Nuclear power's future focus of Purdue workshop

Chris Morisse Vizza, cvizza@jconline.com

Purdue University is gearing for a two-day workshop on campus this week that will draw, among others, a top official from the U.S. Department of Energy.

At 7 p.m. Thursday in Stewart Center's Loeb Playhouse, Sal Golub, associate deputy secretary for nuclear technologies, will present the Discovery Lecture. It is free and open to the public.

Nuclear power provides carbon-free energy but poses challenges in terms of safety, proliferation and environmental impact, said event organizer Anter El-Azab, a Purdue nuclear engineering professor.

"This Purdue workshop devoted to nuclear power and related research will attempt to put all those issues on the table to a lively discussion on where we can go from here," El-Azab said.

The workshop will include a brainstorming session geared toward creating partnerships between Purdue and external institutions, national research laboratories, industry and other universities.

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Nuclear is key to reducing carbon emissions

By Christine Todd Whitman 

In the next month, the EPA will begin holding public meetings and accepting public comments on its proposal to reduce carbon emissions from existing power plants. As a former EPA administrator, governor, and concerned citizen, I believe we must act on climate change. I strongly support efforts to transition to a clean energy economy and I hope that the EPA will continue its outreach to the public and maintain a flexible approach in achieving meaningful and lasting emissions reductions. These two elements — public input and flexibility — are key to maintaining support for emissions reductions while maintaining a reliable electric system.

EPA’s proposal would cut carbon pollution from the electricity sector by 30 percent from 2005 levels. States have options on how to achieve the goals – including installing new low-carbon electric technology such as nuclear, wind or solar generation, improving energy efficiency, or through regional initiatives to reduce emissions.

Nuclear energy already provides 1 in 5 American homes and businesses with electricity, and represents 63 percent of our clean-air and carbon-free electricity. And nuclear energy’s contribution is set to grow as five new reactors are under construction — providing more clean energy that our economy and environment demand.

America’s commercial reactors are carbon-free and are also one of the most efficient and reliable producers of electricity – operating 24/7 at industry-leading reliability. These facilities generate electricity on the hottest of days, the coldest of nights, when the wind isn’t blowing and when the sun isn’t shining. America’s decades-long leadership in nuclear energy means that every year, we prevent the emission of 570 million metric tons of carbon pollution — essentially the same amount of carbon emitted by almost all U.S. passenger cars.

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TVA signs contract for Clinch River mPower Construction Permit

The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) (NYSE: BWC) announced today that its subsidiary, Babcock & Wilcox mPower, Inc. (B&W mPower), and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) have signed a contract to prepare and support Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) review of a Construction Permit Application for a B&W mPower™ small modular reactor (SMR) nuclear plant at TVA's Clinch River Site in Oak Ridge, Tenn.

“B&W thanks the State of Tennessee, Governor Haslam, Senators Alexander and Corker, Representative Fleischmann and the DOE”

This contract formalizes the first steps toward the anticipated B&W mPower deployment at Clinch River, as contemplated in TVA's May 2011 Letter of Intent to B&W for the project. It also represents the first definitive milestone in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) recently initiated SMR Licensing Technical Support Program for commercial demonstration of SMRs by 2022. The DOE selected B&W mPower in November 2012 as the recipient of the Program's competitively bid cost-share funding grant.

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Two nuclear plants shut down: eight million left without power

More than 8.1 million homes and businesses were left without electric power across the eastern United States Tuesday with superstorm Sandy still moving across the region, the US government said. The most extensive outages were reported in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania where millions were plunged into darkness by the storm, the US Department of Energy said.

"As of 9:00 am EDT October 30, the impacted states report a total of 8,114,433 customers without power in the affected areas," it said. New Jersey was hardest hit with 2.5 million outages, New York 1.96 million, and Pennsylvania 1.26 million. In all, 17 states and the District of Columbia reported storm-related outages. Meanwhile, two US nuclear power plants were shut down early Tuesday in the aftermath of superstorm Sandy, but the plant operators stressed there were no risks to the public. New Jersey's main power company PSEG Nuclear shut down its Salem 1 unit on the Delaware river, saying most of its water circulation pumps had been rendered unusable "due to weather impacts".

PSEG said it manually shut down the 1,175 MW unit, but said there were "no issues" in the shutdown and the facility was "currently stable." The Salem 2 unit was already offline for maintenance when the storm hit, and PSEG said another nearby nuclear unit, Hope Creek, remains operating at full power.

