levels of tritium have been found in groundwater at North Anna Power Station.

The sample, reported Tuesday by Dominion power to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, contained 53,300 picocuries of tritium per liter of water. That is above the voluntary reporting threshold of 20,000 picocuries. A picocurie (pronounced PEE-ko curee) is one trillionth of a curie—a measurement of radioactivity.

Tritium is a weakly radioactive hydrogen isotope that is formed in nature, and also during the operation of nuclear power plants.

A Dominion official said there is no danger to plant workers or to the public.

According to the NRC, someone drinking water from a well with a level of 1,600 picocuries for a year would receive a radiation dose equal to 1 percent of that from a dental X–ray.

The report says hydrological studies at North Anna have determined that the groundwater in that area migrates away from Lake Anna, built in the 1970s to cool the plant’s reactors.

The report says there is “no increase in the projected annual [tritium] dose to the public,” and no sources of drinking water in the area.

Groundwater-monitoring sites outside the plant’s protected area showed no detectable levels of tritium, meaning there is no migration of the substance off-site.

The sample, taken at one of eight monitoring sites at the plant on the Louisa County shore of Lake Anna, was obtained as part of ongoing study to determine the source of tritium first reported to the state and the NRC in October 2010.

At that time, a monitoring-well sample showed a tritium concentration of 16,500 picocuries per liter. Normal for that site is 3,000 to 4,000 picocuries.

“It’s a very small amount, and is not migrating off-site,” said Richard Zuercher, spokesman for Dominion’s nuclear power operations.

Zuercher said the sample was taken between the Unit 1 containment building and its turbine building.

The underground circulation-water tunnel for Unit 2 was one known source of tritium. When the units were shut down because of the Aug. 23 earthquake, “We did extensive inspection in the tunnel and made repairs where water may have migrated out of the tunnel and into the soil,” Zuercher said.

He said that area is no longer considered a contributor to to the problem.

Excessive levels of tritium in groundwater have been a concern at nuclear power plants in recent years.

Leaking steam pipes caused tritium to leak into groundwater at Entergy Corp.’s Vermont Yankee plant. Elevated levels have also been reported at Entergy’s Pilgrim plant in Plymouth, Mass.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking-water threshold is 20,000 picocuries. Nuclear plants must file written reports with the NRC for any levels over 30,000 picocuries.

North Anna has had a radiological monitoring program since Units 1 and 2 went online in 1978 and 1980, respectively. Wells have been monitored for tritium since 2006.

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Lithuania’s Planned Visaginas Nuclear Plant to Cost $6.5 Billion

2012-02-23T07:00:00.000-08:00

February 23, 2012, 9:12 AM इस्ट

By Matthew Brown and Milda सेपुत्य्ते

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Lithuania’s planned nuclear power plant will cost as much as $6.5 billion, making it the biggest investment in the Baltic country since independence from the Soviet Union 22 years ago.

Lithuania plans to control 34 percent of the plant, while Estonia, Latvia and Poland would each take a 20 percent stake, with the remaining 6 percent paid by companies leasing the atomic technology, Vytautas Nauduzas, a Lithuanian ambassador for energy and transport policy, said yesterday in an interview in London.

The Baltic region is seeking to cut its dependence on energy imports from Russia after closing the Soviet-era Ignalina facility at the end of 2009. Lithuania is planning to build the new 1,300-megawatt reactor in Visaginas by 2020 together with Latvia and Estonia and Hitachi Ltd., a strategic investor in the facility and Japan’s second-largest builder of nuclear reactors.

PGE SA, Poland’s largest utility, dropped plans to invest in the new reactor to instead focus on other projects, the Warsaw-based company said Dec. 9.

The Polish government hasn’t pulled out officially and Japanese banks might make up the shortfall should Poland abandon the project, Nauduzas said today in a subsequent interview.

“Participation by Poland is a little confusing at the moment,” he said.

