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Recent developments with links to updated WNA Public Information Service Papers. For previous items from Weekly Digest see archive menu. 

2 February 2012

US high-level Commission reports on used fuel
The Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future set up early in 2010 following President Obama's political decision to abort work on a repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada has issued its final report, highlighting shortcomings in national policy. "Put simply, this nation's failure to come to grips with the nuclear waste issue has already proved damaging and costly. It will be even more damaging and more costly the longer it continues." Congress expects the Department of Energy (DoE) to develop a new strategy for managing used nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste within six months in response to the report. The US industry has welcomed the report.

The Commission recommended a consent-based approach to siting future nuclear waste storage and disposal facilities. Secondly, responsibility for the USA's radioactive waste management program should be transferred to a new organisation, independent of the DoE. Thirdly, the way in which the funds already paid into the Nuclear Waste Fund are treated in the federal budget should be changed to ensure they are used for their intended purpose. (These funds were estimated to be some $24 billion as of early 2010.) The report calls for "immediate efforts to commence development of at least one geologic disposal facility and at least one consolidated storage facility, as well as efforts to prepare for the eventual large-scale transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste from current storage sites to those facilities." The report also supported long‐term recycling and advanced fuel‐cycle technologies, which would reduce the amount of used fuel needing disposal while recovering valuable unused materials for re‐use in new fuel, but noted that these measures would not change the fundamental waste management challenge.

There are currently over 65,000 tonnes of used nuclear fuel stored at about 75 operating and shut-down reactor sites across the USA, with an additional 2000 tonnes arising annually. The DoE is also storing a further 2500 tonnes of used fuel and considerable high-level waste from military programs at a few government-owned sites.
WNN 27/1/12 US policy, US fuel cycle

Japan trade figures show up nuclear loss
Huge energy imports last year caused Japan to record a rare trade deficit. Manufacturing was hit by the tsunami, but the use of fossil fuels to replace shut-down nuclear plants as nuclear share dropped from 30% to 5% of electricity generation was a bigger factor. Even with constraints on electricity use, fossil fuel imports rose 25%. In total, during 2011 Japan spent ¥21.7 trillion ($277 billion) on fossil fuel imports, the increase of ¥4.3 trillion ($55 billion) evidently being a major factor in the country's overall trade deficit of ¥2.5 trillion ($32 billion), the first posted by Japan since 1980. Among power generation fuels, it was liquified natural gas (LNG) from the Middle East and SE Asia that contributed the main increase to imports.

Figures reported by seven of Japan's utilities, excluding Tepco, show a total financial loss of ¥464 billion ($6 billion) in the nine months to end of December due to the increased cost of fossil fuels to replace idled nuclear generation. The largest losses are Tohoku (¥168 billion) and Kansai (¥118 billion).
WNN 25/1/12, Bloomberg 31/1/12. Japan

Other papers updated on the WNA Public Information Service (see WNA web site):
Fukushima accident, Russia NP, US NP, US policy, Finland, Spain, Namibia

26 January 2012 

US reactor gets reprieve as court affirms national role over local politics
A US federal court in Vermont has ruled that Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant may continue to operate beyond the end of its original 40-year licence in March, as approved by the national regulator. This grants Entergy a long-awaited victory over its host state of Vermont which contrived to close it down. The case involved claims made by Entergy which challenged a state's right to make rules about the perceived safety and economic performance of a plant.

The first claim related to several state enactments that would have forced the plant to shut down at the end if its original licence, in two months time. Entergy argued that these were rooted in concerns over safety, and therefore pre-empted by the Atomic Energy Act which places sole control over US nuclear and radiation safety matters in the hands of a national regulator. In March 2011 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved a 20-year license extension for the plant. A second claim related to plans from the state that would have forced the plant to sell electricity to state utilities at below market rates or risk being forced to shut down. Entergy claimed that Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has exclusive jurisdiction to regulate the sale and transmission of wholesale power, and that no state institutions should be permitted to interfere with this. Vermont Yankee is a merchant plant, not owned by the state, and therefore should be free to sell electricity on to the market both inside and outside of the state at whatever price it can. This determines its profitability and ultimately its ability to survive. The single 620 MWe reactor is currently responsible for about 70% of the electricity produced in Vermont.

