The accession of ten new countries to the European Union on 1 May brought a corresponding increase in the EU's nuclear capacity. Five of the ten states have a total of 19 nuclear power reactors, so that now 13 out of 25 EU states generate power from nuclear energy, using 155 reactors - more than a third of the world total. Several of the remaining 12 states, such as Italy and Austria, depend significantly on nuclear power through imports. Among later accession states is Bulgaria, with substantial nuclear capacity and power exports.
However, the accession of some of these new states, and the proposed accession of others, means that in addition to reactors shut down for safety reasons in the last two years, more are scheduled to be closed due to particular countries' accession agreements. In some cases the safety argument for this is very thin.
One of the conditions laid down by the EU in 1997 was that all nuclear plants in potential accession states had to achieve Western safety standards within 7 to 10 years. The spotlight was then on older Soviet types such as first generation VVER (light water) models and the notorious RBMK of Chernobyl fame, notwithstanding that by the late 1990s virtually all of those kinds of units in East Europe had been extensively modified and upgraded.
Encouraged by the offer of EUR 200 million from the EC, Bulgaria's Kozloduy 1 & 2 were closed on 31 December 2002 and shutdown dates for the next two, Kozloduy 3 & 4, were agreed as 2006. Slovakia agreed to close its older units (Bohunice 1 & 2) by 2006 and 2008 respectively, despite having just completed a major refurbishing of them, including replacement of the emergency core cooling systems and modernising the control systems. Lithuania agreed to close its first RBMK unit, Ignalina-1, at the end of 2004, and the second unit in 2009.
A succession of expert reviews has been undertaken over the last five years, for the most part showing that the upgraded plants essentially conformed with western safety standards. For example, the Slovak Bohunice 1 & 2 units were cited as prime examples of the high safety standards which such reactors could achieve through upgrading with input from western firms such as Siemens.
Similar arguments were put forward in relation to units 3 and 4 at Kozloduy in Bulgaria. In 2002 the Bulgarian parliament decided almost unanimously that these units would not be closed down until after Bulgaria had gained EU membership, despite the EU's insistence that they close in 2006, prior to the country's admission (expected in 2007). Public opinion in Bulgaria overwhelmingly supported the government position, and two thirds thought that even Kozloduy 1 & 2 should not be closed in 2002 even if that delayed Bulgaria's accession to the EU. However, in the event they were closed on schedule.
Since the May 1 accession date, a senior Lithuanian politician and presidential candidate has called on leaders of the country's political parties who are running for the European Parliament to agree to negotiations to allow Ignalina-1 to operate until 2015 and Ignalina-2 until 2020. "If such an agreement were signed, the politicians would not be able to alter their posture concerning atomic energy as easily as they do now," she said. As a condition of EU accession Lithuania had to undertake to close the units at the end of this year and in 2009, respectively, though for safety reasons it will apparently be necessary to keep unit 1 going much longer. The country get 80% of its power from Ignalina, and exports much of it.
Early in May an international conference in Bratislava called on the Slovak government and members of EU parliament to take up the question of Bohunice plant closure commitments, which were described as politically-motivated and pointless. Two thirds of Slovakia's electricity is from nuclear power.
In Bulgaria several hundred nuclear workers from 15 countries mounted a two-day protest early in May against the planned closure of two older Kozloduy nuclear reactors (units 3 & 4) in 2006. The President of the World Council of Nuclear Workers said "There is nothing wrong with the reactors. There are no technical or economic reasons for not keeping [them] in service. There are only political reasons and we have had enough of nuclear power being taken hostage by political squabbles." They have shown up well in a recent IAEA inspection and apparently meet EU safety standards. However, Bulgaria may have to reopen negotiations with the EU on the whole energy question if it is to keep these reactors in operation. Kozloduy provides almost half of Bulgaria's electricity and there are fears that prices will rise once its output is diminished by 30%. Power exports to Balkan countries and Greece will be curtailed.
Reactors in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia, as well as newer ones in Slovakia and Bulgaria have not given rise to concern. These three countries get 25%, 36% and 41% respectively of the electricity from nuclear power.
