Repairs progress at NRU and HFR reactors

Major repairs to the National Research Unit (NRU) reactor at Chalk River in Canada and the High Flux Reactor (HFR) in the Netherlands are progressing well, according to the latest updates from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) and NRG.

External cleaning of the reducer walls at HFR (Image: NRG)

NRG’s HFR was taken offline in February to address problems with corrosion in concrete-encased aluminium pipes carrying cooling water, leading to tiny bubbles of gas in the primary cooling system. The work so far has involved stripping off the concrete from the pipes, known as reducers, followed by detailed inspections which have identified four locations where the pipes have been affected by galvanic corrosion.

Based on the results of the inspection work and measurements it has taken, NRG has decided to carry out local repairs to the pipes rather than replacing the reducers completely. NRG has now received the go-ahead from the relevant authorities to begin the repairs to the corroded pipes, which will entail removing the corroded parts and welding in new aluminium piping.

The entire repair project is currently predicted to take 25 weeks to complete, which would in theory see the reactor fit to return to service in mid-August.

End in site at Chalk River?

It has now been over a year since the discovery of a heavy water leak on 15 May 2009 forced AECL to shut the NRU and carry out extensive repairs. However, the company’s latest bulletin on the project reports that 71% of the necessary weld repairs and associated non-destructive examinations have now been completed, and nine of the ten identified sites have now been repaired.

The unit is still expected to return to service by the end of July, AECL says.

NRU and HFR are the two main producers of the world’s supply of molybdenum-99, which decays into technetium-99 en route to thousands of hospitals for use in imaging procedures. In the two reactors’ absence, reliable but reduced supplies of the isotope have been maintained through close coordination between the other reactors capable of supplying it, namely Belgium’s BR-2, the Safari reactor in South Africa and the Osiris and Orphee reactors at Saclay in France.

Source: World Nuclear News

NRG announces TEPCO as new partner in South Texas Project expansion

NRG Energy announced Monday morning that Tokyo Electric Power Co., one of the world’s largest nuclear power plant operators, plans to acquire up to an 18 percent stake in the South Texas Project expansion.

TEPCO, as the Japanese utility is known, will invest $155 million, through its U.S.-based subsidiary, for a 10 percent share of NINA Investments Holdings’ interest in the STP expansion once a conditional commitment for U.S. Department of Energy loan guarantee is secured for the project, according to an announcement released before the company’s first quarter earnings report.

NINA is Nuclear Innovation North America, the nuclear development company jointly owned by NRG and Toshiba Corp. NINA Investments Holdings is a wholly owned subsidiary of NINA.

NRG has been looking for investment partners in the expansion since CPS Energy, once a 50 percent partner in the expansion, reduced its stake to just 7.6 percent.

That partnership hit the skids when it became known that CPS kept a higher cost estimate for the project from its board of trustees. The CEO of NINA ordered the estimate, which was $4 billion higher than officials had said the project would cost, leaked to Mayor Julián Castro. CPS ultimately sued NRG to clarify the terms under which it could withdraw from the project.

A judge ordered settlement talks, which resulted in CPS retaining the 7.6 percent share of the project for the roughly $400 million it had spent thus far. San Antonio’s municipal utility has no further financial obligation to the project.

Of TEPCO’s $155 million investment, $30 million is an option payment, enabling the company to buy an additional 10 percent share of NINA Holdings for $125 million within approximately one year.

TEPCO has been a consultant on the STP expansion since 2006, sharing its experience with developing, constructing, commissioning and operating the Advanced Boiling Water Reactors. TEPCO also will contribute to the training of the highly skilled workforce necessary to build and operate STP 3&4.

“TEPCO has brought two advanced technology nuclear units online, on time and on budget and literally wrote the book on training the workforce for Advanced Boiler Water Reactor technology,” said David Crane, Chairman of the Board of NINA and President and CEO of NRG Energy, in Monday morning’s statement.

“Their ownership participation in STP will be invaluable to the technical and financial viability of the project and will help ensure that STP 3&4 is part of the vanguard of new advanced nuclear projects in the United States. The success of the coming American nuclear renaissance is essential if we are to meet our country’s zero emissions, zero carbon and energy security objectives.”

With this initial transaction, TEPCO would hold a 9.2 percent interest in STP 3&4, bringing NINA’s share to 83.1 percent, and leaving CPS’ share at 7.6 percent, according to the release. TEPCO would also be responsible for 10 percent of all STP expansion capital costs and up to 20 percent of these costs if the company exercises its option to increase its ownership to 20 percent of NINA Investments Holdings’ interest in the expansion. TEPCO would then own about 18 percent of the project itself, or roughly 500 megawatts — enough to power about 400,000 households.

The agreement has been approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close once a conditional commitment for a U.S. loan guarantee is secured by NINA. In addition to assuming up to 20 percent of the capital cost of the project going forward, according to the release, TEPCO will fund and commit a team of commercial and engineering employees to NINA to assist in the project.

