Small-scale reactors could work in Saskatchewan, according to Energy Minister

Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd Photograph by: Bryan Schlosser, Leader-Post

If the 500 delegates at the Uranium 2010 conference in Saskatoon this week find it strange Saskatchewan — the world’s second-largest producer of uranium — doesn’t generate its own nuclear power, Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd wouldn’t be surprised.

“I think they do. Absolutely I think they believe it is odd,” Boyd said after a presentation Monday at the international conference.

But he doesn’t expect Saskatchewan’s energy generation to remain nuclear-free forever.

While a large nuclear reactor or two for the province remains out of the question for the time being, the minister repeated the Saskatchewan Party’s belief that nuclear remains an option — especially burgeoning small-reactor technology.

“If there are export opportunities or emerging demand for electricity in the future, then we’ll have to re-evaluate that, or perhaps look at small nuclear technology that can bring nuclear technology on in small increments,” he said.

In 2009, the government-established Uranium Development Partnership (UDP) recommended against moving forward with a large-scale reactor development, saying the economics and demand base for nuclear energy aren’t yet at a level required for such a large-scale project.

Boyd remains optimistic Saskatchewan will one day use uranium mined from the Athabasca Basin to fuel a reactor of its own.

“I’m pro-nuclear — make no bones about it — but it has to make economic sense,” he said.

That’s where small-scale reactor technology — which is still under development — comes in.

Boyd said the province is constantly re-evaluating its energy demand forecast. A miniature version of a nuclear reactor could, if demand is high enough, become a part of Saskatchewan’s electricity mix, he said.

The CEOs of Cameco Corp. and Areva Canada Inc. — companies that both mine and process Saskatchewan uranium — supported Boyd’s stance Monday. Both chief executives said they’re excited for the province’s nuclear future, yet respect the government’s take on the reactor issue. Continued…

Read more: The Star Phoenix

NRC recommends license approval for laser enrichment facility in Castle Hayne

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has completed a draft environmental statement recommending commission approval of a license for the Global Laser Enrichment facility proposed for the GE complex in Castle Hayne.

The approval was reported in a notice published in Friday’s Federal Register, which stated: “The NRC staff preliminarily recommends that, unless safety issues mandate otherwise … the NRC should issue a license” to Global Laser Enrichment to operate a laser-base uranium enrichment facility.

The notice went on to say the “NRC staff in the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards is currently completing the safety review of (GE Hitachi’s) license application. The safety review is currently scheduled for completion in December 2010.” Continued…

Read more: Star News Online

Cameco to supply uranium to Chinese nuke plants

Canadian miner Cameco Corp.(CCO.TO) said on Thursday it has struck a framework agreement that could lead to supplying uranium to plants under construction by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Holding Co.

The non-binding deal will have the companies negotiate long-term purchase agreements as well as a potential joint venture agreement to develop uranium resources, Cameco said in statement.

Cameco said the talks are already under way and the Chinese nuclear power supplier indicated it has 20,000 megawatts of production capacity under construction and it plans to have 50,000 megawatts on line by 2020.

The announcement was one a series of framework deals announced by Canadian and Chinese companies on Thursday during President Hu Jintao’s state visit to Canada. Hu said he wants China’s trade with Canada to double by 2015.

Source: Reuters

Vision 2010 cleanup project update

Cameco’s second community forum of 2010 was billed as “Let’s talk… about the nuclear industry.”

It was that in spades. Those favourably disposed to an industry notable for its many scientific and medical accomplishments — such as Denise Carpenter, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Nuclear Association — gushed about the many of benefits of the industry at Monday’s meeting at the Carpenter’s Union Hall on Croft Street.

Cameco’s vice-president of fuel services, Andy Thorne, briefly talked about the Vision 2010 project to remove historic low-level radioactive waste from the plant site, admitting that it “had not moved forward as quickly as most of you would have hoped.”

He teased the audience with a brief mention of an innovation lab that was in the planning stages for the plant. As well, he mentioned a telephone polling survey that was underway, saying there is a continuing “high level of support” in the community for the company. Finally, he mentioned that a new website is under construction.

Several individuals in the audience raised concerns, asking questions about Elliot Lake trailing ponds, how much money Cameco makes or insisting that there are people who have been damaged by radiation and issues of plant emissions.