But the most obvious positive aspect of the new countries joining is the programs and proposals for new nuclear build which are brought into the EU by countries with a pragmatic view of how energy needs should be met and a well-honed scepticism of ideological posturing. Among the original EU countries only Finland and France currently have clear intentions of building new nuclear power plants, but now they are joined by Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania and soon, Bulgaria. Nuclear expansion plans are generally driven by the fact that nuclear electricity has proved lower-cost than that from other plants in the countries concerned.
The Czech Republic has an energy policy which envisages two further large reactors, probably to be built at Temelin. Slovakia is reviving plans to complete Mochovce units 3 & 4, supported by a recent feasibility study. Lithuania's national energy strategy has nuclear power as a continuing central aspect and hence the government is looking at building a large reactor to replace Ignalina's capacity - this may be in collaboration with Estonia. Bulgaria is assessing bids for the first unit of two at the Belene plant (see separate news).
The new plants envisaged are either the Framatome ANP European Pressurised Water Reactor (EPR) of 1600 MWe or versions of the Russian VVER-1000 with western control systems.
The new EU states, with a fresh appreciation of what many of the old states take for granted, promise to refresh the EU approach to energy.
US consortia propose new reactor licences
Two utility-vendor consortia have announced that they are seeking Department of Energy (DOE) funding for preparing combined construction & operation licence (COL) applications for new reactors to be built in the USA.
One alliance is the NuStart Energy Development LLC, comprising six major utilities with Westinghouse, General Electric and EdF International. It will pursue the Westinghouse AP1000 and GE's European Simplified BWR technology options. The other consortium is led by Dominion with Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd - it will pursue AECL's ACR-700 option.
The Westinghouse AP1000 is currently undergoing design certification by NRC, with a decision expected late 2005. The other two designs - ESBWR and ACR-700 - are at pre-application stages of NRC certification, so that a decision is unlikely before 2007. The three advanced reactor designs already certified by NRC have been bypassed, though the AP1000 is developed from one of them and the ESBWR from another - the ABWR - three of which are operating in Japan. (Reactors of the third certified design are at pre-contract stage in South Korea.)
Once the design certifications are through, the COLs can be lodged with a particular design and site nominated. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected to take two years to review each COL application, with decision anticipated in 2008 for the Dominion consortium and later for NuStart, since it will apparently await design certification for both reactor types before choosing between them and lodging its COL application in 2008.
The DOE called for such proposals last year under its Nuclear Power 2010 program, and said that it would fund up to half the cost of selected COL applications. Three of the utility companies involved have already applied for early site permits (ESP) to build a new plant (type unspecified) at each of three named sites. The COL preparation will enable engineering work to be done and detailed cost estimates to be prepared. Each consortium is apparently prepared to spend around $50 million over 6-7 years, apart from design certification and engineering costs borne by the vendor partners - the total comes to some $800 million for NuStart. Dominion estimates a total COL cost of $500 million. In each case DOE will be expected to meet half these costs.
Neither ESP nor COL commits anyone to build anything, but they will expedite future plans for new build.
Nucleonics Week 1 & 29/4/04, Platts 26/4/04.
US companies consider new reactor
Several companies together have made a proposal to the Department of Energy for assistance in funding a $4 million feasibility study on building a new Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) at Bellefonte in Alabama. The TVA site has two large PWR units whose construction was abandoned in 1988 after $2.5 billion had been spent and unit 1 largely (88%) completed. The 1350 MWe ABWR is the first Generation 3 reactor design to enter service, and a number of units are operating and under construction in Japan. It already has design certification in the USA. The proposal sponsors include Toshiba, General Electric, Bechtel, USEC and TVA and it is the third funding application being considered by DOE.
Stop press: DOE has agreed to fund half of the 10-month study.
Platts 26/4 & 18/5/04, NY Times 26/4/04.
US licence renewals and uprates
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a 20-year licence extension for Progress Energy's Robinson nuclear plant, to mid 2030, another for South Carolina Electric's Summer plant to 2022 and another for Constellation's Ginna plant to 2029. With similar renewals for Catawba 1 & 2 and McGuire 1 & 2 in December, this makes 26 US reactors with 60-year operating licences, a quarter of the total. The NRC has also approved a 33 MWe power uprate to Kewaunee, to 590 MWe.