The three-day court hearing took place in September last year and a decision was originally expected within weeks. In July, the company had sought a preliminary injunction to allow it to keep operating while the court case played out, claiming this was necessary for them to make important decisions – such as whether to buy fuel. However the judge rejected these claims. The court finally ruled in Entergy's favour – acknowledging the pre-eminence of the Atomic Energy Act in governing safety matters, and effectively preventing the state from interfering with the plant's electricity sales contracts.
WNN 20/1/12. US nuclear power

US to support small reactor development
The US Department of Energy (DoE) has allocated $452 million over five years to help the design and licensing of one or two small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) designs through new cost-sharing arrangements with industry. This will support first-of-a-kind engineering, design certification and licensing. To that end, it has issued a draft Funding Opportunity Announcement to solicit inputs from industry, aiming at a deployment date for the reactors of 2022. Small, compact reactors of up to 300 MWe in capacity have a number of potential advantages in terms of safety, construction and siting, as well as potential economic benefits. Smaller ones can be made in factories and transported by rail and road to generation sites, being added progressively as modules of a large plant, reducing both capital costs and construction times. Westinghouse intends to apply for its own 225 MWe SMR, while Babcock & Wilcox's 125 MWe mPower and NuScale Power's 45 MWe design are also in contention. The NRC is currently involved in pre-application discussion on both latter types in anticipation of a design certification application for the NuScale reactor soon, followed by one for the mPower design in 2013.
WNN 23/1/12. Small nuclear power reactors

World Nuclear News milestone
WNA's main news service, World Nuclear News (WNN), is marking its fifth anniversary with a new web site and continued growth in subscriber base. Maintaining its position as the most professional and comprehensive nuclear news service backed by industry, WNN now has over 20,000 subscribers worldwide, and a network of news inputs. Output is mainly via daily and weekly news e-mails linked to web items, as well as Facebook and Twitter. It is funded by WNA members.

Other papers updated on the WNA Public Information Service (see WNA web site):
France, Netherlands, Finland

 

19 January 2012 

Japanese reactors await approval to restart
While reviews of initial stress test results for Japanese reactors are progressing, it could still be some time before the first restart approval comes. The shutdown of unit 2 of the Ikata nuclear power plant for a mandatory periodic inspection means that only five of the country's 54 operational power reactors are now in fact operating. Another will shut down for inspection on 27 January. The others are mostly awaiting federal and local government approval to restart - 32 units are not operating as they have been shut for periodic inspection and have not yet been allowed to restart. A further 17 units, representing 15,990 MWe of capacity, have been shut down due to the tsunami or at the government's request. (Four units were written off due to the accident at Fukushima.) Continued delay in restarting is expected to boost gas prices significantly.

Following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March 2011, the Japanese government said that all reactors would be subjected to stress tests to be conducted in two phases before approval for restart could be given. Step one is being applied to those reactors which have been taken offline for periodic inspections to determine whether they could withstand large earthquakes and tsunamis. Under this step, utilities are required to examine the safety margin in accordance with guidelines set by the country's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA) and Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC). This week Tepco submitted to NISA its first stress test results on two nuclear reactors, showing that Kashiwazaki-Kariwa units 1 and 7 would withstand an earthquake 1.3 times stronger than its design basis and survive a 15-metre tsunami. So far, seven Japanese nuclear utilities have submitted stress test results for 14 reactors, nearly one-third of the total number awaiting restart permission from NISA and local authorities.