Japanese financial institutions have confirmed their interest to provide credit for the project, Arvydas Sekmokas, Lithuania’s Energy Minister, said today in a radio interview with Ziniu Radijas, the national broadcaster, without providing names.

Hitachi expects to sign the final contract to begin constructing the atomic plant this year, it said in December. The reactor will be built by Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd., a joint venture with General Electric Co. Hitachi offered its advanced boiling water reactor technology with a proposed capacity of 1,300 megawatts.

Power production costs at Visaginas may average 7 centai ($0.03) to 10 centai per kilowatt hour, lower than current costs in the country, Sekmokas said on Feb. 15.

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Nuclear power entrepreneurs push thorium as a fuel

2012-02-22T13:39:00.000-08:00

By Eric Niiler, Published: February 20

One year ago, a massive earthquake spawned a tsunami that nearly destroyed Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, further frightening people who had been wary of nuclear power since accidents at Three Mile Island in 1979 and Chernobyl in 1986.

But a small group of scientists, entrepreneurs and advocates see the post-Fukushima era as the perfect opportunity to get the United States to consider a proposal they have made with no success for years. What about trying a new fuel, they say, and maybe a new kind of reactor?

The proposed fuel is thorium, an abundant silver-gray element named for the Norse god of thunder. It is less radioactive than the uranium that has always powered U.S. plants, and advocates say that not only does it produce less waste, it also is more difficult to turn into nuclear weapons.

They’re pushing the idea of adapting plants to use thorium as a fuel or replacing them with a completely new kind of reactor called a liquid-fluoride thorium reactor, or LFTR (pronounced “lifter”). The LFTR would use a mixture of molten chemical salts to cool the reactor and to transfer energy from the fission reaction to a turbine.

Proponents say such a system would be more efficient and safer than existing plants, which use pressurized water to cool uranium fuel rods and boiling water or steam to transfer the energy they create.

“A molten-salt reactor is not a pressurized reactor,” said John Kutsch, director of the Thorium Energy Alliance, a trade group based in Harvard, Ill. “It doesn’t use water for cooling, so you don’t have the possibility of a hydrogen explosion, as you did in Fukushima.”

Kutsch and others say that a thorium-fueled reactor burns hotter than uranium reactors, consuming more of the fuel. “Ninety-nine percent of the thorium is burned up,” he said. “Instead of 10,000 pounds of waste, you would have 300 pounds of waste.”

‘Small boatloads of fanatics’

Although the idea of thorium power has been around for decades — and some countries are planning to build thorium-powered plants — it has not caught on with the companies that design and build nuclear plants in the United States or with the national research labs charged with investigating future energy sources.

“There are small boatloads of fanatics on thorium that don’t see the downsides,” said Dan Ingersoll, senior project manager for nuclear technology at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. For one thing, he said, it would be too expensive to replace or convert the nuclear power plants already running in this country: “A thorium-based fuel cycle has some advantages, but it’s not compelling for infrastructure and investments.”

He also pointed out that thorium would still have some radioactive byproducts — just not as much as uranium and not as long-lived — and that there is no ready stockpile of thorium in the United States. It would have to be mined.

Overall, he says the benefits don’t outweigh the huge costs of switching technologies. “I’m looking for something compelling enough to trash billions of dollars of infrastructure that we have already and I don’t see that.”

LINK

Credit: Kevin Cole

Turkey mulls cooperation with China in nuclear energy

2012-02-22T09:27:00.000-08:00

Location: Mersin, Turkey

Turkey's first nuclear power plant in the country's southern province of Mersin will be build by Russia under an agreement signed in May 2010 and the construction is planned to begin in 2013.

Turkey has expressed willingness to do nuclear business with China in Ankara's declared drive to build three nuclear power plants in the next decade as talks with South Korea and Japan were underway with an already-wrapped-up deal with Russia for Turkey's first ever nuke plant.