Platts 19 & 23/4/04, 19/5/04, NEI.
US ozone standards highlight nuclear role
As well as its obvious benefits in relation to sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide emissions, nuclear power's zero emissions of nitrogen oxides helps meet ozone standards in the USA. Some 159 million people live in areas which do not meet the country's new ozone standard.
NEI Overview 19/4/04.
US Senate ratifies additional protocol with IAEA
The US Senate has agreed to ratify the Additional Protocol to the country's safeguards agreement with the IAEA, opening it to more intrusive international scrutiny, a move that will encourage the protocol's more widespread adoption. China is the only other nuclear weapons state to have it in force, along with about 40 non-weapons states. The USA signed the protocol in 1998 and it was submitted it to the Senate in May 2002 to approve ratification.
Platts 5/4/04.
US regulator fights back
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun responding to misrepresentations in the public domain in a special 'For the Record' section on its web site. This "provides NRC responses to inaccurate, misleading or false information" in the media as well as wrong assertions in submissions, and can counter research reports misused and quoted out of context.
Platts 13/5/04, www.nrc.gov
EU nuclear package fails to get support
The two draft European Commission directives on nuclear safety and waste management have been downgraded to 'council conclusions' after being opposed as binding legislation by 23 of 25 countries. This appears to end 18 months consideration of what was to be the EC's most ambitious extension of its authority into nuclear energy. Opposition to the package as binding law came from industry, environmental NGOs and states which saw it as an erosion of sovereignty. Nevertheless, the draft conclusions affirm the commitment of EU member states to a high level of nuclear safety and to safe management of radioactive wastes.
Nucleonics Week 20/5/04.
Sweden firms pro-nuclear sentiment
A new public opinion poll in Sweden shows continued support for nuclear power, at 80%. However, the proportion indicating support for further developing nuclear power (not just replacing existing reactors) has doubled since 2001 to 21%, and the proportion giving top environmental priority to phasing out nuclear power has halved since 1998 - now 7%. Meanwhile the government-appointed negotiator says he has failed to broker any agreement about shutting down the Barseback-2 reactor (let alone any others) - a token of the discredited 'phase out' policy maintained as a sop to minor coalition parties. Nuclear provides half of Sweden's power.
NucNet news # 110-111/04.
Ambitious Swedish uprate program
Responding to a government request to expand nuclear capacity to replace the 600 MWe lost in closure of Barseback-1, Ringhals has applied to the Nuclear Power Inspectorate (SKI) for a 13.6% uprate on its third reactor, a PWR which started operation in 1981. The 123 MWe uprate on the 915 MWe unit 3 would mean 26 MWe next year on the basis of steam generator replacement already undertaken, and 97 MWe to follow as other engineering work was completed. A 15 MWe uprate on the older BWR unit 1 was also sought. SKI has told the government that 600 MWe is potentially available in uprates of Sweden's 11 reactors.
Nucleonics Week 1/4/04, NucNet news # 74/04 (figures corrected by SKI)
French energy bill supports EPR
The French government is strongly supporting construction of a commercial demonstration unit of the European Pressurised water Reactor (EPR) in an energy strategy bill being debated. Such a unit is "indispensable, considering the importance of technology developments, from the safety viewpoint, (and) to optimise technically and financially the later deployment of new power plants". Furthermore, the extra power will be needed, around 2012, when half of the country's 59 reactors will be 30 years old.
Earlier, the Prime Minister and Industry Minister had affirmed support for the EPR, making it clear that the new government sees nuclear power as vital in combating the greenhouse effect and preserving national energy independence. In a 5-hour parliamentary debate, a clear consensus in favour of nuclear power emerged. Any new reactor would be built by EdF, though at the same time it is keeping longer term options open for France by participation in the US consortium seeking a combined construction and operation licence in the USA possibly focused on the Westinghouse AP1000 reactor.
EdF continued its strong export performance in 2003, with 66 billion kWh net exported, @ 3.35 cents/kWh average - total EUR 2.2 billion.
Meanwhile, Framatome ANP is building a 1600 MWe EPR for Finland's TVO, with the reactor pressure vessel coming from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Japan and due to be delivered in 2007.
Nucleonics Week 15 & 23/4/04, 13/5/04.
