Decommissioning

Britain's Huhne says new power stations could be built within 8 yearsCompanies, organisations and projects mentioned in this weekly news round-up include: Malaysian Nuclear Agency, Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Areva, Alstom, Westinghouse, Egyptian General Authority for Investment, Atomic Energy Agency, Bushehr, Rosatom, Khan Resources Inc, Mongolian Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), Central Asian Uranium Company LLC (CAUC), Mongolian Capital City Administrative Court, Main Dornod Property, E.ON, RWE, Polish Economy Ministry, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission,  Comanche Peak, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Luminant Generation Company and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

Weekly Intelligence Brief 9 August - 16 August

Britain’s Huhne says new stations possible in 8 years

Britain is on track to have new nuclear power stations up and running within eight years, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has insisted.

According to a Press Association report, Mr Huhne said a number of potential sites for the stations had been identified that are in the close proximity to existing nuclear energy installations and that power should be on stream by 2018.

He reiterated that the Government would not subsidise the new nuclear power stations but said investors had indicated they were ready to press ahead thanks to rising gas, oil and carbon prices.

"We are on course to make sure that the first new nuclear power station opens on time in 2018," Mr Huhne told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"There are a number of sites that have been identified around the country and those are generally on sites where we have previously had, for example, nuclear power stations and where the local people are very keen that there should be new nuclear build.

"What we have to do - we have eight years now before I hope that the first one will come making a contribution to the grid - and we have to get through all of the prior arrangements, like, for example, the national planning statements, like making sure that investors have got their applications formally in and approved, and then of course building can commence."

Mr Huhne is confident that MPs will vote in favour of new nuclear power stations on the bassis that there are no government subsidies involved.

"I don't think you can determine whether a government is serious about energy policy merely in terms of whether it is prepared to write very large cheques.

"It has always been clear that our next generation of electricity power stations are going to be built by private investors with a framework put in place."

Image: Chris Huhne

Malaysia's first nuclear plant may be built on uninhabited island

Nuclear Agency Director-General Datuk Dr Daud Mohamad said that so far, about five or six sites in Peninsular Malaysia had been looked into and of which, one or two were islands according to a mysinchew.com report.

"A populated island is okay but uninhabited is better, but it has got to meet the technical criteria," he told reporters after presenting a talk on "Future of Nuclear in Malaysia" at the Energy Forum 2010.

He said it was very important for the plant to be close to a body of water and has a strong base.

Pre-feasibility studies, conducted by Tenaga Nasional Bhd in consultation with the Malaysian Nuclear Agency, are in action now, said the report,  however, the full feasibility studies would be carried out after the site had been identified.

Daud estimates that a 1,000MGW plant would require funding of between US$2bn and US$3bn.

He said public acceptance would also be very important besides financial resource and technology, for nuclear energy to be used as one of the options for electricity generation.

"We have planned many activities such as talks, seminars and a public opinion survey to further give the public a clearer picture about nuclear energy.

"So far, the reaction has been mixed," he said.

Daud said that to meet the demand for energy in the future it would be good to complement its existing sources.

"For baseload, you need sustainable energy sources like gas, and renewable energy can't do that at the moment," he added.

Daud is taking a proactive approach even though there is no clear yes or no about greelnighlting a nuclear power plant in the country: "We do not want to repeat the previous mistake and we need to secure a site now."

In a separate report by the same news source, it was reported that Malaysia expects total investments in the country to reach RM40 billion this year compared with RM32bn registered last year, according to International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.

In the first six-months of the year, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) approved investments of RM13.2 billion, with foreign investments accounting for RM7.5 billion while domestic investments amounted to RM5.7 billion.

Mustapa said MIDA approved 455 projects between January and June with electric and electronics accounting for RM3.3 billion, fabricated metal products RM605.9 million and scientific equipment manufacturing RM554.4 million.

The three largest foreign direct investors in Malaysia, during the period under review, were Singapore accounting for RM2.9 billion worth of projects followed by Japan with RM722.6 million and Switzerland RM537.8 million.

Areva, Alston and Westingouse amongst potential Egyptian plant bidders

Egypt is starting an international bidding process this year for its first nuclear energy plant, according to the country’s electricity and energy minister.

Hassan Younes told the al-Ahram newspaper that the ministry had already invited several firms for consultancy and project briefings in preparation for the construction of the new energy plant.

Younes said: "Egypt's nuclear project is progressing steadily and we expect to start the tender before the end of this year."

Among some of those invited to tender were the French nuclear reactor-maker Areva, and engineering group Alstom and Westinghouse Electric Co.

The plans are in line with a wider strategy among Egyptian authorities to develop the country’s soft and hard infrastructure in order to attract foreign investors and prepare for quick population growth.

“Egypt needs to work hard on both development and infrastructure,” the Egyptian General Authority for Investment’s chairman, Osama Saleh, told Construction Week.

“It would be very hard to attract foreign investors with an extreme deficiency in the infrastructure area.”

Egypt's population stands at 81 million, which is growing by 1m per year - and the power projects are designed to cope with that growth and the anticipated extra demand placed on utilities, said the news report.

Egypt-Saudi power grid link-up to cost US$1.5bn

The first phase of the power link between Egypt and Saudi Arabia will take place in 2015.

