B&W wins $2.1bn decom contract in OhioCompanies, organisations and projects mentioned in this round-up include: Babcock & Wilcox Company, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH), Tata Consulting Engineers, Nuclear Power Corporation of India, NPCIL, Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL), Larsen & Toubro Limited, China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group,  Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission, U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE)  Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant,  Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant, Exelon Generating Company, Arab League, Sellafield Ltd, Babcock, Balfour Beatty, JEA, Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras (Electrobas), IAEA, China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA)

 

B&W wins $2.1bn decom contract in Ohio

The Fluor-B&W Portsmouth, LLC team of The Babcock & Wilcox, through its subsidiary Babcock & Wilcox Technical Services Group, Inc. has been awarded the decontamination and decommissioning contract at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio.

The contract has an estimated value of approximately $2.1 billion over a 10-year period, which includes an initial five-year period in addition to a potential five-year extension based on performance and government requirements.

The primary work at the Portsmouth facility, located in Pike County, Ohio, will include decontaminating and demolishing three large process facilities at the site as well as cleaning up and remediating contaminated soil and groundwater.

Image Credit: Decontamination Facility, USEC

 

GE signs agreement with India’s Tata on nuclear projects

GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) today announced it has signed a preliminary agreement with India’s Tata Consulting Engineers, Ltd. (TCE) to explore potential project design and workforce development opportunities in support of GEH’s future nuclear projects in India and around the world.

As GEH prepares for potential ESBWR projects in India and other countries planning to build new reactors, the agreement sets the stage for the companies to collaborate in areas such as workforce skills identification and development, as well as early feasibility design studies, product and project engineering work.

India’s government has identified two possible sites for a potential new station featuring multiple reactors based on GEH’s 1,520-megawatt (MW) ESBWR model.

The sites are located in the western state of Gujarat and southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

India currently has 19 reactors that generate a combined 4,560 MWe but plans to expand its installed nuclear generating capacity to 20,000 MWe by 2020 and to 63,000 MW by 2032.

The agreement helps create the foundation for leveraging India’s domestic engineering capabilities while supporting domestic employment opportunities. It also would enable GEH to increase the local content of its ESBWR product offering for its customer, state-owned utility Nuclear Power Corporation of India, Ltd. (NPCIL).

General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), one of GEH’s parent companies, designed and helped build India’s first nuclear power plant in Tarapur during the 1960s.

In 2008, the U.S. and Indian governments signed an agreement to lift the ban on U.S. nuclear exports to India.

Since 2008, GEH has been building its local supplier network in India to complement the company’s global project supply chain while it explores opportunities for new reactor projects as well as providing fuel and other services to existing and new nuclear power plants.

In addition to TCE, GEH also has signed preliminary project development agreements with NPCIL, Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) and engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro Limited.

 

China Guangdong Nuclear Signs MOU with Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission

China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Vietnam Atomic Energy Commission for cooperation in the nuclear power sector, according to a Dow Jones report that stated that the news was made public through the company’s website.

According to the MOU, Guangdong Nuclear will aid Vietnam in nuclear technology transfer in the future, the company confirmed, but providing not specific details.

According to the news report, Vietnam will sign a contract with Russian energy group Rosatom later this year for the construction of the country's first nuclear power plant--the 2,000- megawatt Ninh Thuan 1 plant, Pham Khanh Toan, head of the Vietnam Institute of Energy under the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said last month.

The 2,000-MW Tianwan nuclear power station in eastern China's Jiangsu province, which went into operation in 2007, also used Russian technology.

 

NRC dispatches inspection team to Braidwood plant

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has dispatched a special inspection team to the Braidwood Nuclear Power Plant in Braceville, Illinois to review the circumstances surrounding the dual unit shutdowns that occurred on 16 August.

The incident did not affect public health and safety and both units remain safely shut down.

The plant is operated by Exelon Generating Company LLC and is located 20 miles southwest of Joliet.

“The purpose of the special inspection is to better understand the sequence of both reactor events and the apparent unexpected system interactions,” said NRC Region III Administrator Mark Satorius.

The four-member team will evaluate the events and circumstances surrounding the shutdowns and subsequent equipment issues.

Initial special inspection activities began with a team member the same day of the shutdowns.

Unit 2 shut down due to a main generator fault.

All systems operated as expected except one of the valves which control water flow to one steam generator.

Specifically, the valve became stuck in an open position, preventing the operator from using this valve to control water flow and caused the operator to use a backup valve. Approximately 13 minutes later Unit 1 also shut down, due to a loss of a secondary cooling system which helps cool a primary water system in the plant.

This created a steam release and a loud noise which could be heard by residents living near the plant.

The steam contained low levels of tritium which appear to be lower than the regulatory limits for the public.

The NRC said in a statement: “Both NRC resident inspectors stationed onsite and regional experts have been closely following the events and actions taken by the utility.”

 

Arab nations lobby US to put pressure on Israeli nuclear inspections

Ignoring a U.S. warning, Arab nations are urging Washington and other powers to end support of Israel's nuclear secrecy and to push the Jewish state to allow international inspections of its program, diplomats told The Associated Press over a week ago.

