THE WORLD'S NUCLEAR NEWS AGENCY

World Nuclear Review - week ending 5th November 2004

Communities Give Green Light For MOX At Japan's Ikata-3

Japan's Shikoku Electric Power has been given the go-ahead to file an application that will pave the way for the use of mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel at the company's Ikata-3 nuclear power plant in Ehime prefecture, in southern Japan.

Written approvals were issued on 1st November by Ehime prefecture and the town of Ikata for the company to make an application for permission to change a reactor installation to use MOX at the 890-megawatt pressurised water reactor (PWR). Shikoku Electric later filed the application with the government, which in turn will conduct a safety examination.

Ehime governor Moriyuki Kato said in his written approval that a final decision on granting preliminary consent would be made after the results of the government's safety examination had been received, and following a further discussion by the prefecture's Ikata nuclear power plant environmental safety management committee.

Shikoku Electric's vice-president and nuclear general manager, Katsumi Ota, said the company regarded the go-ahead as a "virtual approval to start".

Source: Japan Atomic Industrial Forum

Full report: NucNet News No. 198, 2nd November

South African Government Boosts Investment In PBMR

South Africa's PBMR (Pty) Ltd - the company developing Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) technology - has welcomed government pledges to provide a major injection of cash for the PBMR project plus an extensive infrastructure development programme.

In his mid-term budget statement on 26th October 2004, government finance minister Trevor Manuel announced the allocation of 500 million South African rand (ZAR) for the PBMR project - equivalent to more than 63 million euros. The company told NucNet that the money would help it secure contracts for the hardware development of key project components, including turbo machinery and a helium test facility.

The budget statement came less than one week after the country-s minister for public enterprises, Alec Erwin, said the cabinet had approved a ZAR 165 billion infrastructure programme - including investment in state utility and PBMR partner, Eskom.

The South African government has already accepted the proposal to develop, demonstrate and commercialise the PBMR - and to have the first demonstration unit completed by 2010. Construction of the unit could start by 2007. The first commercial power stations could be completed three years later.

However, although formal approvals are not yet in place, the latest announcements appear to amount to the de facto approval by the South African government to build a PBMR demonstration unit at Koeberg, near Capetown, and a pilot fuel plant at Pelindaba, near Pretoria.

Source: PBMR / South African Ministry of Public Enterprises / Various

Full report: NucNet Business News No. 51, 2nd November

Chief US Regulator Calls For Multinational Reactor Certification

The time has come for regulators worldwide to multilaterally adopt a common safety framework for certifying new reactor designs, according to the chairman of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Nils Diaz.

Mr Diaz added that licensing should remain in the hands of each nation's regulatory authority, but said regulators "need to deal better with one of the realities of nuclear power - its ever increasing 'internationalisation'."

The NRC chief's comments were made in a speech to the NRC's Nuclear Safety Research Conference held in Washington DC, on 25th October. He said: "Vendors all around the world supply the thousands of components and ideas that comprise a nuclear power plant, such as advanced reactor designs from the United States and Europe, steam generators from Spain, reactor vessels from Japan and turbines from Germany."

Mr Diaz called for a system that would keep national licensing and regulatory authorities strong and responsible for making decisions, but, at the same time, would internationalise key parts of the regulations under a process that goes beyond the International Atomic Energy Agency's current system of Safety Standards.

He said safety would be better served when certified designs could be accepted across borders as a commodity, fully respecting property rights. He called for the development of multilateral mutual certification acceptance agreements for both new reactor designs and the related research programmes used to validate these designs. "The bottom line is that safety and regulatory decisions would be facilitated globally."

Source: NucNet US correspondent Thecla Fabian / NRC

Full report: NucNet News No. 200, 3rd November

Boeing And Honeywell Sign USEC Centrifuge Agreements

The US Enrichment Corporation (USEC) has signed agreements with Boeing and Honeywell International to support the manufacture of uranium enrichment machines for USEC's American Centrifuge programme.

USEC said the agreements, signed on 27th October 2004, would extend through 2006 to enable the company to "move forward with critical activities" in its programme.

A licence application for USEC to build and operate a commercial American Centrifuge plant in Piketon, Ohio, was filed with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in August of this year. In February of this year, the NRC gave USEC the go-ahead to build and operate the American Centrifuge Lead Cascade demonstration plant in Piketon.

Over the next two years, employees from Boeing and Honeywell will join employees from USEC and the US Oak Ridge National Laboratory at USEC's Centrifuge Technology Center and K-1600 facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. They will manufacture, test and assemble components into full-size machines for the American Centrifuge programme. A substantial percentage of the parts will be manufactured and assembled in East Tennessee, with final machine assembly completed in Piketon.

Source: USEC

Full report: NucNet Business News No. 50, 1st November

Russian State Acquires Controlling Stake In Atomstroyexport

The Russian state has taken control of Atomstroyexport - through a deal involving the sale of a 54% stake in the nuclear export company to a subsidiary of Gazprom natural gas producer.

Andrei Malyshev, head of federal nuclear and industrial regulatory authority Rostekhnadzor, announced the deal, believed to be worth approximately 5 million US dollars, in October.

It involved the sale of the 54% stake in Atomstroyexport by equipment and machinery manufacturer OMZ to GazPromBank. GazPromBank is a subsidiary of Gazprom - and the Russian state is the largest shareholder in Gazprom, with a 38% share.

The sale gives the state, through Gazprom, a majority on the Atomstroyexport board of directors.

Source: Nuclear Society of Russia / Atomstroyexport

Full report: NucNet Business News No. 49, 29th October

Poll Shows US Support For Nuclear Power At New High

A new nationwide opinion poll in the US indicates that a new record high of 67% of Americans are in favour of the use of nuclear energy - in addition to a significant increase in support for "definitely" building new nuclear plants in the future.

The representative poll, conducted last month for the US Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), shows that the number of respondents in favour of nuclear has increased by two percentage points since the last nationwide poll conducted for the NEI earlier this year. Only 26% of respondents said they opposed the use of nuclear energy while 7% did not know.

Asked about support for the renewal of licences for US nuclear plants that continue to meet federal safety standards, 83% were in favour (compared to 82% in the previous poll). A majority of 71% supported keeping the option open to build more nuclear plants in the US (compared to 69% previously).

Source: NEI / Bisconti Research Inc.

Full report: NucNet News No. 199, 3rd November

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