"A process of dialogue will begin between the Turkish Energy Ministry and our Chinese counterparts," Ali Babacan, Turkish deputy premier, told reporters Wednesday after a business forum meeting between China and Turkey in Istanbul.

Turkey's first nuclear power plant in the country's southern province of Mersin will be build by Russia under an agreement signed in May 2010 and the construction is planned to begin in 2013.

"For the first plant we have agreed with Russia. And for the second one, we are negotiating with Japan and South Korea. But there is a third nuclear plant project we aim to do. And it depends on the course the talks will take whether the second or the third plant would be commissioned to the Chinese," Babacan said.

LINK

South Africa Considers Building Nuclear, Coal-Fired Power Plants

2012-02-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

Location: South Africa

Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa is considering spending more than 600 billion rand ($78 billion) on new nuclear plants, another coal-fired plant and a hydropower project in the Democratic Republic of Congo to stave off power shortages in Africa’s largest economy.

In the 2012 budget released today, the National Treasury allocated 844.5 billion rand toward new energy, transport, housing, telecommunications and water projects in the three years through March 2015. The budget lists 43 infrastructure programs worth a total of 3.2 trillion rand that are in progress or under consideration for implementation by 2020.

“No good project will be short of funding,” Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan told lawmakers in his budget speech in Cape Town. “South Africa has deep and liquid capital markets through which long-term capital can be raised at competitive rates.”

President Jacob Zuma announced plans for a “massive” infrastructure drive in his Feb. 9 state-of-the-nation speech to help spur invest and support growth in Africa’s biggest economy.

Proposals to spend 300 billion rand on nuclear plants with the capacity to generate 9,600 megawatts of energy by 2029 are in the “final stages of consideration,” the Treasury said. The government may also build a new 111 billion rand new coal-fired plant, in addition to the Medupi and Kusile plants under construction.

Grand Inga

An investment of 200 billion rand in Congo’s 40,000 megawatt Grand Inga hydropower project is at the “assessment stage,” while a study into a 200 billion-rand solar park is due for completion this year.

Transport projects being considered include a 37 billion- rand upgrade of Transnet SOC Ltd.’s rail line transporting coal from the eastern Mpumalanga province to the port of Richards Bay. A 300 billion-rand high-speed rail line between Johannesburg and the eastern port of Durban is still at a conceptual stage, the Treasury said.

The government is also considering a proposal for state petroleum company, PetroSA, to build a 200 billion-rand, 360,000 barrel-per-day refinery at the eastern port of Coega.

Public-sector borrowing will start “rapidly rising” after 2015 as infrastructure investment accelerates, Gordhan said.

The government has been struggling to implement capital projects, spending just 68 percent of the 260 billion rand allocated in the year through March 2011, Gordhan said.

Selling State Assets

“In addition to long delays, we have often experienced significant cost overruns,” he said. “We shall step up the quality of planning, costing and project management so that infrastructure is delivered on time and on budget.”

The government is reviewing its investment in a number of state-owned companies and may sell non-priority assets, the Treasury said.

New regulators may also be established to oversee the water and transport industries, to ensure the services they provide are correctly priced, while the Department of Energy is reviewing of its power-pricing policy, it said.

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Nuclear power operators purchase additional emergency equipment

2012-02-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) said its industry members unanimously approved an initiative to purchase additional on-site portable equipment that will be available to help ensure that every commercial nuclear energy facility can respond safely to extreme events, no matter what the cause.

NEI said utilities that operate America’s nuclear energy facilities already have acquired or ordered more than 300 pieces of major equipment. The initiative commits every company operating a nuclear energy facility to order or enter into contract for a plant-specific list of emergency equipment by March 31, 2012. The equipment ranges from diesel-driven pumps and electric generators to ventilation fans, hoses, fittings, cables and communications gear. It also includes support materials for emergency responders, including food, water and other supplies.

