AREVA technology adopted to improve nuclear power safety in Japan

Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy, Ltd. (Hitachi-GE) and AREVA have reached an agreement aimed at improving the safety of nuclear power plants through the delivery of filtered containment  venting  systems  (FCVS).  The two companies intend to work together, including the adoption by Hitachi-GE of AREVA technology for the design, fabrication, and installation of these components. They will be used for the boiling water reactors (BWR) in Japan.

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake, Hitachi-GE has stepped up its efforts to improve the safety of nuclear power plants, and AREVA has already installed FCVS in more than 50 plants worldwide. Hitachi GE has been working with AREVA to study the functions and performance of FCVS suitable for installation at BWR nuclear power plants in Japan.

This partnership combines AREVA’s technology, experience, and know-how in FCVS with Hitachi-GE’s extensive technology, experience, and know-how about BWR nuclear power plants in Japan to adapt FCVS and achieve early delivery for these plants.

FCVS, a solution for enhancing the safety of nuclear power plants, plays an important role in preventing damage to primary containment vessel (PCV) due to pressure rises in situations where severe damage has occurred to the reactor, such as following an event that goes far beyond the design basis event criteria. FCVS is also a filtering system for removing the radioactive material throughout different high efficient filter stages.

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EON, RWE Said to Sell Nuclear JV for About $967 Million

EON AG (EOAN) and RWE AG (RWE), Germany’s two largest utilities, are set to sell their U.K. venture Horizon Nuclear Power to Japan’s Hitachi Ltd. (6501) for about 600 million pounds ($967 million), people familiar with the matter said.

The sale for the venture with government backing to build plants in Wales and western England may be signed in the next few days, according to two people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. An announcement may come on Oct. 30, one of the people said.

The deal would be a boost for the U.K. government, which is seeking to spur new reactors to replace aging power plants, upgrade grids and cut pollution at a cost of 110 billion pounds. EON and RWE decided to sell Horizon after Germany said it will close all of its reactors following last year’s disaster in Japan, prompting the utilities to pull out of the nuclear industry worldwide. That left the U.K. as one of only three western European nations pursuing new reactors.

Keisaku Shibatani, a spokesman for Hitachi, said the company had put in a bid and declined to comment further. Officials at RWE and EON declined to comment. An official at the U.K. Department of Energy and Climate Change said that while the deal was a commercial matter for RWE and EON, there had been strong interest in buying Horizon.

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Lithuania Sees GDP Boost From Building Nuclear Plant

Lithuania predicts the construction of a planned nuclear-power plant, its biggest investment since the end of communism two decades ago, to boost economic growth by 0.7 percentage points a year.

The plant may cost 17.4 billion litai ($6.5 billion), the government in Vilnius said in an e-mailed statement today. The construction will create 6,000 jobs and 5 billion litai of orders for local businesses.

Lithuania wants to build the plant, with partners in Estonia and Latvia, to reduce the region’s dependence on energy imports from Russia. The Baltic country imports 62 percent of its electricity, the most in the European Union, after closing the Soviet-built Ignalina nuclear plant in 2009 to comply with European Union rules.
“This is a big step toward energy independence,” said Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius at a press conference in Vilnius today.

The government signed a concession agreement with Hitachi Ltd. (6501), Japan’s second-largest builder of nuclear reactors, for the building of a nuclear power plant on March 30. The accord requires the approval of Lithuania’s parliament by June 28.

Lithuania plans to hold a preliminary stake of 38 percent in the Visaginas plant, Economy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas said at the same press conference today. Estonia’s Eesti Energia AS may hold 22 percent in the atomic plant, while Latvia’s Latvenergo and Hitachi will each hold 20 percent, he said.

The new 1,300-megawatt reactor in Visaginas will probably start operating between 2020 and 2022. The price of electricity is estimated to average 18 centai ($0.06) per kilowatt hour, the government said.

The Lithuanian government is continuing talks with neighboring Poland and the project remains open for PGE SA, Poland’s largest utility, Sekmokas said. PGE dropped plans to participate in the construction in December as the company focuses on other investment projects.

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Hitachi signs concession agreement for Visaginas nuclear plant in Lithuania

Hitachi has signed a concession agreement with the Lithuanian Energy Ministry for construction of the Visaginas nuclear power plant in Lithuania.

The deal will be officially concluded after the approval by the Lithuanian parliament which has been in session since last month.

Lithuania is intending to build a new nuclear power plant in Visaginas in the northeastern part of the country, with the aim of having an operational plant in 2021.

In 2008, the project company Visagino Atomine Elektrine (VAE) was established to further develop the project and conduct negotiations relating to investment into the Visaginas plant.

Hitachi and Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy (Hitachi-GE) proposed to provide an Advanced Boiling Water Reactor to the Lithuanian government.

Following the approval of the concession agreement by the Lithuanian parliament, the concession for power plant construction will be granted to a project company to be established by investment from Hitachi, VAE and regional partners.

The project company will conduct negotiations regarding engineering, procurement, and construction and so forth.

The project company will aim to conclude contracts in late 2012.

Lithuania signs nuclear power plant deal with Hitachi

Lithuania and the Japanese conglomerate Hitachi concluded today (30 March) a concession agreement for the Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant, paving the way for the next phase of project development of what is seen as one of the most advanced nuclear generation projects in Europe.

