UK: Areva and Westinghouse reactor designs likely to be selected

Areva SA’s EPR and Westinghouse Electric Co.’s AP1000 nuclear reactor designs are likely to be approved for use in the U.K. next year, the country’s Health and Safety Executive said.

“Both reactor designs are capable of being shown to be acceptable in the U.K., subject to satisfactory progress being made on the not insignificant technical issues we have raised,” the authority said in its quarterly update on the design assessment process.

Health and environment regulators are assessing the Areva and Westinghouse designs as utilities including Electricite de France SA, E.ON AG and RWE AG consider building nuclear power plants in the U.K. The country approved 10 sites for nuclear development this year and the first station will be operating by 2018, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne said this month.

Nuclear reactors account for about a fifth of the U.K.’s electricity production, according to the World Nuclear Association.

Today’s health executive report covered the three month period ended June 30. Additional safety work may be carried out after the assessment is completed in June, the authority said.

Source: Bloomberg

UK: Dungeness B reactor back online after repairs

One of the two nuclear reactors at Dungeness B power station is finally up and running again, after more than 300,000 hours of repairs.

Unit 21, which has been generating power since 1983, provides enough electricity for roughly 750,000 homes.

It had been offline for maintenance since November while engineers carried out detailed inspections on the boilers.

Power at the station was restored today and the owners EDF announced the start-up was successful at 9.30am.

The site employs 550 people. Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins is currently pushing energy secretary Chris Huhne to reinstate its place on a UK-wide list of sites for a new station.

Ten fire crews also had to battle a blaze in the next-door Unit 22 last year, within days of Unit 21 being shut down.

Dungeness B Station Director Graham Finn said: “These were technically challenging inspections but we’re pleased to say no problems were identified.”

Source: Kent Online

Calvert Cliffs 3 prospect looking dim

Constellation Energy and the French EDF Group say they’re committed to building an enormous nuclear-power plant next to the one Constellation already operates at Calvert Cliffs on the Chesapeake Bay. But the $9 billion project looks less and less certain with each month that goes by.

It’s not just the delayed Department of Energy review of the government-backed financing. (Without that financing, the unit is dead. Constellation complained last week about the procrastination.)

It’s not just the usual political catfight for government resources, although with Calvert Cliffs in his district, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer is a formidable ally.

It’s that the very economics of nuclear power look vastly different than they did two years ago. Or two weeks ago, for that matter. It’s far from sure that the Calvert Cliffs expansion, proposed by the Constellation-EDF joint venture known as UniStar Nuclear, will proceed even if it gets government money.

“When we get the DOE loan guarantee, that certainly is a major step forward for us,” UniStar Chairman Michael J. Wallace said in an interview last week. “We then need to go through calculations on all the other variables to see whether this project can go forward on an economically sound basis. And we have to continue to do that over the next several months.”

At stake are thousands of construction jobs, hundreds of permanent jobs to run the unit and 1,600 megawatts of carbon-free energy to ease Central Maryland’s electricity shortage and the resulting high prices. Not to mention a significant step in cutting the emissions that are cooking the planet.

People concerned about radiation safety and nuclear proliferation want the project to fail. But don’t blame fears of another Three Mile Island if it does. The fault may end up lying with the plant’s diminishing chances of making a buck. Continued…

Read more: The Baltimore Sun

Costs overruns and delays plaques Flamanville reactor

Electricite de France SA, Europe’s biggest power producer, will have a cost overrun of 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) and a delay of as many as two years in developing the EPR nuclear reactor at Flamanville in France, two people with knowledge of the project said.

The cost estimate will be raised to 5 billion euros from an initial target of 4 billion euros, according to the people who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. It will be delayed from its slated commercial start in 2013.

The cost overrun and delay were reported earlier by LCI television today. An EDF spokeswoman declined to comment.

EDF is building a 1,650-megawatt, Areva SA-designed EPR at Flamanville in Normandy and plans similar models in the U.K, the U.S. and China. Areva is developing an EPR in Finland, which is over budget and behind schedule. Getting an EPR in operation is considered key for the French nuclear industry to capture global orders for new reactors, according to a government report.

Areva and EDF should modify the design of the third generation EPR reactor and develop smaller models to win contracts, according to recommendations in the report on France’s nuclear industry by former EDF Chief Executive Officer Francois Roussely published two days ago.