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U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Plant Build Tracking Site

Following is a great resource if you wish to track the progress of new plants in the United States.

http://www.nuclear.gov/np2010/neScorecard/neScorecard.html

Following is a current example:

UTILITY	SITE/ LOCATION		REACTOR/ NO. UNITS		COLA DATES			REVIEW PHASE IN PROGRESS
					Submitted	Docketed	Issued	Safety4	Environ.5
Southern Nuclear	Vogtle	GA	AP10001	2	3/31/08	5/30/08	2/10/12	Completed	Completed
SCE&G	V.C. Summer	SC	AP1000	2	3/27/08	7/31/08	4/10/12	Completed	Completed
Progress Energy	Levy	FL	AP1000	2	7/307/08	10/6/08	-	Ph. D	Completed
STP Nuclear Operating Co.	South Texas Project	TX	ABWR1	2	9/07	11/29/07	-	Ph. 2	Completed
Luminant (TXU)	Comanche Peak	TX	US-APWR1	2	9/19/08	12/2/08	-	Ph. 2	Completed
UniStar (Constellation)	Calvert Cliffs	MD	US-EPR1	1	3/08	6/3/08	-	Ph. 2	Completed
DTE Energy	Fermi	MI	ESBWR	1	09/18/08	11/25/08	-	Ph. 2	Ph. 3
Duke Energy	William States Lee	SC	AP1000	2	12/13/07	2/25/08	-	Ph. B	Ph. 2
Florida Power and Light	Turkey Point	FL	AP1000	2	6/30/09	9/8/09	-	Ph. A	Ph. 2
PPL (UniStar)	Bell Bend	PA	US-EPR	1	10/10/08	12/19/08	-	Ph. A	Ph. 2
Progress Energy	Shearon Harris	NC	AP1000	2	2/19/08	4/17/08	-	Ph. B	Ph. 2
Dominion Energy	North Anna	VA	US-APWR	1	11/27/07	1/28/08	-	Ph. A	Ph. 2

¹    Reference COL Application (R-COL)
⁴    Safety Review Phases:

R-COL:

Ph 1

Issue RAIs

Ph 2

SER w/ Open Items

Ph 3

ACRS Review

Ph 4

Advanced SER/ No OI

Ph 5

ACRS Review

Ph 6

Final SER

S-COL:

Ph A

Issue RAIs & supplemental RAIs

Ph B

Advanced SER/ No OI

Ph C

ACRS Review

Ph D

Final SER

⁵    Environmental Review Phases:

Ph 1

Environmental Scoping Report

Ph 2

Draft EIS

Ph 3

Public comment

Ph 4

Final EIS

• Small modular reactors are defined as producing less than 300 MWe. Nine SMR vendors have initiated contact with the NRC regarding their reactor designs. Four of these designs are domestic Light Water-based designs. While all four will submit DC applications, B&W and Holtec have plans to submit Construction Permits under 10CFRPart 50 as well.

COMPANY	REACTOR	SIZE (MWE)	APPLICATION	EXPECTED SUBMITTAL DATE
Babcock & Wilcox mPower, Inc.	mPower SMR	180	DC CP	Late 2013 March 2014
Holtec International	SMR-160	160	CP DC	Mid 2014 March 2015
NuScale Power, LLC	NuScale SMR	45	DC	TBD
Westinghouse Electric Co.	W-SMR	225	DC	Mid to late 2013
Department of Energy	NGNP	TBD	COL	FY2013
GEH	PRISM	311	DC	TBD
Gen4 Energy	G4M	25	DC	TBD
PBMR Ltd.	PBMR	165	DC	FY2013
Toshiba	4S	10	TBD	Mid 2012

Yucca Mountain Ruling will have to Wait

A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has decided to wait a few months before deciding whether to order the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to restart license review of the Department of Energy (DOE) application to develop a nuclear waste repository at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.

In an order issued Aug. 3, the three-judge panel for the court decided to put its ruling on hold in hopes Congress might address funding for the NRC license review as part of its Fiscal Year 2013 budget package.

The court said that it would hold the case “in abeyance” for now and asked the parties to file, no later than Dec. 14, updates on FY 2013 appropriations with regard to the Yucca Mountain license.

In May, attorneys for the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and plaintiffs from various state and local governments argued that NRC defied a congressional mandate by electing to stop the license process.