Longer lifetimes for Swedish and Spanish reactors
Nuclear industry leaders in Sweden have been saying for some years that their nuclear power reactors are capable of running safely for 60 years, given appropriate upgrading. This contention is proving a difficulty in discussions with their government on when the country's 11 reactors might be closed down.
In Spain Endesa and Iberdrola, the country's two largest generators, have extended the depreciation period for their reactors from 30 to 40 years, and are preparing to apply for a licence extension from 38 to 48 years for their jointly-owned 446 MWe Santa Maria de Garona plant.
Beyond the immediate depreciation provisions are the questions of justifying expenditure on upgrading plants where their longevity depends on political whim rather than economics and safety, and the compensation payable in the event of adverse political intervention.
Nucleonics Week 6/5/04.
Russian reactor site approved
Construction of the first Russian floating nuclear power plant is set to proceed after confirmation of its site at Sevmach, near Severodvinsk in the Archangelsk region. Two KLT-40S pressurised water reactors derived from those in icebreakers will be mounted on a 20,000 tonne, 140 x 30 metre barge. The US$ 150 million (overnight cost) demonstration plant will supply 60-70 MWe of power plus up to 35 MW of heat to Sevmach and Zvezdochka - respectively building and servicing much of Russia's nuclear navy. Funds were allocated and the site licensed two years ago.
NucNet news #91/04.
Major European study of geological disposal
The European Commission has signed up to support a project demonstrating the technical feasibility of constructing, operating and closing a deep geological repository for high-level radioactive wastes. It is known as the Engineering Studies & Demonstrations of Repository Designs (ESDRED) project. It will involve industrial-scale prototypes and run for five years, with a budget of EUR 18 million. The EC agreement is with 13 organisations from nine W. European countries, coordinated by France's Andra. Other participants include ENRESA (Spain), Nagra (Switzerland), Nirex (UK), Posiva (Finland) and SKB (Sweden) - all involved with national radwaste projects. SKB's Aspo hard rock laboratory near Oskarshamn will be a key part of the research.
This complements another EC-funded project begun in January and run by ARIUS (based in Switzerland) and Slovakia's DECOM to undertake a pilot study on the technical and legal requirements for a regional waste repository. This SAPIERR project is related to the needs of countries with smaller nuclear programs, and it involves 21 organisations from 14 countries.
ARIUS c March 2004, NucNet news #86/04.
European Commission approves loan for Cernavoda
An EUR 223.5 million loan has been approved by the EC for completion of the 650 MWe Cernavoda-2 nuclear reactor in Romania. The Nuclearelectrica EUR 777 million Candu-6 unit is more than half built and the Euratom loan will enable safety upgrades to be made. It is due for completion by 2007.
NucNet news # 76/04.
BNFL applies technetium fix
After several years R&D, BNFL is commencing an effluent treatment innovation at Sellafield in UK which will cut discharges of Tc-99 from the site by 90%. Trials last year showed 95% removal of Tc-99 from the waste stream from Magnox spent fuel reprocessing, the major source of the radionuclide which is also used as an environmental tracer - making its presence discernable well beyond the Irish Sea. No adverse health effects, nor regulatory infringement, occurs with present marine discharges, but concerns have been expressed from Ireland and Norway. The new treatment uses TPP (tetraphenylphosphonium bromide) to complex the Tc-99 in the medium active concentrate treatment plant discharge so that it is stored as a solid. The process will enable an accelerated reduction in radioactive liquid wastes on site.
BNFL 21/4/04.
Bulgaria proceeding with Belene
Bulgaria's cabinet has confirmed its intention to proceed with construction of the 2000 MWe Belene nuclear power plant to replace capacity which will be lost when Kozloduy units 3 & 4 are closed. Shut-down of these is scheduled for 2006, due to demands of future EU accession, but the operating licences run to 2011 and 2013 and renegotiation is sought.
The government will solicit minority private investment in the new US$ 2.3 billion project, though initially just for the first of two units, to be built by 2010. It is in the process of choosing among eight proposals involving five reactor vendors, but with a focus on three "market-available options" - Skoda and Energoproject completing the part-built 1980s VVER-1000/320 plant with upgrades, Atomstroyexport and Framatome building a new VVER-1000 unit, or AECL and others building a Candu-6 unit like those in Romania. The first appears to be favoured, for a variety of reasons, but mainly cost and speed.