“The credibility of both the EPR and the ability of the French nuclear industry to successfully build new reactors has been seriously undermined by difficulties” at Finland’s Olkiluoto site and Flamanville, according to the report.

Roussely called for “urgent measures” to turn the situation around and get the EPRs completed to benefit plans for another French EPR at Penly and in the U.K.

Areva last month took a provision for cost overruns for the Finnish EPR, taking the total excess cost to about 2.7 billion euros. The world’s biggest reactor builder pledged in 2005 to complete the reactor in 2009 at a total cost of 3 billion euros.

Teollisuuden Voima Oyj is aiming to begin operations at the reactor in 2013.

Source: Bloomberg Businessweek

France reviews its position to bolster nuclear energy program

France is revising its nuclear strategy to improve reactor technology and boost cooperation between  national champions Areva and Electricité de France (EdF). Up to 15% of Areva will be sold as optimisation takes place on the EPR design.

Announcements came yesterday after President Nicolas Sarkozy met with the Nuclear Policy Council as it reviewed a report by former EdF chief Francois Roussely.

Roussely wrote that the country’s nuclear sector, on which its electricity and therefore industry relies, is facing a “double challenge” in the years to 2030. It needs to continue to operate at top levels of safety, while extending the operation of existing reactors and building more. Meanwhile, decommissioning will accelerate and waste management programs will make major steps.

And internationally, France is hoping to win a large share of the 250 new reactors Roussely thinks will be ordered before 2030. The current market for these is “highly segmented and highly competitive,” he noted, and ‘Team France’ has to “make considerable efforts to improve its offer against other industry giants.”

The response from the council was “to strengthen the unity of the French nuclear industry around its national champions,” first with “a strategic partnership agreement between EdF and Areva covering all their areas of common interest.”

President Nicolas Sarkozy during an earlier trip to Flamanville

Working on two levels, this upgraded partnership should help ensure EdF’s supplies of uranium fuel as well as allow the two to collaborate for Areva’s reactor exports by setting up “an organisation based on the expertise of EdF as operator and architect-engineer.” Such a deal would not stop the firms making other alliances should they want to. In his recommendations, Roussely said EdF should be confirmed in its role as architect and integrator of ‘Team France’.

Power engineer Alstom, and construction companies Bouyges and Vinci were also counted among the country’s industrial powers.

Support for exports should also come from improvements to Areva’s manufacturing capability, thanks to the sale of up to 15% of shares to raise investment capital. The company is about 93% state-owned via shareholders such as the CEA (79%), as well as state banks, holding companies and EdF (itself 85% state controlled). The announcements did not say which of these would be directed to divest part of their share, but did mention that EdF’s holding could be increased in line with the new partnership.

Tough love

Speaking frankly about the French nuclear sector, Roussely’s report warned that “The credibility of both the EPR model and the ability of the French nuclear industry for success in new construction have been seriously undermined by the difficulties encountered on the Olkiluoto site in Finland and at Flamanville.”

The complexity of the EPR model “including the level of power, the core catcher and the redundancy of safety systems is certainly a handicap for its implementation and therefore its cost. These factors explain in part the difficulties encountered in Finland and at Flamanville.” The design is to be optimised to simplifiy its construction.

He recommended that EdF establish a program to ensure the best construction performance from now on at Flamanville and use feedback from that project as well as Olkiluoto 3 before starting work on the next French EPR at Penly. He said this feedback should be consolidated before EdF embarks on building more EPRs in the UK.

France’s nuclear product line needs to be expanded, Roussely said, with smaller models such as the 1000-1150 MWe Atmea 1 design under development by Areva and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which offers an alternative to the 1650 MWe EPR.

Source: World Nuclear News

NRC raises safety concerns over Areva’s EPR reactor design

French nuclear energy company Areva SA (ARVCY, CEI.FR) has yet to prove that its next-generation reactor meets U.S. design-safety requirements, federal regulators said Friday.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Areva in a letter this week that it must provide more information about the safety systems of its EPR reactor, for which the company is seeking a U.S. license. Several U.S. power companies are planning to use the reactor design, including a partnership of Constellation Energy Group Inc. (CEG: 34.45 ,+0.29 ,+0.85%) and Electricite de France SA (EDF.FR), which is one of the leading new reactor projects in the U.S.

“There are areas where the staff simply can’t accept Areva’s approach,” said Scott Burnell, an NRC spokesman, in an interview.