NARUC and the states alleged that the NRC, and in particular former Chairman Greg Jaczko, acted politically instead of scientifically after DOE, which filed the Yucca Mountain license application in June 2008, asked to withdraw its application in March 2010, claiming that the Nevada venue is no longer an option.

The NRC has argued that it was not pouring good money after bad, because the $10m it had available for the Yucca license review would not be enough to finish the job.

The Obama Administration has opposed the Yucca Mountain project, eventually impaneling the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future to evaluate options for the back end of the nuclear cycle.

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Nuclear Energy Standards Coordination Collaborative to Convene July 17

The Nuclear Energy Standards Coordination Collaborative (NESCC) - a joint initiative of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) - will hold its next meeting on July 17, 2012. Open to all interested stakeholders, NESCC meetings focus on identifying and responding to the current needs of the nuclear industry, and the standards that can facilitate its growth and development.

To be held at ANSI headquarters in Washington, DC, the July 17 NESCC meeting is open to all interested U.S. and international stakeholders, including government legislative and regulatory bodies, industry, standards developing organizations, and certification organizations.

The Nation's Nuclear Need

The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) estimates that the nation's electricity demand will rise 24 percent by 2035, creating an increased need for clean, emission-free energy. In the push for building America's clean energy future, the NESCC works to identify the standards needed for the design, operation, development, licensing, and deployment of nuclear power plants and other nuclear technologies.

The nuclear energy industry can also play an important role in job creation and economic growth. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI), the 104 nuclear units in the U.S. generate substantial domestic economic value in electricity sales and revenue - $40 to $50 billion each year - with more than 100,000 workers contributing to production.

Visit the event webpage for more information; the meeting agenda will be provided as soon as it is available. Attendance is free of charge, but due to space limitations advance registration is required for both in-person and teleconference participants. 



Register for the July 17 NESCC meeting. Registration closes July 10, 2012.

 
LINK FOR REGISTRATION

NuScale Power Receives Broad Support for DOE Commercialization (Modular Reactors)

PORTLAND, Ore., May 21, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Backed by broad support from the U.S. electric power industry and elected officials, NuScale Power LLC has submitted its proposal to participate in a U.S. Department of Energy program to accelerate the deployment of small modular reactors.

NuScale has developed a break-through technology for building safer, smaller, scalable nuclear power plants. Using proven light water reactor technology, the NuScale reactor is cooled by natural circulation, is entirely self-contained and installed underwater and underground to maximize safety.

"Our approach offers DOE a plant with innovative new safety features and true scalability, which enable it to achieve a wide range of outputs to meet the power demands of individual utilities," asserted Paul Lorenzini, chief executive officer of NuScale. "We are grateful that our government is helping American companies recapture the technological lead in the international nuclear power industry. NuScale's design will do just that.

LINK FOR MORE....

SALT LAKE CITY – Representatives from 37 countries will be in Salt Lake City next month to discuss ways to safely and cost-effectively extend the life of many of the world's existing nuclear power plants. The group will also explore how existing reactors can effectively deal with increased safety expectations in a post-Fukushima world.
The 3rd International Conference on Nuclear Power Plant Life Management (PLiM) for Long Term Operations will be held May 13-17, 2012 at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center. The conference is organized by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, and is hosted by the U.S. government through its Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Department of Energy. DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory is organizing the conference on behalf of the NRC and DOE.
Keynote and plenary speakers include NRC Commissioner George Apostolakis, IAEA Deputy Director General Alexander Bychkov, Idaho Governor Butch Otter and director of the Idaho National Laboratory, John Grossenbacher. A tour of the nearby 900-square mile Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls will follow the conference.  Additional details on the conference, including an agenda, can be found at the conference website.
Currently, there are nearly 440 operating commercial nuclear power reactors in 31 countries, providing about 14 percent of the world's electricity. Another 63 plants — including 26 in China, and five in the U.S. — are under construction. In the United States, 104 plants provide about 19 percent of the nation's electricity. Most U.S. plants were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s, and to date 71 U.S. plants have received license extensions to operate for 60 years while the remainder are expected to request 20-year license extensions.  Further, the U.S. nuclear industry is considering subsequent license renewals to extend the operating life to 80 years.
"The world's nuclear power plants were licensed to operate between 30 and 40 years, but many may be able to operate well in excess of that, to 60 or even 80 years," said Leonard Bond, the conference organizer from PNNL. "This conference will bring together researchers, designers, engineers, utility representatives, manufacturers and regulators from around the world to share information on technical and ageing issues that can lead to safe and reliable long-term operation of nuclear power plants."
The Salt Lake gathering is the third PLiM conference and the first in the United States. Previous conferences were held in Budapest in 2002 and Shanghai in 2007. In addition to technical sessions, the conference will include poster sessions, panel discussions and an exhibition.
More than 350 attendees are expected, and will come from Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, Vietnam, the United States and more than 20 other nations.