The equipment will supplement emergency equipment acquired by the industry in recent months following the disaster at Fukushima Daiichi in Japan and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks to help facilities safely respond to large fires and explosions. NEI said the new equipment will be stored at diverse locations and protected to ensure that it can be used if other systems that comprise a facility’s multi-layered safety strategy are compromised.

“The additional portable equipment will provide power and water to maintain three key safety functions in the absence of AC power and heat transfer capability from permanently installed safety systems,” said Tony Pietrangelo, NEI’s senior vice president and chief nuclear officer. “The three functions are reactor core cooling, used fuel pool cooling and containment integrity.”

The procurement initiative reflects the industry’s commitment to implement the “FLEX” strategy that it proposed to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to begin incorporating lessons learned from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi accident as quickly as possible, Pietrangelo said.

LINK

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. hires chief nuclear officer to oversee Diablo Canyon

2012-02-22T09:19:00.000-08:00

Ed Halpin, Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s new chief nuclear officer.

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/02/21/1957891/pge-ed-halpin-chief-nuclear-officer.html#storylink=cpy

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. will announce Wednesday that it has hired Ed Halpin as the utility’s chief nuclear officer.

He will oversee the operation of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant and head the utility’s efforts to renew the plant’s two operating licenses. He comes from the South Texas Project, a two-reactor nuclear power plant in Bay City, Texas, where he serves as president, chief executive officer and chief nuclear officer.

Halpin is expected to start his new job in early April. He replaces John Conway, who will stay with PG&E as Halpin’s boss.

The hiring of Halpin, who will focus solely on Diablo Canyon, is one of the changes initiated by PG&E’s new president, Anthony Earley. In addition to being chief nuclear officer, Conway also has served as the head of the utility’s energy procurement, meaning his time has been split between Diablo Canyon and PG&E’s headquarters in San Francisco.

“Ed Halpin is a veteran nuclear industry operator with a proven track record of success,” Conway said.

The hiring of a full-time chief nuclear officer is in line with a trend in the industry as workloads get heavier, said Blair Jones, PG&E spokesman.

“Policy changes, new regulatory requirements, industry travel commitments, and most recently the Fukushima incident have created increased demands on all nuclear organizations,” Jones said.

Read more here: http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/02/21/1957891/pge-ed-halpin-chief-nuclear-officer.html#storylink=cpy

NPCIL hopes to start Kudankulam nuclear plant by August

2012-02-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

Location: Kudankulam, India

India's nuclear operator Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) on Wednesday said it expected things to return to normal at the Kudankulam nuclear power project (KNPP) within the next four to six weeks, paving way for its commissioning by August.

"I expect that in four to six weeks things would come to normal (at Kudankulam)," a top official of the NPCIL said in Delhi.

He said nuclear scientists would require another four months after things return to normal to commission the first 1,000MW unit of the Kudankulam plant.

Hopes for resolution of the months long agitation against KNPP had brightened when the Tamil Nadu government set up a four-member team headed by Prof S Iniyan to look into the concerns of local people over the project.

NPCIL has launched a massive awareness campaign in and around Kudankulam informing the people on the safety aspects of the plant.

Jingles for mobile phones, awareness through FM radio and television and distributing over million handouts are some of the methods adopted by the nuclear operator to inform the people on various aspects of the plant.

The four-member team had visited Kudankulam and reviewed safety measures at the nuclear power plant and also interacted with the protesters.

The panel is expected to give its report to the state government soon.

Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials carried out inspection of the fuel for the KNPP stored at the plant site on Monday.

"We had purchased the fuel from Russia under IAEA safeguards agreement. IAEA officials carried out routine inspections to ensure that the fuel was not diverted for purposes other than generation of power," the NPCIL official said.

However, since the Kudankulam plant is not operational, the officials visited the fuel storage room to cross check the fuel inventory which is kept in a sealed box.

Since the fuel is procured under international safeguards the entire route from the storage room to the reactor where it is loaded is kept under round-the-clock surveillance of video cameras.

