News

The Wall Street Journal

PARIS — Israel, widely believed to have nuclear weapons and possessing no oil, said on Tuesday that it intended to develop civilian nuclear plants for energy, offering to build one as a joint project with Jordan, under French supervision.

The Israeli infrastructure minister, Uzi Landau, said at a Paris conference that Israel wanted a cleaner, more reliable source of energy than the large amounts of coal now imported. He said that regional cooperation on civilian nuclear power could help bind the Middle East.

Jordan, however, said any such cooperation was premature before a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Jordan, like Egypt, has been talking about building a civilian nuclear power plant for some time.

Iran, already subject to sanctions by the United Nations Security Council, insists that its nuclear program is purely for civilian purposes, but Western governments believe its intentions are military.

Still, Israel’s announcement here may further complicate efforts to get the Security Council to impose new sanctions on Iran.

NWA online  (subscription)

The Arkansas Public Service Commission does not have the authority to force Entergy Arkansas to separate from the Entergy Corp. system agreement, and the company is willing to go to court to settle that matter, Entergy Arkansas said Monday.

The electricity utility, the largest in Arkansas, with 687,000 customers, filed several responses Monday to the commission’s order of Feb. 11 disclosing that the commission would begin an investigation to determine whether Entergy Arkansas should become a “standalone” utility. By standalone, the commission meant Entergy Arkansas would operate its electricity generation and transmission separate from Entergy Corp.’s other subsidiaries but would remain an...

KTVZ.com

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Power provider Entergy Corp.'s proposal to spin off its wholesale nuclear power plants into a separate company has run into snags long past the time it had hoped to close the deal.

New York regulators may tighten conditions for creation of Enexus Energy Corp. - if they approve of the deal at all. In Vermont, the state Senate voted Wednesday to block operation of Vermont Yankee, one of the nuclear plants that would change owners in a spinoff, after its license expires in 2012. That action could still be reversed.

Entergy says it intends to go ahead with the plan, announced in 2007, to separate its regulated utilities in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas from six nuclear generating units that sell power on wholesale markets where prices are set by supply and demand - not by public regulators.

Enexus would own five nuclear operations: Pilgrim Nuclear Station near Plymouth, Mass.; the James A. Fitzpatrick station in Oswego County, N.Y.; two units at the Indian Point Energy Center in Westchester County, N.Y.; Vermont Yankee in Vernon, Vt.; and Palisades Power Plant in Covert, Mich. Entergy, based in New Orleans, bought the reactors between 1999 and 2007.

Entergy shareholders would get 80 percent of Enexus stock. The remaining 20 percent would be in a trust and shareholders could later exchange Entergy stock for Enexus stock in a tax-free deal.

guardian.co.uk

Local councils have opposed two of the 10 proposed new nuclear reactor sites in England and Wales, accusing the government of trying to railroad them through under its new planning regime.

The councils will make the first challenge to the controversial new Infrastructure Planning Commission, which was established to speed up the planning process for large projects and starts handling planning applications next month.

Bob Neill, shadow minister for planning, told the Guardian the government's national policy statements, which shape the IPC's decisions on questions such as the proposed reactor sites, amounted to a "diktat". The Conservatives have pledged to abolish the planning quango.

The government closed its consultation on the planning statements yesterday. In its submission, South Gloucestershire council, which is opposing the planned E.ON and RWE reactor at Oldbury, said the risk of flooding had been underestimated. It also said councils did not have the resources to fully assess the applications for nuclear companies. It added: "The draft [national planning statement] effectively confers a presumption in favour of development."

The National

ABU DHABI // The former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Hans Blix, will chair a panel of advisors who will oversee the establishment of the UAE’s Dh150 billion atomic energy programme.

The Swedish former diplomat and politician, who headed the IAEA for 17 years, will lead the nine-person board, which will meet twice a year, the UAE's official news agency WAM reported today.

The International Advisory Board (IAB) will oversee progress of the nation’s nuclear energy plan and issue reports on potential improvements to the scheme.