LINK

Southern 1Q Profit Down On Warm Weather, Awaiting Loan Guarantee

Southern Co. (SO) posted a lower first-quarter profit as warm weather cut power use, but the company said it expects returns on investments later this year, while it awaits a nuclear-power loan guarantee.

Southern, of Atlanta, has started construction on two new nuclear reactors at its existing Plant Vogtle nuclear complex in Georgia after obtaining federal construction permits in February.

The company has been negotiating with the Department of Energy for final approval of $8.33 billion in loan guarantees to finance the project. Obtaining the guarantees is proving more difficult than expected, as the Department of Energy has added new financial conditions following the bankruptcy last year of federal-loan recipient Solyndra LLC, said Chairman and Chief Executive Thomas Fanning.

"We're very hopeful we'll be able to reach a successful conclusion, but rest assured...if they ask us to do something that's not in our customers' interest, we won't go forward," Fanning said during a conference call with analysts. "We'll be successful whether we have them or not."



Southern's chief financial officer, Arthur Beattie, added that if Southern doesn't get the loan guarantee, it will raise the money in the capital markets.

"The markets have been in terrific shape to be able to handle that," Beattie said during the call.
Shares of Southern were recently trading 0.8% lower at about $45.51.

The company, which owns utilities in Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi, has benefited from stronger industrial demand in recent quarters, although residential and commercial demand has grown more slowly. The company said it expects 2012 sales to improve over the prior year, driven by growing industrial activity and other growth as the U.S. economy improves.

Meanwhile, Southern, which is a major consumer of coal, is increasingly switching to natural gas to generate electricity as prices for the commodity have dropped to historic lows, company executives said.
Southern's 2012 energy mix will be 47% gas, 35% coal and 18% nuclear power, compared to 16% gas and 70% coal in 2007, Fanning said. If gas prices remain low, the mix could be 57% gas and 22% coal by 2020, whereas if gas prices spike, it would be 34% gas and 45% coal by 2020, Fanning said.

The company's utilities will burn less than 45 million tons of coal this year, down from 80 million tons it burned in 2007, Fanning said. As the company consumes less coal, it is working with coal suppliers to defer, buy out or renegotiate existing contracts, while storing coal that it has bought but doesn't need right away.
Also driving Southern's move toward gas are stricter federal limits on coal-plant emissions. Southern still plans to install pollution-control equipment at coal plants to comply with the rules, Fanning said.

The utility giant plans to spend about $6 billion a year over the next three years on capital projects, including the nuclear reactors and new power-plant units. The company's utilities are authorized to earn returns on such investments.

Southern reported a first-quarter profit of $368 million, or 42 cents a share, down from $422 million, or 50 cents a share, a year earlier. In January, the company predicted earnings of about 45 cents a share.
Revenue fell 10% to $3.6 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had most recently predicted revenue of $4.05 billion.

Fuel and purchased power costs were down 24%, and non-fuel operations and maintenance expenses rose 2.4%.

Total energy sales, including wholesale sales, fell by 7.3%. Kilowatt-hour sales to retail customers fell 5.1%.
Residential and commercial energy sales, slid 14% and 3.1%, respectively, as warmer-than-normal weather cut energy use. Industrial sales increased 1.9%.

LINK

US House spending bill would cut DOE renewables, boost nuclear

Washington (Platts)--25Apr2012/448 pm EDT/2048 GMT


The US House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday passed on to the full chamber a Department of Energy spending bill that would cut $345 million from the agency's fiscal 2013 budget, providing it with $26.1 billion, and would shift emphasis from renewable energy and energy efficiency to fossil fuels and nuclear power.

"While the decisions involved were difficult ... I am proud that this committee will be the tip of the spear in helping to restore sustainability to the agency budgets within this bill," said Representative Hal Rogers, the committee chairman and a Kentucky Republican.

The committee passed the energy and water appropriations bill in a voice vote. The bill must still be taken up by the full House. No votes in the full chamber are planned, but few in Washington believe Congress will pass any annual appropriations bills before the presidential election in November.