"There are multiple CCTV cameras on the entire route to monitor the movement of fuel," he said, adding that utmost care has to be taken to keep them operational round-the-clock.

If the cameras are dysfunctional, it has to be reported to the IAEA and proper logs of have to be maintained for the reason of the failure.

The IAEA inspectors also checked the memory cards of the surveillance cameras to check out whether there were any blackouts, he said.

Two 1,000MW nuclear power plants, built by the NPCIL with Russian collaboration, are in advanced stages of completion and are awaiting the protests to be called of to start operations.

Regulators Discuss Neb. Nuclear Plant Recovery

2012-02-22T09:03:00.000-08:00

OMAHA, Neb. -- Federal regulators will get another update on a Nebraska utility's plan to repair and restart a nuclear power plant that has been shut down since last spring. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to meet with Omaha Public Power District officials on Wednesday to discuss the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant, which is 20 miles north of Omaha .This is the second such meeting since the NRC imposed tough oversight on Fort Calhoun. Regulators said several problems have been found at the plant that were unrelated to last summer's flooding along the Missouri River. OPPD has hired experts from Exelon Nuclear Partners to help oversee repairs and get Fort Calhoun ready to restart later this year. Exelon is the largest operator of U.S. nuclear

LINK

20 yrs nuclear plant exposure = 1 X-ray shot

2012-02-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

The radiation exposure for those residing around a nuclear plant for 20 years is equal to a dose of radiation from a single x-ray!

This needs to be stated because of the negative publicity attached to the Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP).

The plant has been designed by experts complying with international standards. Hence the concern that those staying near the plant are prone to cancer is baseless.

What about the health of hundreds of employees working at various nuclear plants?

The ongoing stir is delaying the commissioning of the Rs 13,000-crore project earlier slotted for the end of 2011 indefinitely.

The KKNPP, built by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India withRussian collaboration, has two reactor units, each of 1,000 MWe.

The design of the plant is in keeping with the ‘third-plus’ generation of nuclear plants – the safest available.

After visiting Koodankulam, former President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam said, “All the four important aspects of safety –structural integrity, thermal hydraulic, radiation and neutronic safety – have been incorporated in keeping with the highest standards.”

Comparing VVER technology used in the Koodankulam reactor (which is a generation 3+ nuclear reactor) with the 40-year-old technology of the Chernobyl plant (a first generation nuclear plant) is absurd. Technology has improved by leaps and bounds since the Chernobyl accident and has been put into practise globally.

Contrary to false propaganda, water expelled by a nuclear plant creates an ambience ideal for fish-breeding due to the increase in temperature by a few degrees Celsius.

There is no danger to the plant in the event of a tsunami as wave height in this region would not exceed 5.44 m, and the reactor, turbine and generators are located above 8.1 m.

Solar and wind energy limitations call for an increased dependence on nuclear technology for the production of green power.

Electric energy will act as a catalyst in the development of small and big industries and agriculture. Isn’t it high time the state and centre intervened and ended this agitation?

LINK

Exelon shuts PA Limerick 1 reactor to refuel

2012-02-21T20:56:00.000-08:00

Tue Feb 21, 2012 3:36pm EST

"During the outage, trained technicians will be installing new
 adjustable speed drives on Unit 1's massive core circulating
 pumps," Exelon said.

Nearly one-third of the reactor's fuel will be replaced and
workers will perform cabling upgrades on the unit along with
other equipment upgrades, safety inspections and plant
improvements, the company said.

Centre gives TN nuclear power boost

2012-02-21T20:55:00.000-08:00

Even as the group protesting Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) upped the ante, the department of atomic energy (DAE) announced Tuesday it would add two more reactors to Kalpakkam Nuclear Plant in an effort to bridge the energy demand-supply gap.

The 500 MW fast-breeder reactors would have additional safety systems and were part of a series of nuclear reactors gearing up across the country to produce 20,000 MWe by 2020, S.C. Chetal, director, IGCAR, Kalpakkam, said.