The NRC’s letter comes after regulators in Europe also raised similar concerns about Areva’s reactor design. Officials in France, the United Kingdom and Finland told the company in November to fix the flaws in the safety systems for the EPR reactor. Continued…

Read more: Fox Business News

EdF hopes to boost decommissioning funds

Electricité de France (EdF) is considering allocating half of its Réseau de Transport d’Electricité (RTE) power grid to a portfolio of assets set up to fund the decommissioning of its nuclear power reactors. Meanwhile, RTE said that the security of France’s power supply should be guaranteed until 2013.

State-controlled EdF generates and supplies most of the electricity used in France, while also controlling the transmission grid operator RTE. The primary source for EdF’s electricity is a fleet of 58 nuclear reactors, while other sources include hydro and gas. Under 2006 legislation, EdF must build up a portfolio of dedicated assets that would enable the company to meet the future costs of decommissioning existing reactors as well as radioactive waste storage.

The company stated that, as of the end of December 2009, the total amount invested in these dedicated assets stood at €11.4 billion ($14.7 billion). This is broken down as follows: 37% stocks, 51% bonds and 12% closed-end funds and money market funds.

“In order to reduce the volatility of the portfolio in the build up phase, EdF is considering an investment in infrastructure assets, providing steady dividends that would enable to meet very long term liabilities,” Edf said. “It is against this background that EdF is studying the possibility to allocate 50% of RTE to its dedicated assets portfolio.” The company stressed that, should it decide to go ahead with the allocation, RTE would remain 100% owned by EdF.

Power demand to be met

Meanwhile, RTE has updated its forecast analysis of the electricity supply-demand balance to 2015, saying the security of France’s power supply should be guaranteed until 2013, thanks to the planned development of new generating facilities. By 2015, RTE estimates that French electricity demand will be 506 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year, up from 486 TWh in 2009.

RTE noted: “By 2015, the commissioning of combined cycle gas plants currently under construction and the EPR reactor at Flamanville will compensate for the planned closure of some of the country’s coal-fired facilities and the likely erosion of the combined heat and power (CHP) fleet.” It said, “Both in France and across Europe, EU environmental standards will mean the closure of a sizeable number of the oldest thermal plants by 2015.”

With regards to nuclear energy, RTE expects all 58 reactors currently in operation to still be operating in 2015, while the first marketable electric generation from the new 1650 MWe EPR at Flamanville is expected in 2013. Total installed nuclear generating capacity in France is expected to increase from 63.1 gigawatts (GW) in 2010 to 64.7 GW in 2015.

However, RTE says that by 2015 there could be a shortfall in total generating capacity of over 3 GWe.

Source: World Nuclear News

Energy companies pushes for new build plans

Chief executives from the main energy companies will meet Mr Huhne in London on Thursday at a gathering of the Department for Energy and Climate Change’s Nuclear Development Forum.

Whitehall officials said Mr Huhne saw the forum as his “first opportunity to assure the nuclear industry that the coalition Government is committed to enabling proposals for new nuclear build to come forward”.

Mr Huhne has made a condition of his acquiescence that the industry receives no public subsidy to fund the construction works. However, the industry is keen for nuclear power to be treated as a low carbon fuel source for tax purposes.

Keith Parker, chief executive of the Nuclear Industry Association, said the forum was a “crucial opportunity” to engage the new Government.

“Industry is keen to press ahead with the new build programme, and we would urge the Government to maintain momentum,” he said.

The calls were reiterated by the EEF as it urged the new Government to show strong leadership on energy policy. “Reversing nuclear power’s declining share of electricity generation is vital in reducing emissions at an affordable price,” it said, as part of a wider “Energy Action Plan”, urging the Government to move swiftly to ensure the £200bn investment in infrastructure that is needed is delivered.

At Thursday’s meeting, EDF chief executive Vincent de Rivaz is expected to ask for the Government to set out its plans and timetable a date for Parliament to vote on them “as soon as possible”. He is also expected to tell Mr Huhne that he wants to see an “increasing commitment from the Government” as spending by EDF and its partner Centrica increases in anticipation of the formal go ahead.

Energy companies will quiz Mr Huhne, his Conservative energy minister Charles Hendry and their department’s Office for Nuclear Development about progress on the new build programme and the assessment of the two main nuclear reactor models manufactured by Areva and Westinghouse.