In his budget request to Congress in February, Obama moved to cut about $88 million from spending on nuclear power research and development, a 10% cut, and about $105 million from the fossil energy R&D, primarily from coal-related research.

But the House Appropriations committee aims to make up for those declines by refusing the Obama request and funding nuclear power at 2012 levels, instead providing flat funding for DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy at $765 million.

Republicans on the committee also said the bill would help bring down gasoline prices in the long run and that they have devoted $1.1 billion in their proposal for the effort.

Among other things, this includes $25 million for a new shale oil research program, $34 million for other fossil energy research aimed at increasing domestic oil supplies, $500 million for applied advanced biofuels research and $195 million for electric vehicle research. While these total about $36 million above what Congress gave DOE in 2012, they are about $92 million less than what Obama requested.

DOE'S EERE WOULD SEE 17% CUT

DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, which funds applied research and development of wind, solar, energy efficiency and other energy technologies, has long been a target of congressional Republicans and this funding proposal illustrated that.

The committee bill would cut EERE funding for fiscal 2013 by about 17% from fiscal 2012 levels to $1.5 billion. Obama had requested an almost 30% increase to $2.3 billion for 2013.

While senior Democrats on the committee praised funding for nuclear and fossil fuel, they also said that EERE should get more funding.

"I appreciate the chairman's decision to include appropriate funding for fossil and nuclear energy. However, I am disappointed the renewable energy programs in this bill are drastically reduced," said Representative Peter Visclosky, the senior Democrat on the appropriations subcommittee that oversees DOE's budget.

"In providing critical research and development for those sectors that currently provide the bulk of our electricity generation, we cannot sacrifice the future," he said. "Renewable energy can achieve cost competitiveness, but a continued and sustained research and development program is necessary and appropriate in order to do so."

BILL ALLOTS $25 MIL FOR YUCCA MOUNTAIN

Republicans and Democrats on the committee did agree that the Obama administration's decision to terminate the long-planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada was misguided and "counter to the law." The committee bill attempts to fix that by providing DOE with $25 million to work on a solution to storing commercial nuclear waste, but only if it is directed at Yucca Mountain. Also, the bill would bar DOE from spending any funds to eliminate the option of Yucca Mountain as a waste site.

Those measures could face opposition in the Senate, however, where Senator Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat and majority leader, has vowed the Yucca Mountain repository will never be built.

In fact, an appropriations bill passed by the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee on Tuesday provided no funds for Yucca Mountain. It did, however, include a provision that would create a DOE pilot program for siting and developing an interim consolidated storage site for commercial spent nuclear waste.

The Senate Appropriations Committee is set to take up its own version of the energy and water development appropriations bill on Thursday. That bill would provide DOE with $27.1 billion in 2013, an increase of $1.38 billion above fiscal 2012. That is $1 billion above the $26.1 billion provided by the House committee.

LINK

GOV. NIXON: WESTINGHOUSE SELECTS MISSOURI FOR NEXT-GENERATION NUCLEAR REACTORS

The following information was released by the Southern Governors' Association:

Gov. Jay Nixon today joined senior executives from Westinghouse Electric Company, the global leader in nuclear energy technology; Ameren Missouri; and all of Missouri's electric energy providers to announce that Westinghouse has chosen Missouri as the location to develop and manufacture a new generation of Small Modular Nuclear Reactors (SMRs).

Next month, Westinghouse will apply for highly competitive federal cost-share investment funds from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to design, license, manufacture and commercialize American-made SMRs to help meet America's energy needs and to export this technology globally. SMRs are highly compact, safe and reliable reactors that make nuclear power an attractive option for a variety of electric energy providers.

If Westinghouse receives the investment funds, they and Ameren Missouri would seek appropriate licenses from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to move forward with construction of a Westinghouse SMR at Ameren Missouri's Callaway site to help meet our entire state's energy needs and transform Missouri into a hub for manufacturing SMRs to be exported to countries around the world.

Westinghouse's application to the DOE, and its vision of developing SMR technology in Missouri, has strong support from an unprecedented collaboration of all of Missouri's electric power providers, including Ameren Missouri; the Missouri Association of Electric Cooperatives; the Missouri Public Utility Alliance; Associated Electric Cooperative Inc.; Empire District Electric; and Kansas City Power and Light.