Several states are queuing up with requests to DAE to set up nuke plants and are offering sites.
“The rush is more from states that are not able to meet their energy needs. We have potential sites at Hisar in Haryana, in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal,” Dr Chetal told reporters after inaugurating an awareness campaign on nuclear energy at Sathyabama University in Chennai.

“The next two reactors at Kalpakkam will have improved safety features and better economics than the prototype fast-breeder reactor, which is actually the first of the 500 MWe designed in the country by IGCAR. The lessons we have learnt in design, construction and licensing will help us minimize cost and improve safety,” he said.

The IGCAR chief said four pressurised heavy water reactors for 700 MWe units were under construction. Two reactors of 1,000 MW each were expected to come up at Koodankulam soon, he said. “We will have several 700 MW units.”

Dr Chetal’s confidence about DAE stepping up the nuke power programme possibly stems from clear indications by the Tamil Nadu government that it would soon act against the Koodankulam demonstrators.

State panel to submit report in a few days

The TN government expert committee to study KKNPP safety has started drafting its report and would present it to CM J Jayalalithaa in the next few days, convener S Iniyan said.

“We have started writing our report. We have collected relevant papers from officials of the plant and also gathered enough information during our visit there,” the director of institute of energy studies, Anna Univerisity, said.

Union minister V. Narayanasamy said now that the state-appointed panel was getting its report ready there was hope the project would commence without further delay.

“All people of Tamil Nadu want the project. This will be done soon, as the government of Tamil Nadu and the Centre are working in tandem to start the project, which is the safest in the world,” he said.

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Japan LNG imports hit record as nuclear use dwindles

2012-02-20T09:22:00.000-08:00

TOKYO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Japan's imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) soared to a record high in January mainly to fuel electricity generation, helping make up for dwindling use of nuclear power due to the Fukushima radiation crisis.

But imports of comparatively more expensive crude oil by Japan, the world's biggest LNG importer and the third-biggest oil user, fell 2.1 percent from a year earlier, down for the third month in a row, government data showed on Monday.

The volume of customs-cleared LNG imports rose 28.2 percent from a year earlier. The LNG imports, mainly from Qatar and Malaysia, totalled 8.15 million tonnes in January, exceeding the previous record of 7.545 million tonnes set last August.

The country's 10 regional electricity utilities consumed a record amount of gas for power generation in January, industry data has shown. Apart from electricity utilities, city gas suppliers also import LNG.

Japan's imports of thermal coal for power generation rose 7.9 percent from a year earlier to 10.03 million tonnes, preliminary data from the Ministry of Finance also showed.

In contrast, Japan imported 18.83 million kilolitres (3.82 million barrels per day) of crude oil last month, down 2.1 percent from a year earlier, the data showed.

That compared with 19.84 million kl imported in December.

More details, including crude suppliers, will be available when the Ministry of Finance announces final data on Feb. 27.

Meanwhile Japan is seeking an exemption from U.S. sanctions on Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme, and most Japanese refiners have yet to decide annual term contracts with Iran for this year, although they have been reducing buying from the world's fifth-largest crude exporter for the past few years.

Japan's oil demand has been in a downtrend for more than 10 years as the population ages, fuel efficiency improves and energy sources diversify from costly oil to cleaner fuels such as gas.

By the end of January, only three of Japan's 54 nuclear reactors were in operation amid safety concerns after the March earthquake and tsunami triggered a radiation crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, leading to widespread contamination and mass evacuations.

Since then no reactors shut for regular maintenance have restarted as they need to meet new safety checks and receive clearance from both the central and local governments.

Without such approval, all Japan's reactors could be shut by the end of April.

The prospect of being without nuclear power has raised fears of forced power rationing and temporary blackouts in the summer, when air conditioning puts extra strains on supply.