Ux Weekly 3/5/04, Nucleonics Week 6/5/04.
Ukraine to build further reactor
Ukraine has confirmed its intention to build unit 3 of Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant, utilising an advanced design of at least 1000 MWe. At present unit 2 is under construction and due to start up in 2005, along with Rovno-4 (2006) - both VVER-1000 reactors. Ukraine currently operates 13 reactors - mostly VVER-1000 - at four sites. Khmelnitsky-3 would be expected to come on line about 2012.
NucNet news # 107/04.
BNFL cleans up structure
British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) has launched its nuclear decommissioning and clean-up activities as a new business entity: British Nuclear Group (BNG). This will have an annual turnover of some £2 billion, employing 15,000, and will include the management of Sellafield, Capernhurst, and the UK's Magnox reactors as well as the US subsidiary BNFL Inc. In April 2005 it will become a separate legal entity contracting to the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority which is due to be set up then incorporating most of BNFL's UK assets and liabilities.
BNFL 4/5/04.
Last French coal mine closed
The last operating coal mine in France has closed, indicating the end of nearly three centuries of dependence on the industrial era's prime fuel. Less than 20 years ago at this La Houve mine 22 miners lost their lives due to methane asphyxiation. A century ago France mined 41 million tonnes of coal per year, and there was a major postwar revival in coal demand 50 years ago, but then nuclear power took over the burden of electricity supply - which also became increasingly used for transport. Now that production costs have risen to EUR 150/t, coal mining is no longer economic - imports at a fraction of this price supply what little market remains.
Agence France Presse 20/4/04.
New Japanese reactor in service
Chubu Electric Power's new Hamaoka-5 reactor has started up and been connected to the grid. It is Japan's third Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR), of 1380 MWe net. Commercial operation is expected at the start of 2005. Construction began in May 2000.
NucNet news # 75/04, Nucleonics Week 8/4/04, WNA.
Further Japanese reactors approved
After some delay due to siting problems, units 3 & 4 of the Tsuruga nuclear power plant have been approved by the Fukui prefecture, and Japan Atomic Power Co has sought government approval for construction. These will be the first Advanced Pressurised Water Reactors built - the 1538 MWe APWR design has been developed by Mitsubishi and Westinghouse with four Japanese utilities and is expected to be the basis of future Japanese PWRs. The approval process is likely to take two years, and construction - estimated at 770 billion yen (US$ 7.4 billion) - is due to start in 2007 with commercial operation in 2014-15.
Japan's Electric Power Development Corp has sought permission to build its Ohma nuclear plant - a 1383 MWe Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) - in Aomori prefecture. Construction is due to start in 2006 for commissioning in 2012. Apart from the Fugen experimental Advanced Thermal Reactor (ATR), this would be the first Japanese reactor built to run solely on mixed oxide (MOX) fuel incorporating recycled plutonium. A larger demonstration version of the heavy water ATR was proposed for Ohma, but aborted in 1995.
Due to slower growth in electricity demand than earlier forecast, the Natural Resources & Energy Agency has reduced its forecast for new reactors coming on line to four by 2010, and before this Tepco had slipped the dates for building four new 1325 MWe ABWR reactors by a year or more.
Ux Weekly 22/3/04, JapanToday & Dow Jones 30/3/04, Power in Asia 1 & 15/4/04, Japan Times 18/5/04.
Chinese-Korean thrust into nuclear production of hydrogen
China's Tsinghua University is forming a partnership with the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) to develop nuclear hydrogen production systems. Tsinghua already has a high temperature reactor program and operates the HTR-10, a small high-temperature pebble-bed gas-cooled reactor at the Institute of Nuclear & New Technology. This started up in 2000 and reached full power in 2003. Eventually it will be coupled to a gas turbine, but meanwhile Tsinghua plans to start construction of a larger version, the 150 MW HTR-PM, in 2006. Initially this will drive a steam cycle turbine. Allied to both these is a feasibility study on hydrogen production from such high-temperature nuclear units, which is where KAERI comes in.