“Islamic nations have long called for Israel — which is widely believed to have nuclear arms — to open its program. But the fact that the Arab League has directly approached Washington and other Israeli allies for support at the September meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency is significant, considering that President Barack Obama last month warned against using that forum to single out Israel,” said the report.

President Obama then suggested that such a move would likely kill hopes of breakthrough talks on a Mideast nuclear-free zone, as proposed by the U.N.'s 189-nation Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty conference three months ago.

Over Israeli objections, the planned 2012 talks were backed by the U.S. and other nuclear powers for the first time since Arab nations pushed for such a gathering 15 years ago.

The Arab appeal is contained in a letter signed by Arab League chief Amre Moussa that was shared with The Associated Press.

 It asks for backing of a resolution that Arab nations will submit to the September assembly of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

 

Sellafield awards multi million pound waste storage contract

The contract for the first phase of a massive new multi-million pound waste storage facility at Sellafield has been won by a Babcock and Balfour Beatty Joint Venture.

The contract, for the Early Contractor Engagement Phase of the Box Encapsulation Plant
Product Store and Comprehensive Import Export Facility (BEPPS and CIEF) Project, will
start immediately with completion of the entire project scheduled for 2019.

The BEPPS and CIEF project will incorporate the completion and expansion of a purpose-built, above-ground nuclear waste store and the construction of a new import/export facility to handle radioactive waste, arising from the ongoing nuclear decommissioning and high hazard reduction operations at the Sellafield site in West Cumbria.

Sellafield Ltd is a company owned and operated by Nuclear Management Partners, a consortium comprising URS, AMEC and AREVA.

 

Florida utility JEA targets 30% of its power to come from nuclear energy

JEA wants to get up to 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear power plants within 20 years — without building a plant in Jacksonville, according to local news reports.

The report stated that the utility’s governing board voted Tuesday to have managers look for chances to buy part of some new power plant that could come online more than a decade from now.

The threat of new taxes on carbon emissions makes finding new power sources a real priority, CEO Jim Dickenson said.

“All of our [fuel] portfolio is really some type of carbon,” Dickenson told the board, with about 80 percent of JEA’s power coming from plants that burn coal or petroleum coke.

“Natural gas supplies about 17 percent of JEA power, he said, and renewable fuels produce less than 2 percent.”

City-owned JEA already had a deal to buy about 10 percent of its power from a nuclear plant scheduled for construction near Waynesboro, Ga.

That plant is supposed to start operating by 2018.

JEA agreed to buy power from that plant for 20 years, but wouldn’t own the facility.

The new plan involves buying a piece of some other nuclear project, which a consultant in June estimated might cost JEA $2bn.

However, no project has been identified and operation of the plant would not become a reality for another ten years, said the report.

 

Budget for Brazil’s ambitious new build plan on hold

Brazil's plan to build at least five nuclear power plants over the next two decades, but like many countries around the globe, may run into a financing problem, according to a Dow Jones news report.

In Brazil, federal budget constraints limit spending by government-controlled utility Centrais Eletricas Brasileiras SA (ELET6.BR, EBR).

The company known as Eletrobras, which is in the process of building Angra 3, a 9.5 billion Brazilian real ($5.1 billion) reactor that will have a capacity of 1,400 megawatts when it's completed in 2015, said last week it signed an agreement with the national energy research corporation to study sites for additional nuclear reactors.

Germany’s fuel tax decision on hold until September

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has postponed its decision on a nuclear fuel-rod duty until the end of September and will link it to ongoing talks about the government's energy roadmap, a government spokesman said last week.

"The reliability of the budget planning remains unchanged, but if things which are in correlation can be better debated together, it's better to do so," the spokesman said.

Environmental Minister Norbert Roettgen also confirmed that the decision would be delayed to the end of September.

The German government says it is in talks with nuclear energy providers that are holding out against a planned nuclear fuel tax and seeking to extend their plants' life span.

Local media reports have said that the four utilities owning the country's 17 nuclear plants might be willing to pay the government up to euro30 billion ($38.5bn) to stop its plans for a nuclear fuel tax.

According to news reports the Chancellor’s spokesman says it is essential for the government to generate the tax's expected annual income of euro2.3 billion but the form of payment is up for debate.

Germany decided 10 years ago to shut down all nuclear plants by 2021, but Chancellor Merkel would like to extend their lifespan.

 

China signs nuclear security arrangement with IAEA

The IAEA and China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) signed a practical arrangement in the field of nuclear security in Beijing on 16 August 2010.

IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano and CAEA Chairman Chen Qiufa signed the arrangement, which calls for strengthening the existing cooperation in nuclear security between China and the IAEA.

Under the practical arrangement, China and the IAEA will also work together to improve security in the East Asia region.

The Practical Arrangements on Nuclear Security build upon the 2007 arrangement between the two organizations and extends the IAEA´s existing cooperation with China.

The IAEA´s 18 month-long collaboration with the Chinese authorities in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics is one of the most visible areas of cooperation in this field, which augmented the Chinese security plans to include radiological security.