Companies mentioned in this week’s news brief include: Shaw Group, EDF, International Atomic Energy Agency, FPL Group

Shaw awarded $10.8m tax credit

The Shaw Group Inc. (NYSE: SHAW) has been awarded a $10.8m federal tax credit from the U.S. Department of Energy and US Internal Revenue Service for its Shaw Modular Solutions, LLC, nuclear module assembly facility in Lake Charles in the state of  Louisiana.

The goal of the tax credit, also referred to as Section 48C of the Internal Revenue Code, is to help build a robust, high-technology domestic manufacturing capacity to supply clean energy projects with Umade parts and equipment.

The credit supports several critical components of the Recovery Act, including job creation and investment in the domestic renewable energy industry, and will assist Shaw in continuing its role in moving the commercial nuclear industry forward.

Up to $2.3bn in credits have been allocated by the US government for advanced energy projects, which will support total capital investments of almost $7.7bn in new renewable and advanced energy manufacturing projects.

The tax credit provides a 30 percent credit for investments in new, expanded, or re-equipped advanced energy manufacturing projects.

"As President Obama stated during his announcement, these projects must help close the clean energy gap that has grown between the US and other countries, they must reduce our emissions and they must increase our energy security," said J.M. Bernhard Jr., chairman, president and chief executive officer of Shaw.

Shaw is providing engineering, procurement and construction services for six new nuclear units in the US, the first contracts awarded in nearly 30 years for new nuclear builds.

EDF chief says nuclear more cost-effective than offshore wind farms

Vincent de Rivaz, chief executive of the French-owned EDF Energy, which plans to build at least four new reactors in Britain at a cost of about £20bn, said in a Financial Times report  that nuclear is "the cheapest, large-scale, low-carbon electricity source", costing less than half as much as offshore wind power.

While the government has recently launched an offshore wind expansion plan to supply an additional 25,000 megawatts of capacity to the grid, EDF is developing a small offshore wind farm in the north-east, but has not bid for any new licences, which could be construed that they believe that wind is not as much as a cost-effective investment as other resources.

However the report highlighted that those representing the wind power industry say that the benefits of new nuclear will not materialise until 2018 when the first reactor is expected to be completed.

This places a greater emphasis on wind power to generate more competition among turbine suppliers in the shorter-term, which is partly why the energy segment is more costly than others.

EDF argues that support for nuclear power might cost £40 a year on electricity bills, the equivalent electricity from offshore wind would cost £100, said the FT report.

France to reprocess spent fuel to India

The Indo-French agreement on the development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy was entered on January 14, paving the way for companies to build atomic power plants in India, according to Indian news site dnaindia.com.

France becomes the second country after Russia to give unconditional rights to reprocess spent nuclear fuel to India.

The agreement makes it mandatory that reprocessing be done under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"As responsible States with advanced nuclear technologies, France and India intend to develop a multiform civil nuclear cooperation covering a wide range of activities including nuclear power projects, R&D, nuclear safety, education and training," said an Indian ministry of external affairs statement.

The Indo-French nuclear agreement will open up opportunities for reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from French atomic reactors under safeguards, and gives an assurance of lifetime supply of nuclear fuel for these reactors.

 It also does not bar the transfer of enrichment and reprocessing technologies, said the report.

Florida’s FPL puts reactor project on hold

Florida-based electricity company FPL Group will have to put a hold on its five year plan to inject $10bn in capital projects, according to a MarketWatch report.

The news is a blow to the nuclear energy industry and those advocates of the low carbon energy source as the halted projects will affect building two new nuclear reactors.

The company said that a denial of nearly all of its $1.3 billion-a-year rate increase by Florida state regulators made the project economically unfeasible at the present time.

However, the electricity producer will still pursue a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for two new nuclear reactors at Turkey Point, but will not go beyond what is required to receive the license.