But Trade Minister Yukio Edano has said safety takes precedence over reactor restarts and that even if all the reactors are shut there is a good chance the nation can cope without forcing mandatory cuts on large users of the kind that were imposed last summer.

The government is considering how to avoid power shortages in the summer, when it estimates the nationwide power supply could fall 7 percent below demand if no reactors are online.

Since it is difficult to raise overall supply capacity drastically in the coming months, the government is asking power utilities to come up with a variety of pricing incentives to encourage large users to reduce peak-hour demand, a trade ministry official said. (Reporting by Risa Maeda; Editing by Michael Watson)

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Japan posts record trade deficit as energy costs climb

2012-02-19T23:51:00.000-08:00

(CNN) -- Japan -- battered by a strong yen, slowing global demand and increased oil and gas imports due to last year's Fukushima nuclear disaster -- posted a record trade deficit of $18.7 billion in January, according to official figures released Monday.

The record fall was stoked by greater energy imports of gas and oil following the March 11earthquake, tsunami and resulting nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, which forced the closure of most of Japan's atomic power plants.

"The sharp increase of oil price could be the main reason of the sharp deterioration of trade balance," said Takahide Kiuchi, chief economist for Nomura Securities in Tokyo.

Currently, only five reactors out of 54 in the country are in operation after officials allowed most to fall idle in the wake of the Fukushima disaster.

By April, if more reactors are not brought online the country will have no nuclear plants in operation, placing more pressure on its energy suppliers. Liquid natural gas imports alone climbed 28.2% year on year, according to the ministry's preliminary report.

Last month, U.N. nuclear experts gave a thumbs-up to Japan's planned "stress tests" for its remaining nuclear power plants to test whether they could withstand another emergency. The team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recommended Japanese regulators improve communication with the residents around the plants and address plans for dealing with severe accidents more comprehensively in the wake of the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

Monday's record deficit comes after Japan posted in 2011 its first annual trade deficit in 31 years, and underlines the difficulties facing the export-driven nation as it looks to rebuild.

But the world's third largest economy faces difficult headwinds with a currency that reached record-high levels in the past year, cutting profits returning home from multinational companies and slowing demand from major trading partners such as the European Union and China.

Exports fell 9.3% year-on-year, according to figures released by the country's Ministry of Finance Monday. The biggest drop was with China, which fell 20.1%. Exports to Europe fell 7.7%, while trade with the U.S. was up 0.6%.

January was the fourth straight month where imports outpaced exports.

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Spain to extend life of its oldest nuclear plant

2012-02-19T23:49:00.000-08:00

Spain will extend operations at its oldest nuclear power plant by five years, Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria said Saturday as the country seeks to make the most of its energy sources.

"The nuclear safety council has given approval for a five-year extension" of the Garona plant near Burgos, northern Spain, Soria told a meeting of his conservative Popular Party in Seville, southern Spain.

"We cannot allow ourselves to under-utilise any of our energy resources," the minister added, as Spain faces a likely economic recession and has undertaken a major austerity programme to clean up its finances.

"We need a good mix, a good combination" of power sources, Soria said.

Garona, first brought on line in 1971, is owned in equal parts by Spanish power companies Iberdrola and Endesa via their joint venture Nuclenor.

Environmental group Greenpeace has pressed for its closure, portraying it as a "twin sister" of the Fukushima plant in Japan that was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, causing reactor meltdowns.

And one of Spain's main environmentalist groups, Ecologistas en accion, said Saturday that "maintaining an old plant that was built before conclusions were drawn from the worst nuclear accidents ... and which suffers from unresolved problems, is irresponsible".

"It is obvious that this body (the nuclear watchdog) represents the interests of Nuclenor, to the detriment of Spanish society".

A decision to shut Garona on April 1, 2013 was overturned as Spain tries to lessen its dependence on fossil fuels.

Spain is home to six nuclear power stations that include eight reactors, and lawmakers agreed in February to extend the pre-established lifespan of 40 years for the facilities.