A consultation on 10 proposed sites closed earlier this year and the industry is waiting for the Government to make a final decision on an investment programme. EDF Energy is hoping to have the first new nuclear plant up and running at Hinkley Point by 2018.

However, officials need to finalise the Government’s national policy statement for nuclear energy. Ministers have said it will not be available until late summer at the earliest.

Mr Parker said: “Progress towards the designation of the national policy statement is crucial to allowing the industry to bring forward plans for the new plant.”

Mr Huhne told the Commons that the new Government was “committed to allowing the construction of new nuclear power stations to contribute to our energy security and climate change goals.”

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

EDF plans give Somerset workers hope following public sector cuts

Bridgwater seeks ‘crumbs’ from EDF Energy’s Hinkley Point power station project as Government halts school rebuilding contracts.

An indicative illustration of Hinkley Point power station Photo: EDF Energy

Wham, BAM. In the space of 48 hours this week, BAM, one of the country’s largest construction services groups, saw a £100m, six-school rebuilding contract with Somerset County Council slip through its fingers.

It had been due to sign the contract on Wednesday. The signing didn’t happen. Two days earlier Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, had revealed that 715 schools would no longer be built through the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme. All six schools in Somerset were affected, with three stopped and three placed under review.

The decision hurt BAM. But it hit the west Somerset market town of Bridgwater particularly hard. The town’s 34,000 strong population had expected five schools in the area to be rebuilt or refurbished. And the last minute cancellation was the last thing that local businesses needed.

Tim Champion from Acc Q Mix, a two-man ready mix concrete and screed company based in Bridgwater, had been angling for some work from BAM as part of his plans to grow the business he runs with his brother.

“It was a big deal for local suppliers,” he said. “It’s potential work down the drain. At the moment anything government funded is looking dodgy.”

The next day, Bridgwater suddenly became a brighter place. EDF Energy, the power giant, revealed how it would spend £500m in the town and wider region over the next eight years as part of the construction of a new nuclear power station at nearby Hinkley Point.

When the Government gives the new nuclear “fleet”, as the potential plants are known, the final go ahead, EDF plans to employ 5,000 construction workers, either directly or through its contractors, on the site. Their task to first move some 4m cubic meters of material and then building the plant and its support infrastructure. The company believes at least 50pc of those workers will be locals, either working on the site or supplying it: “The butcher, baker to nuclear reactor rod maker,” as Somerset Chamber of Commerce chief executive Rupert Cox cheerily puts it.

When the plant is operational in 2018, EDF will employ 900 people full time to run it, injecting a further £40m a year over its 60 year life, the company estimates.

The contrast between the spending ability of the public sector and this part of the private sector could not be more marked. Where one is cutting back, another is splashing out. It is, in a nutshell, what the Government hopes will be replicated across the country: the public sector retrenching and the private sector filling the gap.

The change is not lost on companies that would once have prioritised public contracts over private. Around 600 signed up to meet some of EDF’s main procurement team on Tuesday at The Exchange in Bridgwater. It only has a 150 person capacity so EDF decided to hold another two meetings in the autumn so that all the companies can hear how to take part.

Mr Champion and a representative from BAM Construction were among the lucky few. “The loss of the schools work makes Hinkley even more important,” said Mr Champion.

On Tuesday EDF launched a pre-qualification website, hinkleysupplychain.co.uk, that is run by the Somerset Chamber of Commerce and open to any business in Somerset.

It will do the same in Suffolk for its other new planned plant at Sizewell for companies in Suffolk and Norfolk. Next week EDF will launch a national database with the Nuclear Industry Association for suppliers based outside these counties at nuclearsupplychain.com.

The moves are all part of the expected explosion of work in the nuclear industry as up to 10 new plants are built across the country.

Mr Champion at ACC Q Mix said he would register interest. “Our hope is to get scraps off the table. We are not saying that we can do all the concrete. But we could help with the park and ride and road improvements,” said the former construction manager on Heathrow Terminal 5. “We have quite a bit on the housing side and have seen a bit of an upturn there and with Hinkley that will push the housing in Bridgwater even more. We are looking to grow our business and can see the possibilities.”

Jonathan Dore, a business development executive from Cardiff-based metal building products Euroclad also made it to the event. Euroclad has been buffeted by the recession with sales falling 35pc and cutting around 90 of its 270 staff. Contracts for the Olympics stadium and media centre have helped, but Euroclad has also now been hit by the schools building decision. A third of about £4m of work is now at risk.