Thorne said that he was “extremely proud of our low emissions” which he said are below regulatory limits. He added that more pumps and groundwater treatment wells were in place.

Andrew Pietrewicz, a senior planner dealing with power system planning with Ontario Power Authority, provided some lively details about electricity use in the province and who supplies the power, using charts and metaphors to colour his facts.

Dr. Brian Ikeda, associate professor in the faculty of energy systems and nuclear science at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, gave an overview of all the nuclear-related degrees, innovation and studies taking place at the Oshawa campus.

About 60 people attended the event.

Source: Ted Amsden, Northumberland Today

Cameco profit rises in Q1

Uranium miner Cameco Corp. (CCO-T25.030.251.01%) reports a first-quarter profit of $142-million, up from $82-million in the same period a year earlier, even as prices and sales volumes for the radioactive fuel mineral declined.

The Saskatoon-based company said its earnings amounted to 36 cents per share, versus 22 cents per share in the year-earlier period. Quarterly earnings benefited from a $31-million after-tax gain on unrealized mark-to-market gains on financial instruments, whereas Cameco had posted a similar loss of $24-million in the comparable period of 2009.

Stripping out the impact of one-time items, Cameco said its adjusted earnings rose eight per cent to $111-million or 28 cents per share, driven by higher profits from its fuel services and electricity businesses.

“The long-term fundamentals of the nuclear industry are positive,” president and CEO Jerry Grandey said in a statement.

“Cameco is prudently investing today in production growth and new technology to pursue our vision to be a dominant nuclear energy company. Our nuclear focus, financial strength and management capability support our growth plans as we build for the future.”

Revenue declined 2 per cent to $485-million in the quarter.

Cameco said its uranium production volume rose 27 per cent to 6.1 million pounds but sales volume dropped seven per cent to 6.6 million pounds while the average spot price fell 6 per cent to $41.79 (U.S.).

During the quarter, the company completed dewatering of the underground portion of the Cigar Lake mine in northern Saskatchewan, which has been flooded for three years. Cameco said it continues to target initial production from the mine in mid-2013.

Cameco is one of the world’s largest uranium producers, with uranium mines, mills, conversion plants and exploration projects in Saskatchewan, Ontario, the United States and Australia. Cameco is also a key partner in the Bruce Power nuclear power plant on the shores of Lake Huron in southwestern Ontario.

Source: The Globe & Mail / The Canadian Press

Successful test loop for SILEX technology

The initial phase of the test loop program for the SILEX laser enrichment technology has been successfully completed by Global Laser Enrichment (GLE).

GLE – a venture launched by GE-Hitachi and in which Cameco has since taken a stake – began operations of the test loop facility in July 2009 at its facilities in Wilmington, North Carolina. The test loop facility is designed to demonstrate the commercial feasibility of the technology and is intended to advance the design of the equipment and processes for the proposed commercial production facility.

In 2006, GE-Hitachi acquired the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the SILEX uranium enrichment technology globally through a licence from Australia’s Silex Systems Ltd.

Michael Goldsworthy, CEO of Silex Systems, commented: “This is an important milestone towards the commercialization of the SILEX laser enrichment technology.” He added, “This means that the technology has met key enrichment performance criteria, and that activities going forward, including further test loop measurements, will focus increasingly on the engineering design effort for a potential commercial production facility.”

In a statement, Silex Systems said: “As the program moves beyond the initial measurement program, the test loop will be modified and continue to operate to gain additional operating and lifetime data on the technology to assist the engineering design effort.”

It added, “GLE will continue to evaluate the project throughout this phase to decide whether to proceed with a commercial production facility with a target capacity of three to six million Separative Work Units (SWU).”

GLE anticipates gleaning sufficient data from the test loop by the end of 2010 to decide whether to proceed with a full-scale commercial enrichment facility. It would be one of a handful of new enrichment facilities in the USA, but the only one in the world to use laser excitation to separate uranium-235 from the marginally heavier uranium-238. Other new facilities use centrifuges, while older facilities have used a diffusion process.