In South Korea KAERI has added an HTR-based hydrogen production process to a reactor proposal which has been submitted to the Generation IV International Forum, which is considering reactor designs for use beyond 2020. The basic proposal has been funded to nearly US$ 1 billion by the government, and extra money has been provided for the hydrogen production study, using the conventional sulfur-iodine thermochemical process being developed in Japan. KAERI envisages a 300 MWt pilot module producing 30,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year and costing about US$ 1 billion, with start-up in 2019.
Nucleonics Week 25/3/04.
China's Qinshan-3 in commercial operation
The second Chinese-built reactor in Qinshan phase 2 power plant in Zhejiang Province has started commercial operation. The 610 MWe PWR unit started up in March.
Xinhua 13/5/04.
New Kazakh uranium mine
Following three years' pilot plant operation, Areva and Kazatomprom have agreed to set up a 1500 tU/yr in situ leach (ISL) uranium mine at Muyunkum. Areva holds 51% and will fund the US$ 90 million KATCO venture. Resources are 52,000 t U3O8.
Areva 29/4/04.
Canada's new reactor on course
As governments and utilities on both sides of the Atlantic look towards replacing and expanding nuclear capacity, Canada's ACR-700 reactor seems to have bright prospects. The type is developed from the well-proven Candu-6 which has been built by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL) in Canada, China, South Korea, Romania and Argentina.
The ACR retains the heavy water moderation feature of its predecessors but substitutes light water for the cooling, has a much smaller core using low-enriched uranium, and runs at a higher temperature. It utilises several passive safety features. Units will be assembled from prefabricated modules, eventually cutting construction time to three years. Cost will be well below the Candu-6, though recent reactors of that type have been built under budget and ahead of schedule.
The ACR is moving towards design certification in Canada and the USA, as well as the UK. In the USA the design certification application is due to be lodged in 2005, and there is also a Combined Construction and Operating Licence (COL) application pending (see US story). Both should be issued then in 2008, while Canadian certification is expected earlier. Accordingly, AECL expects that the first units will be operating in Canada about 2012, and in the USA about 2013.
The new reactor will be put together from modules, and AECL anticipates having major components built in US shipyards, using a high degree of standardisation of components.
On the basis of its several recent Asian construction successes, AECL is projecting the lead unit cost at US$ 1255 per kilowatt, with later units under $1100/kWe. The ACR is designed to be built in pairs, and construction time is estimated at 44 months for the first unit reducing to 36 months for the fifth and subsequent ones. Such is the confidence of AECL that it plans to offer fixed price contracts to buyers.
A larger version of the type - the ACR-1000 - is under development, and beyond that AECL has the Candu-X on the drawing board - a supercritical reactor and step forward from the ACR which is expected to be available about 2020.
Nucleonics Week 13/5/04, AECL.
Canadian 2003 mine production
Cogema Resources has reported total uranium production of 2374 tonnes U3O8 (2318.5 tU) from the McClean Lake mine and a final 32 t (27 tU) from cleaning up Cluff Lake mill in 2003. With 6877 t (5831 tU) from McArthur River and 2690 t (2281 tU) from Rabbit Lake this brings 2003 Canadian production to 12,333 tonnes U3O8 (10,458 tU) - less than 2002 due to the McArthur River mine flooding and conclusion of Cluff Lake outweighing the return to strength of Rabbit Lake mine.
Cogema Resources 2/4/04.
WA government revokes U mine agreement
The Western Australian Labor government has applied its anti-uranium policy to revoke the moribund 1978 state mining agreement for Yeelirrie - the world's largest near-surface uranium deposit. However, WMC Resources retains the mining tenements for the 52,500 tonnes U3O8 resource, and will await future opportunities after undertaking rehabilitation of the site.
WA Minister for State Development 31/3/04.
Honeymoon resource confirmed
Drilling and neutron logging by Southern Cross Resources has confirmed a high-grade uranium resource suitable for in situ leach mining at Honeymoon-East Kalkaroo in South Australia. Further drilling of nearby parts of the palaeochannel is being undertaken to identify further resources.
SXR 14/4/04.