“For us the last four to five years has been mainly public sector, like schools and hospitals,” said Mr Dore. “We are starting to see a decline in public spend. So I think power and utilities in general will be an important sector for us to get back into.”

David Tanner at Beckington-based SEA, which sells engineering services into the aerospace, space and defence industries, was also conscious of his company’s need to diversify. “Most of our business at some point starts life with Government funding. Whether that’s defence, space or aerospace. They have announced 25pc average cuts so life is going to get quite interesting,” he said.

Mr Tanner said he was concerned how much high value work would be available given that EDF was using the nuclear plant being build in northern France at Flamanville as the blueprint. He suspected EDF would be tempted to use existing suppliers for much of the valuable engineering contracts. “That to them is the cheapest way of doing it,” he said. “The French kept their nuclear industry and we did not and they have the skills and we do not.” He added: “That said we will continue to invest in this because there’s some very significant amounts of money that are going to be spent.

“A few crumbs off that table are what we need.”

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

Hinkley Point worth £100m to region

About £100 million a year could be pumped into the Westcountry economy during the construction of a controversial new nuclear power station in the region.

Once the plant at Hinkley Point on the Somerset coast is complete, the region could reap £40 million annually and sustain 900 jobs throughout its 60-year lifespan, an independent report estimates.

The twin reactors represent one of the biggest civil engineering projects ever undertaken in the South West, with economic benefits fanning out across the region.

As anti-nuclear campaigners accused French power giant EDF Energy of attempting to buy off opposition, business leaders hailed the opportunities brought about by a massive boost to pay packets during straitened economic times.

Rupert Cox, chief executive of the Somerset Chamber of Commerce, said: “This project is going to provide a fantastic economic boost to South West businesses and to the community as a whole.

“It will generate unprecedented opportunities for all kinds of businesses in Somerset which we need to grasp with both hands.

“This major injection into the local economy is particularly welcome in these difficult economic times when new business opportunities are harder to find.”

Replacing Hinkley Point B, which is to be decommissioned in 2016, the plant will employ up to 5,000 people on the site near Bridgwater during the construction phase. It has supplied millions of homes with power since 1976.

In November, then Energy Secretary Ed Miliband announced Hinkley Point was one of 10 sites earmarked for a huge expansion of nuclear power.

EDF has said it wants to start its five-year build programme at Hinkley in 2012, with the power station becoming operational in 2017.

The report by the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development says that the extra money filtering around the South West economy would come mainly from salaries spent in the area by workers and from local contractors needed to bring the reactor to life.

The report states: “The development is likely to contribute to longer term economic stability in the area.

“Overall this should lead to economic diversification away from declining sectors, offering high-quality employment and opportunities for local businesses.”

It points out business opportunities for South West companies will not just be limited to those involved in engineering.

Humphrey Cadoux-Hudson, EDF’s managing director of nuclear new build, said: “There are major opportunities not just for local companies such as builders, plumbers and electricians, but also for support services such as caterers, hoteliers, car hire firms and trainers.

“These are difficult economic times for businesses in the South West as everywhere and I am delighted that we will be outlining the opportunities to local companies this week.”

EDF added it would be investing in a construction skills centre in Sedgemoor and an apprenticeship skills hub in West Somerset to help boost the supply of workers.

Tomorrow, EDF is holding an open day in Bridgwater so suppliers can find out more about the contracts likely to emerge.

Ian Liddell-Grainger, Conservative MP for Bridgwater, welcomed the report.

He said: “We must maximise the business, education and training opportunities it represents for West Somerset and Sedgemoor in these difficult economic times.

“The new jobs and increased business activity will flow through into economic benefits for the entire community.”

But Jim Duffy of the Stop Hinkley campaign said it was important not to let economic reward cloud judgements on the negative health and environmental impacts of nuclear.

He said: “There may be some economic benefits, certainly in terms of jobs. But most of those will be short-term in the building process.

“There are the long-term health effects and there is the question of what we do with nuclear waste.

“There will be nuclear waste left when it finishes in 60 years – but that is waste that will be around for a further 100 years.

“There are no advanced plans for it to be stored anywhere else, so by default it could stay in Somerset.

“Nobody has clinched the answer to nuclear power, and there are many more imponderables. EDF should be investing in renewables rather than nuclear.”

Source: this is North Devon

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