The proposed enrichment plant would be co-located with the existing nuclear fuel manufacturing facilities of Global Nuclear Fuel and the new plants and services business of GE-Hitachi, headquartered in Wilmington.

In June 2009, GLE completed its combined construction and operating license (COL) application to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to build the world’s first uranium enrichment facility based on laser technology.

In January 2010, the NRC formally established a 30-month application review schedule. In February, during a public licensing meeting, the NRC indicated they were working to a 30-month schedule which would be completed in December 2011. This means that the commercial facility license could be received as early as January 2012, after which construction of the production plant could proceed.

GE holds a 51% majority ownership stake in GLE, while Hitachi holds a 25% stake and Cameco 24%.

Source: World Nuclear News

Cameco to expand sales in India and China

India and China are the future of the nuclear power business, and uranium giant Cameco Corp. is expanding its ties with both of them.

On a conference call yesterday to discuss the company’s third-quarter results, chief executive Jerry Grandey devoted a lot of time to the opportunities Cameco sees in the two Asian giants, which are expected to be the biggest sources of uranium demand growth in the years to come.

“We’re quite optimistic as time goes on that we’ll be a major partner [and] supplier with both countries,” he said.

Mr. Grandey is particularly excited about India, where Cameco opened offices last month. The governments of Canada and India are near a nuclear co-operation deal, and the fact India uses CANDUstyle reactors makes it an even stronger opportunity.

“The spectrum of opportunities in India for us is broad,” he said.

“It’s both uranium supply as well as co-operation in other aspects of the CANDU fuel cycle, we hope, and could span exploration activities there and perhaps jointly abroad.”

In China, he said that the focus will remain on uranium supply deals, but added that the two sides could partner up on activities elsewhere in the world.

According to the World Nuclear Association (WNA), China and India are building a combined 23 nuclear reactors, with another 57 in the planning stages. No other country has more than 13 reactors in the planning stage right now. WNA is also forecasting that China will produce six times more nuclear power in 2020 than it does today

With the Asian powers leading the way, Cameco remains very bullish about the long-term prospects of uranium. However, it is cautious on short-term pricing in the illiquid spot market.

Mr. Grandey pointed to two recent events that have provided mixed signals on prices: The U.S. Department of Energy’s announcement that it is releasing some uranium stockpiles, and a production setback at BHP Billiton Ltd.’s Olympic Dam mine.

While uranium sales volumes were down 15% year-over-year in the third quarter, the company said a few months ago that deliveries in the second half of 2009 were weighted toward the fourth quarter.

Canada and Kazakhstan signs Letter of Intent

Canada and Kazakhstan have concluded negotiations on the text of a nuclear cooperation agreement, ministers from the two countries have announced.

The negotiations took place during a visit by Canadian international trade minister Stockwell Day to Kazakhstan, and culminated with the signing of a Letter of Intent by Day and Kazakh energy minister Sauat Mynbaev. The two governments will now work to finalise the legal text before signature and implementation.

Day said that the agreement, which will ensure that any nuclear material, equipment or technology transferred by Canada would be used for peaceful purposes only, would open up the civil market to Canadian companies. “Given its expertise in nuclear energy, Canada will continue to play a growing role in this energy-rich country, especially in oil and gas and uranium extraction,” he said.

Jerry Grandey, CEO of Canadian uranium producer Cameco, welcomed the agreement, saying it would allow his company to expand its role and presence in Kazakhstan “and develop partnerships that will allow Cameco and Kazatomprom to work together on opportunities to convert uranium.” Cameco already has strong links with Kazakhstan, where it owns 60% of the Inkai uranium joint venture. In June 2008 Cameco and Kazakh nuclear company KazAtomProm announced formation of a new company, Ulba Conversion LLP, to build a 12,000 t/yr uranium hexafluoride conversion plant at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Ust-Kamenogorsk, in which Cameco would have a 49% holding as well as providing the technology.

Canada and Kazakhstan are the top two uranium producing countries in the world, with Kazakhstan poised to overtake Canada in the number one spot this year. Kazakhstan already has a major plant making nuclear fuel pellets and has ambitions to supply 30% of the world fuel fabrication market by 2015, as well as being committed to increasing its uranium exports. As well as Canadian involvement, French nuclear giant Areva is involved in the transfer of fuel fabrication technology to Kazakhstan.