The IAB is expected to hold its first meeting later this month and will include other distinguished nuclear experts, such as Lady Barbara Judge, the chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Charlie Hamilton

Last Updated: February 22. 2010 1:51PM UAE / February 22. 2010 9:51AM GMT

Indo Asian News Service

Abu Dhabi, Feb 19 (IANS) Representatives of 40 US companies will visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to boost cooperation in the civilian nuclear energy sector, WAM news agency reported.

The three-day visit of the 50-member US delegation is sponsored by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and the US-UAE Business Council.

The delegation, which will head for the UAE this weekend, will meet representatives of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation, Nuclear Energy Programme Implementation Organisation and Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).

The Korean firm leads a consortium that also include Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse, to build nuclear energy plants in the UAE.

'We are delighted to be the first country to lead a trade delegation to the UAE in the civil nuclear energy sector after the selection of the prime contractor. US companies are ideally positioned to compete for this business,' said Danny Sebright, president of the council, Thursday.

'NEI has been impressed with how the UAE has constructed its nuclear energy programme, particularly its extensive cooperation with the IAEA (UN nuclear watchdog) and responsible governments, and with the high standards of safety, security and operational transparency being put in place,' said Lisa Steward, NEI's senior director.

The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The United Steelworkers union has complained that a government-backed plan to build two nuclear reactors in Georgia will create jobs overseas that should go to American workers.

President Obama announced the government’s approval of an $8.3 billion loan guarantee for the construction of the reactors on Tuesday, saying that one benefit of the project would be to create jobs.

But in a letter sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the international president of the union, Leo W. Gerard, said that he was concerned about “the potential foreign sourcing of components for these reactors,” which he said “limits our nation’s ability to address our unacceptably high unemployment rate.”

In the letter, Mr. Gerard also expressed concern that if the parts were manufactured in China, substandard quality might pose a safety issue. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission oversees the safety of nuclear reactors.

The reactor project will create thousands of construction jobs at the site, near Augusta, Ga. And Mr. Obama said that building the reactors would create about 800 permanent jobs.

connectmidmissouri.com

CALLAWAY COUNTY, MO. -- After Pres. Barack Obama announced this week a multibillion dollar loan program to jump start the building of nuclear power plants.

Ameren UE said they will not be vying for the loan to build a new reactor in Callaway County.

A spokesman said while the loan guarantees are "a favorable sign" there are still a lot of obstacles that would prevent Ameren UE from building another reactor.

A major sticking point, according to Ameren UE, is a rule that won't allow for hike rates to pay for construction costs until the plant is up and running.

by Bob Meyer

These findings and NRC report indicate latent errors and lack of engagment to adequately assess and correct issues.

In a letter dated February 11, 2010 to Kevin Walsch, VP Operations, Entergy, the NRC stated the four NRC violations were noted and one self-revealing finding identified.

1.  Inadequate corrective actions. The inspectors documented a self-revealing finding for the licensee’s failure to implement timely corrective action for industry operating experience associated with intake water blockage and for failure to implement effective corrective action stemming from a very similar event in 2006 where Unit 1 was forced to decrease reactor power due to an unexpected Shad run.

Humbolt Bay was one of the very first plants to have operators join PROS. Operators that worked at Humbolt Bay went on to license and carry on the early operating experiences of that station. We did not have INPO at that time that could capture all of the lessons learned and pass them on to the future generation of nuclear operators. Here is Humbolt Bay today. Surviving a 6.5 earthquake on dry cask storage, there are some lessons learned.

John Conway Senior VP & CNO received a letter dated February 9, 2010 about an inspection was conducted on January 11-14, 2010, at the Humboldt Bay Power Plant, Unit 3 facility.

NRC Inspection Report 050-00133/10-001; 072-00027/10-001

This inspection was a routine, announced inspection of the Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) and decommissioning activities being conducted at the Humboldt Bay Power Plant, Unit 3 facility. In summary, the licensee was conducting site activities in compliance with regulatory and license requirements.

Operation of an ISFSI