A project aimed at linking the power grids of electricity-hungry Egypt and Saudi Arabia to help meet peak-time demand is expected to cost about US$1.5bn, according to Egyptian Electricity Ministry Undersecretary Aktham Abul Ela.

In a Construction Week report it was stated that an international tender for work on the project is scheduled for January 2011.

Egypt will send Saudi Arabia electricity through the connection in the afternoons, and Saudi Arabia will send electricity to Egypt in the evenings, taking advantage of the difference in the countries’ peak-use hours.

The two countries would split the cost of the project – which aims to exchange 3,000MW of electricity between the countries through direct current electrical lines – based on the amount of work on their land.

Iran’s Bushehr plant set to go online

The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Akbar Salehi, indicated Friday that Iran's nuclear power plant at Bushehr will go online seven to eight days after Russia delivers its nuclear fuel supply on August 21, according to a Voice of America news report. 

Russia indicated that it would start loading fresh nuclear fuel into the reactor on that date.

Atomic Energy Chief Ali Akbar Salehi told journalists that the plant would be launched next week, when nuclear fuel is "transferred inside the Bushehr plant." 

He added according to the report, that it would then require "seven or eight days to place [the fuel] inside the reactor."

He says that they are considering the reactor will become operational once the fuel is introduced into the reactor

The spokesman for Russia's atomic energy agency, Rosatom, Sergei Novikov, said, according to the report, that “the process of loading fresh nuclear fuel into the reactor building would begin on August 21, at which point it would be inside the pre-reactor storage facility.  He emphasizes that the nuclear reactor will then officially be classified as a nuclear energy installation. 

The testing phase will then be complete and the physical launch will begin.

Novikov also said that the entire process would take place "under the supervision of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors."

Iranian nuclear chief Salehi noted that the "fuel is sealed," adding that "IAEA inspectors must be present to remove [those] seals."

NEA appeals against favourable Khan court ruling

Khan Resources Inc, a Canadian company engaged in the acquisition, exploration and development of uranium properties,has reported that the Mongolian Nuclear Energy Agency ("NEA") has chosen to appeal the decision in favour of Khan's subsidiary, Central Asian Uranium Company LLC ("CAUC"), rendered July 19, 2010 by the Mongolian Capital City Administrative Court.

According to a Marketwire report, the Court's ruling on July 19 was that the NEA's purported decision to invalidate CAUC's mining license 237A was itself illegal and invalid.

Grant Edey, President and CEO of Khan said: "We are very disappointed that the NEA has chosen to appeal a very clear and definitive ruling of the Court.

“We trust the Court will deal with the matter quickly and uphold the ruling in favour of CAUC".

Khan’s activities are focused on the Dornod area in northeastern Mongolia, the site of a former open-pit uranium mine.

Khan holds interests in the Main Dornod Property and in the Additional Dornod Property.

E.On and RWE dividends likely to be cut due to nuclear tax

News reports have said that Germany’s E.ON and RWE are expected to cut dividends and investment because a proposed tax on nuclear reactors will erode profits.

RWE may cut its investments and dividend if Germany enacts the tax, Rolf Phhlig, the utility’s chief financial officer, said in an interview with Westdeutsche Allgemeine newspaper in June.

A spokeswoman for the company, confirmed the comments.

The German government, according to reports, is asking for EUR2.3bn a year from the nuclear industry from 2011 to trim the budget deficit.

While both utilities plan on investing close to EUR17bn in power plant projects, natural gas pipelines and other energy sources this year it is thought that spending could actually fall in the years ahead as the tax could cut yearly earnings at RWE by EUR1bn and EUR1.5bn at E.ON, according to an analyst at Kepler Capital Markets.

“You can’t expect to hit the private sector hard and then expect it to keep spending,” said Becker, who has “reduce” recommendations on both stocks.

“The nuclear tax could take away more than half of the profits from running a reactor at the current forward curve.”

The German government has said it will present its strategy for nuclear, alternative energy and fossil fuels in late September.

Poland delays first plant opening target by 2 years

Poland's Economy Ministry says the country now plans to have its first nuclear power plant running in 2022 — two years later than its previous target, according to an Associated Press report.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government wanted to have the first of two planned nuclear powers online in 2020, but experts have said that wasn't feasible because the country has yet to develop a regulatory framework.

A spokesman at the Economy Ministry, Piotr Zbikowski, said that the ministry now foresees 2022 as the target date, but he did not present reasons for the delay.

Poland currently relies on its domestic and abundant coal supplies as well as Russian oil and gas.

It’s ambitions to build its first nuclear energy plan are in line with its objectives to lessen its dependence on Russia and help meet European Union demands to cut carbon emissions.

NRC says no environmental impacts for new reactors at Comanche Peak

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff is seeking public comments on its preliminary finding that there are no environmental impacts that would preclude issuing Combined Licenses (COL) for two new reactors at the Comanche Peak site near Glen Rose, Texas.

Staff from the NRC and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Fort Worth District, will discuss their Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).

Luminant Generation Company submitted its application on Sept. 19, 2008, and supplemented the application on Nov. 20, 2009.

Luminant is applying for licenses to build and operate two U.S. Advanced Pressurized-Water Reactors (US-APWR) at the Comanche Peak site, approximately four miles north of Glen Rose.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries submitted an application to certify the US-APWR, a 1,500 megawatt electric design, on Dec. 31, 2007.