Reinforcing Candu attitude

Before travelling to Kazakhstan, Stockwell Day had visited Ukraine, where he discussed the feasibility of using Canadian Candu reactor technology for Ukrainian nuclear energy expansion with the country’s minister of fuel and energy Yurij Prodan. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) setting up a framework for collaboration on the technical and economic feasibility of a Candu nuclear power program in Ukraine was signed by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) and Ukraine’s Minister of Fuel and Energy last year.

Source: World Nuclear News

A push for Canadian nuclear technology in Asia

Trade Minister Stockwell Day will sign a treaty with Kazakhstan on Thursday that will clear Canada to export nuclear technology to the ex-Soviet republic, part of a push by the government to drum up business for Canada’s nuclear industry in Central Asia and India.

Day wrapped up a trip to Ukraine on Wednesday during which he launched free-trade talks with that country and promoted the Candu nuclear-reactor technology developed by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.

“We have a very clear indication that they want to see Candus as part of their nuclear energy future,” Day told Canwest News Service in an interview from Kyiv.

After signing the nuclear co-operation agreement in Kazakhstan, Day will travel to India to open a trade office in Ahmedabad, the biggest city in Gujarat state. Day said the government is also putting the finishing touches on a nuclear co-operation agreement with India and hopes to have a deal done in as little as a month.

“It’s just a matter of getting the final i’s dotted and t’s crossed,” he said.

In addition to opening doors for AECL, the trade mission could generate opportunities for Canadian uranium producers such as Saskatchewan-based Cameco.

But critics warn that nuclear supplies sold to countries such as Kazakhstan could end up in the wrong hands and they argue that selling nuclear technology to India, which isn’t party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, sends the wrong message about Canada’s stance on nuclear weapons.

Michael Byers, Canada research chair in international law and politics at the University of British Columbia, said selling nuclear technology to Kazakhstan presents a “huge proliferation risk.”

Some non-proliferation experts have raised concerns that radioactive material could be smuggled out of Kazakhstan and into the shadowy trade routes through nearby Afghanistan. Under President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan has been plagued by accusations of corruption and human-rights abuses.

“If the nightmare scenario is al-Qaida acquiring nuclear weapons or a dirty bomb, then selling nuclear technology to Kazakhstan is the last thing we should want to do,” said Byers.

However, Day noted that other developed countries that compete with Canada to export nuclear technology, including the United States and France, have signed similar deals with Kazakhstan. “By us not signing, AECL would clearly be left out of the loop,” the minister said.

A group of nuclear suppliers that includes the U.S., France, Russia and Canada agreed last year to waive restrictions on purchasing civilian nuclear technology that had been imposed on India for its refusal to commit to non-proliferation. However, controversy has surrounded Canada’s efforts to break into the nuclear market in India, which bought Canadian reactor technology for civilian use, then used it to develop nuclear weapons in the 1970s.

“If the minister is in India flogging nuclear technology, it’s essentially another step toward accepting that the (non-proliferation) regime doesn’t apply,” said Byers.

Regardless, AECL faces an uphill battle convincing foreign countries to buy its reactor gear, said John Cadham, a doctoral research fellow at Carleton University in Ottawa who has authored a forthcoming study on the Canadian nuclear industry. This summer, the Ontario government suspended plans to build a new nuclear power plant after expressing concerns about the future of AECL’s reactor business, which the federal government has put up for sale.

“If AECL can’t be successful selling new reactor technology in Ontario, how’s it reasonably going to expect to be successful selling internationally?” he said.

Source: Canwest News Service

Cameco office in India

Cameco is to open an office in India to help the Canadian uranium company establish a “solid footing” in the Indian nuclear market. The office, to be headed by Chaitanyamoy Ganguly, will open in Hyderabad on 1 October. Ganguly has previously held senior executive positions with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and India’s Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). He will lead Cameco’s business activities in India, advise the company on developments and opportunities in the country’s fuel markets, and be its representative in dealings with the Indian government. Cameco president and CEO Jerry Grandey said the establishment of the Indian office demonstrated the company’s intention to develop “this emerging nuclear market.”

Source: World Nuclear News

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