Westinghouse selected Missouri as its partner for this transformative project because of the state's outstanding workforce, powerhouse research institutions, strong support for nuclear power, and central location along two major rivers - making the state an ideal location to transport SMRs to global customers.
"This investment is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that could spark a next-generation manufacturing industry in Missouri. Westinghouse is the global leader in nuclear energy technology, and Missouri is proud to be partnering with this outstanding company to embrace this transformative opportunity to create jobs and develop a new global manufacturing industry," Gov. Nixon said. "Designing, developing and commercializing next-generation nuclear technology will create good jobs for Missourians, expand our global exports, and ensure that Missouri has affordable, abundant, safe and reliable power for generations to come. Missouri offers Westinghouse an outstanding nuclear operator and workforce, world-class research universities, a strong foothold in the nuclear industry, and a central location to develop a worldwide manufacturing base. As Governor, I'm fully committed to working with Westinghouse, Ameren Missouri and all our electric energy providers to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity."

"We are excited and eager to begin this historic partnership with Missouri and Ameren to further develop nuclear energy technology while bringing economic benefits to the state of Missouri," said Dr. Kate Jackson, Westinghouse Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. "As we were first in developing and licensing passive reactor technology with the AP1000 reactor, Westinghouse, along with Ameren and the State of Missouri, will be the first movers in the next generation of nuclear technology, the Westinghouse SMR. Our experience, capabilities, and licensing expertise, coupled with Ameren's working utility knowledge and Missouri's highly skilled workforce, strong foothold in the nuclear industry, and central location create a competitive advantage to rapidly deploy SMR units here in the United States and elsewhere in the world."

"We are proud to partner with Westinghouse and the State of Missouri in pursuing this tremendous opportunity to further our commitment of helping to meet our state's future energy needs," said Warner L. Baxter, president and CEO of Ameren Missouri. "In addition, we strongly believe the Department of Energy's program creates the potential for a transformative economic development opportunity for the entire State of Missouri."

Westinghouse plans to develop close working relationships with the nuclear energy programs at both the University of Missouri-Columbia and the Missouri University of Science and Technology to leverage the expertise of their faculty and students, as well as with the numerous community college and vocational school programs throughout the state.

No state legislative action or statutory change is needed to move forward with this application. Westinghouse will submit its application to the U.S. Department of Energy by May 21. Federal officials have indicated they will announce the investments within 60 days after the application deadline.

LINK

Vogtle nuclear plant loan guarantees may not be finalized: NEI

[Commentary: After the sudden collapse of South Texas Project 3&4 Nuclear Power Units due to the pulling of the federal loan guarantee, this event is alarming. The Obama Administration's calculated rates on the loan appear to be excessive. Does this signal the true intentions of the current administration and their position on growth in nuclear power for the United States?]

Georgia Power and its partners may not be able to reach terms with the US Department of Energy on $8.3 billion in loan guarantees to finance the Vogtle nuclear plant expansion, Alex Flint, senior vice president of governmental affairs for the Nuclear Energy Institute, said Thursday.

The conditional guarantees for the two-unit, 2,200-MW Vogtle plant expansion were announced by DOE in 2010 and were said to be a sign of the administration's support for nuclear energy. One of the conditions was that the project sponsors receive a combined construction permit-operating license from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which issued the license February 10.

Southern Co., Georgia Power's parent company, expects to finalize the loan guarantees in the second quarter of the year, spokesman Steve Higginbottom said Thursday.

Betsy Higgins, the CFO of Oglethorpe Power, another of the partners, said March 20 that finalizing the loan guarantees was going more slowly than expected and they might be completed in the third quarter.

DOE has said it is in final negotiations with the applicants to complete the transactions.

David Frantz, acting executive director of DOE's loan programs office, said Wednesday at a hearing of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development that he has weekly contact with the Vogtle partners.

"We're in the final negotiations to close the documentation on this project. We have every expectation that it's going to be a great success story in terms of the renaissance of nuclear power in the United States," he said in testimony at the hearing.

Flint did not provide details on why the loan guarantees might not be finalized, but said implementation of the program's regulations has been "painful."

The White House Office of Management and Budget, which helps set certain fees for the loan guarantees, "was not an enthusiastic supporter of the loan guarantee program," Flint said. The way in which regulations were issued "were not conducive to a successful program," he said.

The DOE rules and regulations were not designed for the type of ownership structure used in the Vogtle project, Higgins said during a conference call to discuss financial results.

