THE WORLD'S NUCLEAR NEWS AGENCY

World Nuclear Review - week ending 27th February 2004

Negotiations, Planning Continue On ITER Project

Further talks took place in Vienna on 21st February to advance negotiations among participants in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project.

Although no decision on a construction site was reached, delegates agreed to convene a meeting of experts in early March to help complete their technical analysis.

In a joint statement from the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the delegations from China, the EU, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the US "reaffirmed their commitment to the consensual process towards joint implementation of ITER".

However, a priority issue is choosing between what delegates have described as "two excellent sites" to serve as the primary base for the project - understood to be Cadarache in France, and Rokkasho in Japan.

Meanwhile, the US Department of Energy (DOE) has unveiled an ambitious fusion energy development plan as one of seven goals in its new 20-year strategic plan for research and development (R&D).

The plan is a companion to the roadmap for development of new energy R&D facilities presented by energy secretary Spencer Abraham last November, which identified ITER as the "top priority" among US energy research projects.

Source: ITER / DOE

Full report: NucNet News No. 46, 26th February

Tepco Asks For Cooperation On Storage Facility

Tsunehisa Katsumata, president of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), has urged civic leaders to support a proposed interim spent-fuel storage project that faces approval by the Japanese government.

Presenting a request to Aomori prefecture governor on 18th February, Shingo Mimura, in the city of Mutsu, Mr Katsumata said: "Having completed preparations - including studies on storage volume, scale and related matters - we are here to ask Mutsu and Aomori for their cooperation."

TEPCO has already secured the support of Mutsu and its mayor, Masashi Sugiyama. The city has offered to host the 100 billion yen (830 million US dollar) facility.

At the meeting, Mr Mimura said the prefecture's approval of the Mutsu project is dependent on the government issuing a positive updated assessment of Japan's Rokkasho reprocessing plant - which will reprocess the fuel stored at the proposed Mutsu facility.

Agreement from the prefecture is required to carry out the Mutsu project and, once agreement is obtained, Tepco can ask the government for permission to start a safety-evaluation process.

It is hoped construction of the interim storage facility will start by 2007 and commercial operations will begin in 2010. Tepco and the Japan Atomic Power Company (JAPC) will jointly establish an entity to manage storage at the facility.

Source: Japan Atomic Industrial Forum

Full report: NucNet News No. 44, 25th February

Taiwan Units Maintain Strong Performance

Taiwan's three nuclear power plants generated a total of 37.4 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2003 - just short of the 38 TWh record achieved in 2002.

The total of four boiling water reactor (BWR) units and two pressurised water reactor (PWR) units operated by Taipower have a total installed capacity of 5144 megawatts (MW). Their generating total in 2003 accounted for 21.5% of Taipower's gross generation.

The Atomic Energy Council (AEC) in Taipei told NucNet that the units' performance has been improving steadily. The average capacity factor for all six units has increased from 75% to 85% over the past decade - reaching a high of 88% in 2002 and dipping to an average overall capacity factor of 86.3% last year.

Four units reached continuous operation periods of more than 340 days last year. Unit one of the Maanshan plant achieved 475.6 days of continuous operation, before starting a scheduled refuelling outage, which the AEC said was the first whole-cycle (18 months) run record of all of Taipower's units, and "a record high among Asian countries to date".

The AEC said that, at an average cost of around two US cents per kilowatt hour, the cost of nuclear-generated electricity was "lower than any other power resources in Taiwan".

Meanwhile, the construction of Taiwan's fourth nuclear power plant at Lungmen continues. The site's two advanced boiling water reactor (ABWR) units were 53% complete at the end of 2003. Lungmen-1 is scheduled to enter commercial operation in 2006, although the AEC said plans for Lungmen-2 to enter commercial operation in 2007 "may possibly be delayed".

Source: AEC / Taipower

Full report: NucNet News No. 45, 25th February

Canada's Nuclear Industry Puts Its Future in Perspective

Representatives of Canada's nuclear industry considered the current state of nuclear and contemplated its future - at the Canadian Nuclear Association's (CNA) 2004 winter seminar, "A Hard Look at the Future," held last week in Ottawa.

Speakers including Linda Keen, president and chief executive of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), touched on themes common to the industry's future while focusing on their own organisations in particular. She said the regulator's latest Environmental Scan identified a number of potential trends in the next 10 years: new uranium projects and the decommissioning of others; new fuel designs and mixes; restart projects for the country's five currently non-operational reactors; refurbishment of the fleet of operational units; new-build projects; numerous applications to extend operating lives; new or expanded research facilities; and expansion of waste-management facilities.

Commissioner Keen urged the industry "to develop a strategic approach to both proactive and reactive communications" - both as a way to guide the CNSC and provide assurance to the Canadian public. She cited last summer's major blackout in Canada and the US, saying: "You missed an important opportunity as an industry to get in front of your customers and speak directly to them about how your industry is a safe one."

Source: CNA / CNSC

Full report: NucNet News No. 43, 24th February

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