Australian uranium production
WMC Resources has reported Olympic Dam production of 1193 tonnes U3O8 (1208 t UOC, 1011 tU) for the March quarter, the highest for 2.5 years, and ERA reported 1210 t U3O8 drummed at Ranger, in line with 2003.
WMC 21/4/04, ERA 20/4/04.
Last year three new reactors commenced commercial operation and two refurbished ones were connected to their grids:
In Canada, Pickering-4 and Bruce 3 & 4 restarted, but grid connection of Bruce 3 was not until January 2004.
Six smaller units were shut down: UK's Calder Hall 1-4 (200 MWe total), Japan's Fugen (148 MWe) and Germany's Stade (630 MWe). Construction started on several new plants.
Suppliers endorse need for electric reliability
In March, Eurelectric - the body representing the EU power industry - convened a meeting of representatives of the major electricity-industry associations from the USA, Japan, Canada and Australia. In the wake of last summer's blackouts in North America and Europe, the associations stressed that reliability of electricity supply should be a paramount consideration in electricity markets. They underlined the need for fuel diversity to achieve "reliable, sustainable and affordable" electricity along with the need to meet CO2-emission targets, and "called particular attention to the need for nuclear energy" in the supply mix. (With the accession of five countries relying significantly on nuclear power, the total EU nuclear generating capacity has grown to 155 units - more than one third of the world total number.)
NucNet news # 105/04, Eurelectric Watts New? April 2004.
World nuclear power prospects
The US Energy Information Administration publishes International Energy Outlook (IEO) projections. Its 2004 IEO paints a clearer picture than previously concerning nuclear power prospects. In its reference case, world electricity demand nearly doubles from 2001 to 2025, to 23,000 billion kWh. In the developing world the annual increase averages 3.5%.
Electricity generation from nuclear power is expected to increase to 2020, and the projection is much stronger on this than previous ones, due to higher capacity utilisation, longer plant operating lives, and higher gas prices. The largest increase in nuclear output is expected in the developing world, notably Asia, at an average rate of 4.1% per year.
EIA IEO2004.
Additional Protocols extend IAEA safeguards
On 30 April, the Additional Protocol to the safeguards agreements with 15 European Union countries entered into force. The countries were Britain, France and the 13 non-nuclear-weapon states of the EU - all had signed the Protocols in 1998. Seven of the ten countries joining the EU on 1 May already have Additional Protocols in force. This brings to 57 (+ Taiwan) the total of countries adopting it, and giving the IAEA inspection teams enhanced access to counter nuclear proliferation. There are 71 countries with significant nuclear activities, and 25 of these have yet to bring into force the Additional Protocol, though many are in process.
IAEA 30/4/04, ASNO.
Coal21 action plan launched
An ambitious national project focused on reducing carbon dioxide emissions from coal combustion in power stations has been launched by the Industry & Resources Minister in Australia. It involves R&D to about 2015 and a subsequent deployment phase. "Technologies to reduce emissions from coal must be an essential component of the overall response to climate change," since renewables cannot contribute much in this time frame. However, for coal, "it is unlikely that any technology combination that includes CO2 capture and storage will be competitive with conventional (coal) generation." Two general cost targets are endorsed: "options for abating coal-related emissions must be competitive with other options in the Australian generation market", and any impact on the cost of electricity must not be so great as to impair international competitiveness.
Coal21 24/3/04, Coal21 National Action Plan.
Briefing & mines papers updated in last two months include:
Reactor table
Nuclear power in Japan
Nuclear power in South Korea
Nuclear power in China (includes Taiwan)
Renewable energy & electricity
Canada's uranium production & nuclear power
Nuclear power in South Africa (new)
Uranium & nuclear power in Kazakhstan (new)
Small nuclear power reactors
The hydrogen economy
Waste management & nuclear fuel cycle
Uranium & depleted uranium
Early Soviet reactors and EU accession
Radioisotopes in medicine
Australia's U deposits and prospective mines (UIC mines paper)
Ux: 24 May US$ 17.75/lb U3O8, US$ 46.15 /kgU.
See also Ux Consulting graphs
World reactor changes
USA: 33 MWe uprate to Kewaunee, to 590 MWe
Canada: Bruce-6 uprate by 26 MWe to 811 MWe
Japan: Hamaoka-5 operating, 1380 MWe.
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