The Vogtle loans are backed by the full credit of the involved companies, instead of being assumed by a project finance company whose only asset is the new units, Higgins said. As a result, the partners have sought exemptions from some requirements in the loan guarantee program in order for the project's application to move forward, she said.

NEI has said a formula used by OMB to calculate the fees that must be paid by loan guarantee recipients is flawed and as a result fees are too high.

LINK

Department of Energy Back Small Modular Reactors at Annual Global Meeting

By etully on Mar 7, 2012

This week the U.S. Department of Energy announced it will deploy Small Modular Reactors at the Savannah River Site in South Carolina.

3 units in total will be built at the site, including two LWRs from NuScale and SMR LLC and one advanced reactor from Hyperion Power Generation.

This announcement was quickly followed by the Savannah River National Laboratory confirming their role as the Platinum Sponsor of the 2^ndAnnual Small Modular Reactor Conference, which is taking place in Columbia South Carolina on the 24-25 April 2012.

Dr. Dave Moody, who will be delivering a keynote address at the conference, stated in a recent interview “we have a unique combination of nuclear knowledge and laboratory expertise, infrastructure, location and much more to make the Site a natural fit for advancing the small modular reactor technology,” the deployment of reactors at the site is also set to reinvigorate “SRS assets to impact national needs and influence new missions for the future.”

The 2^ndAnnual Small Modular Reactor Conference is also well supported by national utilities including Exelon, SCE&G, Progress, Duke, Dominion and many more – not to mention international utilities from mainland Europe and nuclear giant China. As the scale of the world’s largest SMR conference was released rumours throughout the industry, and of course Capitol Hill, quickly spread. This led to U.S. Congressmen, NRC directors and global nuclear decision makers instantly confirming their participation.

Now over 300 of the most powerful global generation executives will make their way to Columbia SC on the 24-25 April to develop their SMR plans and build multi-billion dollar supply chains with expert contractors and service providers.

LINK

U.S. Energy Department Spurs Nuclear Technology

Written by: By Susan Graybeal

Article Credit: Kevin Cole

The Department of Energy announced Friday it has entered three private-public partnerships to for the development of small nuclear reaction technologies near Aiken, S.C. The partnerships are a part of the department's ongoing efforts to spur nuclear energy in America. Here are the details.

* The partnership agreements were between the DOE's Savannah River Site and Savannah River National Laboratory and SMR, a subsidiary of Hotlec International, Hyperion Power Generation and NuScale Power. The agreements will help those companies to gather information regarding a potential siting of a small nuclear reactor at Savannah River.

* In January, the department reported its intention to enter cost-sharing agreements with private companies in order to support the design and licensing of small nuclear reactors.

* At approximately one-third the size of current plants, small nuclear reactors offer a host of safety, siting, construction and economic benefits, the DOE stated. The DOE intends to fund two small nuclear reactor designs with deployment of the reactors within 10 years.

* In addition to the commitment to small nuclear reactors, the Energy Department also has announced $10 million in research funds for work to improve reactor safety, performance and cost competitiveness.

* The DOE also committed $8 billion in loan guarantees to support of the Vogtle project, which is two nuclear reactors to be built by Southern Company and Georgia Powers. An additional $200 million has been provided through a cost-share agreement to support the Vogtle license for the first nuclear power plant construction in more than thirty years.

* $170 million has also been given in research grants at 70 universities for the research and development of nuclear technologies.

* According to a Facebook posting offered by DOE Secretary Steven Chu in late February, nuclear power currently provides 20 percent of the electricity in the U.S. With an estimated 20 percent increase in overall energy demand and a 30 percent increase in electricity demand predicted over the next 25 years, Chu explained, "if we want to make a serious dent in carbon dioxide emissions -- not to mention having cleaner air and cleaner water -- then nuclear power has to be on the table."

LINK

DOE Locks in Three New Public-Private Partnerships for Small Modular Nuclear Reactors

The project aims to support private sector testing, development and licensing of SMR technologies

The U.S. Department of Energy has announced that it will begin developing small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) technologies along with its Savannah River Site (SRS) through three new public-private partnerships.

The three new partnerships are part of the Energy Department's efforts to cement nuclear power as an energy solution in the U.S. Over the past three years alone, the Energy Department has invested $170 million in research grants regarding advanced reactor concepts and safety. The Energy Department just recently made a $10 million investment in new research that seeks to solve common problems in the nuclear power industry.