THE WORLD'S NUCLEAR NEWS AGENCY

World Nuclear Review - week ending 7th November 2003

Romania: Study Recommends'Financial Evaluation' Of Cernavoda-3

The 'first step' evaluation of a study into constructing a third reactor unit at Romania's Cernavoda nuclear power plant has recommended that a financial adviser now evaluate the feasibility of the proposed project.

An additional evaluation will also be conducted to determine how the estimated one billion US dollars cost of the project would be funded.

Options include a mix of cash from the Romanian government, international loans, bonds and trade financing - and the unit could start operation in 2011.

Romania announced that is was considering the "necessity" of continuing work on the mothballed units three to five at Cernavoda more than two years' ago.

Earlier this year, Cernavoda-1 was granted an extended operating licence valid until April 2005. A commercial contract subsequently came into effect for the completion of Cernavoda-2 - which is expected to be commissioned in the second-half of 2004.

Source: Nuclearelectrica

Full report: NucNet Business News No. 64, 5th November

US Units Seek Extra 20 Years Of Operation

American Electric Power (AEP) has become the latest US utility to submit licence renewal applications to the country's nuclear regulators - which would extend operations at both units of the Cook nuclear power plant to a total of 60 years.

AEP has submitted more than 1400 pages of documentation and associated technical analysis to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), which it said shows that Cook-1 and -2, in the US state of Michigan, can be safely operated until 2034 and 2037 respectively.

The Cook units, which have a total net generating capacity of 2060 megawatts, are currently licensed until 2014 and 2017 respectively.

Both Cook units were "idled" in September 1997 due to NRC concerns about the operability of key safety systems. However, the units were authorised to restart in 2000.

Source: AEP

Full report: NucNet Business News No. 62, 4th November

Fort Calhoun Increases US Licence Renewals Total To 19

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has renewed the operating licence of the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant in the state of Nebraska for an additional 20 years.

Plant operator Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) submitted the renewal application for the single-unit 476 megawatt plant in January 2002.

As a result of the renewal, Fort Calhoun's licence is extended from 9th August 2013 to 9th August 2033 - and the total number of US units that have had their operating licences renewed now stands at 19.

Fort Calhoun was built in the early 1970's and went into commercial operation in 1973. In a safety evaluation report related to the renewal application, issued in September of this year, the NRC staff concluded that there were "no safety concerns that would preclude licence renewal because the licensee had demonstrated the capability to manage the effects of plant ageing".

Source: NRC / OPPD

Full report: NucNet Business News No. 63, 5th November

Bruce Unit Outage Extended For Inspections

Bruce Power is extending the current maintenance outage of unit eight at its Bruce B plant in Canada after inspections identified 'some erosion on support plates' in three of the unit's eight steam generators.

The company said on 3rd November that "a detailed investigation and analysis is ongoing regarding the condition of the support plates", which separate the boiler tubes as they run through the steam generators.

No damage to the boiler tubes has been identified and inspections from previous outages showed no evidence of a similar condition in the other steam generators at either the Bruce B or Bruce A plants.

The company said that, "due to the nature of the repairs", any modifications would require review and approval by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission before the unit could return to service.

The 785-megawatt Candu unit eight entered service in 1987. Bruce Power said last month that, overall, the four Bruce B units generated 18.6 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity during the first nine months of this year - an increase of 3 TWh compared to the same period in 2002.

Source: Bruce Power

Full report: NucNet News No. 304, 5th November

US Nuclear Industry Welcomes Proposed Waste Fund Reform

Proposed new US legislation has been introduced in the House of Representatives that is designed to reform the country's Nuclear Waste Fund - and to ensure that money set aside for the Yucca Mountain repository is actually spent on that project.

The proposal follows a call made earlier this year by the US Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), which pointed out that while consumers of nuclear-generated electricity paid into the Fund to finance the repository programme, Congress had "historically appropriated an average of less than one-fourth of the fees paid over the past five years".

The NEI's senior vice-president of governmental affairs, John Kane, welcomed the proposed legislative move, which was introduced in the House on 31st October. He said: "The Nuclear Waste Fund has unique characteristics that justify modifying the budget rules governing its use. It is self-financed by electricity customers at about 750 million US dollars a year, and the receipts are specifically intended for the used nuclear fuel disposal programme."

He said that full funding for the project was "critical" to the US energy department meeting its December 2004 target for submitting the Yucca Mountain licence application.

Source: NEI

Full report: NucNet News No. 303, 3rd November

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