Based on the results of these initial tests, the government is to decide whether a reactor shut for inspections can or cannot resume operation. Step two of the tests will involve a comprehensive safety assessment of all reactors and will be conducted to enhance the reliability of regular safety checks. These tests will be similar to the stress tests co-ordinated by the European Commission. Next week an IAEA team is to visit Japan to asses the stress tests and their evaluation by NISA.
WNN 16/1/12, Nucleonics Week19/1/12. Japan

Other papers updated on the WNA Public Information Service (see WNA web site):
China NP, China organizations, Vietnam, Namibia

 

12 January 2012 

Outrage over mining ban near Grand Canyon
US senators, congressmen, mining companies and nuclear industry representatives have criticised a final decision by the Department of Interior to ban new uranium mining on over 4000 sq km of federal lands near the Grand Canyon. This withdrawal for 20 years followed over two years of evaluations. It does not prohibit previously-approved uranium mining, but it does rule out new projects on claims and sites with valid existing exploration rights. Other natural resource development will still be allowed, and hardrock mining including uranium near the Grand Canyon can continue. Bureau of Land Management projections suggest that up to 11 uranium mines, four of which are currently approved, could still be developed in the withdrawal area over the next 20 years based on valid pre-existing rights. Without the withdrawal, the studies projected that the area could have seen as many as 30 uranium mines in the same period.

A group of US senators and congressmen has denounced the decision, saying that it disregards the 1984 Arizona Wilderness Act, agreed through negotiation with environmental groups, which permanently locked away from mining over 2600 sq km outside the Grand Canyon designated as wilderness, while affirming the compatibility of mining with conservation interests in other areas. They also noted that the Interior Department's own studies had found "no conclusive evidence" that mining operations in the area were harmful to the Grand Canyon watershed, so the announcement was "a needless overreaction to a fictitious problem." The Nuclear Energy Institute condemned the ban, citing the lack of any scientific justification and the lack of any suggestion in the studies that uranium mining near the Grand Canyon would compromise the excellent environmental record of today's mining operations.
WNN 10/1/12 US uranium mining

Areva pioneers integrated fuel supply in USA
The Monticello nuclear power plant will have a decade of front-end nuclear fuel services provided by Areva after a $500 million deal. From 2015, Areva will provide Xcel Energy with six fuel reloads for the Monticello reactor, over a decade. This integrated arrangement contrasts with the normal routine of the utility buying uranium from a mine in a fluctuating market, then having it converted, enriched, and fabricated on a toll basis. The Areva contract also covers engineering work to enable the 600 MWe (gross) GE-designed boiling water reactor to use Areva's Atrium 10XM fuel design. These changes are part of an uprate plan to increase Monticello's output to 829 MWe gross. The reactor started operation in 1971 and is licensed to 2030. Westinghouse-Toshiba as well as Areva provide similar integrated fuel supply deals in emerging markets.
WNN 5/1/12 US nuclear fuel cycle

France to reinforce its reactor fleet
Following the post-Fukushima "stress tests", the French safety regulator ASN said that while all the reactors "have a sufficient level of safety" to continue operation, this "requires increasing as quickly as possible their robustness in the face of extreme situations beyond safety margins they already have." EdF has started work to meet the new requirements though the final list will not be published until midyear. It expects the costs of the post-Fukushima modifications at its 58 nuclear power reactors to cost less than EUR 10 billion over ten years, bringing the utility’s total planned investment in its operating fleet over the next 30 years close to EUR 50 billion.

While the focus of additional safety in response to previous accidents was to develop universal excellence in nuclear operation, first across the USA through the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) and then globally through the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO), by contrast, the Fukushima accident could not have been prevented by better operation, but rather by better appreciation of external risks and their on-site consequences. For this reason the fundamental drives in ASN's requirements are improvements in earthquake and flood protection, together with taking into account risk from nearby industrial activity, including major and potentially dangerous industries such as chemical processing, liquid natural gas storage, and hydroelectric dams. EdF will now have to prepare itself and its sites for potentially enormous failures at nearby facilities like these.
WNN 4/1/12 France