In addition to U.S. loan guarantees, NINA is seeking additional financing by pursuing loan guarantees through the Japanese export credit agencies. If approved, U.S. loan guarantees would cover an amount roughly equal to the investment in U.S. labor and U.S.-sourced equipment and commodities, while the Japanese loan guarantees would cover the Japanese investment in advanced nuclear expertise and equipment not available in the U.S.

NINA recently announced an agreement for the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO to provide skilled union labor to construct STP 3&4. About 6,000 people will work up to 25 million hours to build the new units in Bay City.

Assuming the two reactors receive an operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, construction would begin in 2012.

TEPCO has owned and operated a pair of Advanced Boiling Water Reactor units at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa facility, the world’s largest nuclear power plant, for more than a decade. The STP units will use ABWR technology for the first time in the United States.

TEPCO resumed operations at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in December since it was damaged by an earthquake in July 2007. The company is expected to turn a profit for the first time in three years in the 12-month period ending in March.

Purchasing a stake in STP would mark the first time a Japanese power company would conduct nuclear power operations overseas.

Source: My San Antonio News

Plans for two new reactors may be scrapped

Texas’ prospects for leading the nuclear power renaissance turned bleak Friday.

The chief executive of NRG Energy, Texas’ second-largest power generator, said he’s willing to drop plans to build two new reactors in South Texas if the company cannot come to a favorable agreement with San Antonio utility CPS Energy.

A court ruling on Friday could allow the partners to continue to negotiate, but after months of soap-opera intrigue, rumors and finger-pointing between the companies, it’s unclear whether they can work together.

NRG could find itself scrambling for another investor and hoping to find one in time to win federal loan guarantees that could be handed out any day. The lack of an investor or loan guarantee would kill the nukes.

“We absolutely will not agree to any resolution that we cannot afford,” NRG chief executive David Crane said on a conference call with analysts. “We will not throw good money after bad.”

The project isn’t dead yet. Crane said Tokyo Electric Power Co. is interested in buying a stake in the expansion. Other investors could be found.

But anti-nuke activists were already dancing on the South Texas Project’s grave.

“We may be witnessing the early throes of a nuclear project death!” Karen Hadden, director of the Sustainable Energy and Economic Development Coalition, wrote in an e-mail Friday to members.

In 2005, shortly after NRG bought a 44 percent stake in the South Texas Project, executives saw a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to expand, Crane said. With the federal government offering loan guarantees for new reactor projects, Crane said NRG, with some partners, could afford to build them.

But both investment partners and loan guarantees are critical.

“I think that the idea that anyone would take the full risk of developing a new nuclear project, totally on their balance sheet, is a foolish thing to do, even if you have a balance sheet as big as Exxon Mobil’s,” Crane said.

The South Texas Project already has two reactors. NRG operates the plant and owns 44 percent, CPS owns 40 percent, and Austin Energy owns 16 percent.

In October 2007, NRG and CPS signed a deal to jointly build two new reactors. Austin chose not to invest in an expansion.

Meanwhile, NRG officials have been negotiating with equipment makers and construction and engineering firms to set the price of the project and to share the risk.

By last autumn, NRG said, its contractors were offering around $12.1 billion, and NRG executives felt confident they could squeeze that below $10 billion.

That’s higher than NRG’s earlier estimate of $8.6 billion. The price difference led to concern among San Antonio officials, who began to wonder whether CPS could exit the deal.

“We at NRG did not appreciate that CPS signed the deal, commenced funding … without ever obtaining the City Council’s endorsement of the deal,” NRG’s Crane said.

CPS sued NRG and asked the court to rule on whether CPS would retain its investment in the project if it stopped financing the expansion.

State District Judge Larry Noll in San Antonio ruled on Friday that a party may stop participating in the project and still retain the equity stake it had contributed.

That was a favorable ruling for San Antonio, after NRG stated the city would lose its investment if it walked.

But the judge issued a warning to the city: “If you want to be in the play, you have to pay or you can’t stay. You will eventually lose your equity share.”

CPS spokeswoman Theresa Cortez said the company hasn’t decided if it will exit the project. Staff still must recommend to the board whether to invest in the deal, and the board must bring the recommendation to the City Council.

But NRG chief executive Crane said it will be hard to continue working with CPS.

“When you develop a project like this, you have to be able to look the person in the eyes and on some level trust them. That just doesn’t seem to exist right now,” he said.

He said if NRG shuts down the project, it will take a $400 million charge.

And the legal dispute between CPS and NRG isn’t over. CPS has also sued NRG for $32 billion, which includes the value of the South Texas Plan property and punitive damages.

Source: Dallas News

CPS to Spend Another $60 million on NPP in Bay City, Texas

CPS Energy has decided to spend another $60 million on planning and engineering for an expansion of the nuclear energy facility in Bay City.

Tuesday’s move came with the endorsement of Mayor Phil Hardberger, who has, up until now, been silent on CPS Energy’s controversial plan to partner with NRG Energy in building two more nuclear reactors at the South Texas Project. Read more