Following the successful conclusion of negotiations, a concession agreement relating to Visaginas was initialled at the prime minister’s office by Žygimantas Vaičiūnas, and Energy Ministry official who heads the Concession Tender Commission, and Masaharu Hanyu, Hitachi Ltd.'s vice president, the government announced.

The Visaginas plant is to be built on the site of the Soviet-built Ignalina nuclear station that was shut down in 2009 (see background).

In 2007, Lithuania's parliament adopted a law on building a new nuclear power plant. The law also stipulated creation of a special company, Visagino atominė elektrinė, to seek investments for the new nuclear power plant. In July 2011, Lithuania announced plans to sign a contract with Hitachi as strategic investor.

The concession agreement provides the contractual framework for the Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant including the provision of: rights for the project company to design, construct and operate and, at a later stage, decommission the plant.

Over the coming weeks the agreement will be reviewed and discussed by the government, before being submitted to the Seimas (Lithuanian Parliament) for formal approval, probably in June.

"We welcome this important milestone in the project and wish to emphasise our appreciation of the cooperative and supportive spirit in which the project has proceeded to date," Hanyu said.

Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius also called the agreement a "milestone".

"The Visaginas Nuclear Power Plant presents Lithuania and the Baltic region with a once in a lifetime opportunity to diversify energy sources and enhance energy security and independence as well as continue our integration into Europe.

"The agreement with Hitachi is also a vote of confidence for what will be the largest foreign direct investment in the history of Lithuania. We are proud to have reached this milestone and to have probably the most developed new nuclear project in Europe," Kubilius said.

The prime ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia expressed their support for the project during a meeting at the Baltic Ministers Council on 7-8 March.

Visaginas will be equipped with an Hitachi-GE Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR), described as the only generation III nuclear reactor with a proven operational track record around the world, with an enhanced level of safety.

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Baltic leaders lobby new nuclear plant

March 8, 2012

VILNIUS, Lithuania—The leaders of the three Baltics states on Thursday urged energy companies to reach an agreement on a new nuclear power plant seen as crucial in ensuring the region's independence from Russian energy supplies.

The project was originally announced six years ago in hopes to quickly replace a Soviet-era, Chernobyl-style nuclear plant in Lithuania that was shut down in 2009 due to safety concerns. But the euro5 billion ($6.5 billion) project has run into several obstacles, particularly disagreements over how to divide the plant's output.

The U.S.-Japanese consortium Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy was brought on board last year as a strategic partner, and prime ministers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia urged all sides to complete negotiations by June.

"The energy companies have indicated what amounts of energy they expect from the nuclear power plant," Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius told a press conference. "This makes me believe that further negotiations will be smooth and rapid."

The prime ministers also said they would seek European Union funding and ask Poland to consider to rejoining the project.

Poland had been a participant to negotiations for years but withdrew in December to focus on constructing its first nuclear power plant.

The Baltic leaders refused to comment how the output of the project 1,300 megawatt plant would be divvied up, but Estonia's Andrus Ansip said Estonia expected some 300 megawatts.

Success of the new plant, which would be built next to the shuttered Chernobyl-type facility in Visaginas in northeast Lithuania, is also crucial given that Russia and Belarus are both building large nuclear power stations right across the border from Lithuania.

Lithuanian officials have slammed the neighbors' projects are environmentally unsound and have threatened to place on ban on exporting output from these plants to the Lithuanian market.

Russia hopes to complete its first reactor in the Kaliningrad region in 2016, while Belarus' plant, which Russia will build, will likely be launched in 2017.

Lithuania's facility is expected to be completed by the end of 2020.

Lithuania’s Planned Visaginas Nuclear Plant to Cost $6.5 Billion

February 23, 2012, 7:10 PM EST

By Matthew Brown and Milda Seputyte

Feb. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Lithuania’s planned nuclear power plant will cost as much as $6.5 billion, making it the biggest investment in the Baltic country since independence from the Soviet Union 22 years ago.

Lithuania plans to control 34 percent of the plant, while Estonia, Latvia and Poland would each take a 20 percent stake, with the remaining 6 percent paid by companies leasing the atomic technology, Vytautas Nauduzas, a Lithuanian ambassador for energy and transport policy, said yesterday in an interview in London.

The Baltic region is seeking to cut its dependence on energy imports from Russia after closing the Soviet-era Ignalina facility at the end of 2009. Lithuania is planning to build the new 1,300-megawatt reactor in Visaginas by 2020 together with Latvia and Estonia and Hitachi Ltd., a strategic investor in the facility and Japan’s second-largest builder of nuclear reactors.

PGE SA, Poland’s largest utility, dropped plans to invest in the new reactor to instead focus on other projects, the Warsaw-based company said Dec. 9.

The Polish government hasn’t pulled out officially and Japanese banks might make up the shortfall should Poland abandon the project, Nauduzas said today in a subsequent interview.
“Participation by Poland is a little confusing at the moment,” he said.

Japanese financial institutions have confirmed their interest to provide credit for the project, Arvydas Sekmokas, Lithuania’s Energy Minister, said today in a radio interview with Ziniu Radijas, the national broadcaster, without providing names.

Hitachi expects to sign the final contract to begin constructing the atomic plant this year, it said in December. The reactor will be built by Hitachi-GE Nuclear Energy Ltd., a joint venture with General Electric Co. Hitachi offered its advanced boiling water reactor technology with a proposed capacity of 1,300 megawatts.

Power production costs at Visaginas may average 7 centai ($0.03) to 10 centai per kilowatt hour, lower than current costs in the country, Sekmokas said on Feb. 15.

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