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

21 February 2103 

New Chinese reactor in operation
Unit 1 of the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant in Liaoning in now in operation. It is the first nuclear plant in northeast China. Construction of the CPR-1000 reactor began in August 2007 but was delayed following the Fukushima accident. This is the first nuclear power station receiving central government approval to build four units at the same time. Phase 2 of Hongyanhe has been approved and comprises two further reactors. The operating company is a joint venture of two major nuclear utilities, China Guangdong Nuclear Power (CGNPC) and China Power Investment Corp (CPI). Alstom is providing the four low-speed Arabelle turbine-generator sets, but localization is over 70%. It is China’s 17th power reactor. The project incorporates a seawater desalination plant to provide cooling water.
WNN 18/2/13. China Nuclear power

Kazakh nuclear power prospects advance
Earlier this month Kazatomprom said it intended soon to submit a proposal to the government for building a nuclear power reactor in the country. This was assumed to be for a long-discussed VBER-300 unit at Aktau, in the west of the country. The VBER-300 is an advanced Russian design which would be developed in conjunction with Kazatomprom. A feasibility study has been done and environmental approval obtained for this project, but finance and disagreement about intellectual property rights have held it back. The Kazakh Atomic Energy Committee said it would call tenders for the first plant, to be built by 2020, and that the 2006 Atomniye Stantsii joint venture with Russia was the leading contender. An intergovernmental agreement in March 2011 appeared to progress this. The JSC Kazakhstani Russian Company Nuclear Power Stations, at Aktau, has been listed since 2006 as a 50% subsidiary of Kazatomprom.

Parallel to but following these developments, a series of agreements since 2007 between the country's National Nuclear Centre (NNC) and Japanese companies culminated this week in the signing of a further agreement between Japan Atomic Power Co with Marubini Utility Services Ltd and NNC. This is about technical cooperation towards building a nuclear power plant. This project is on the state program of nuclear industry development in Kazakhstan for 2010-20, developed by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, NNC and Kazatomprom, and also submitted for approval to the government. In 2011 NNC said the Japanese ABWR was preferred technology for this, and Lake Balkhash the favoured site. However, recently the Japan Atomic Energy Agency has said that a small high-temperature gas-cooled reactor was under consideration, for use in natural gas liquefaction and district heating at Kurchatov.

Last year the government reviewed a draft master plan of power generation development in the country until 2030, with nuclear electricity share then to be about 4.5% of projected 150 billion kWh, requiring about 900 MWe of nuclear capacity.
WNN 19/2/13. Kazakhstan

Bulgarian energy crisis hits government
High electricity prices arising from a long-running failure to maintain generating capacity has led to resignation of the government in Bulgaria. The main low-cost electricity supply (33% of total) is from the two remaining units of Kozloduy nuclear power plant – four others having been shut down as a condition of EU accession, demolishing Bulgaria’s status as a major electricity exporter. Plans since 2006 to build new nuclear capacity by the end of this year have been thwarted by lack of capital, as potential investors have turned away. As a result, Russia’s Rosatom is suing the Bulgarian government for EUR 1 billion on account of the aborted Belene project. Public opinion remains in favour of new nuclear plants.

The State Energy and Water Regulatory Commission (SEWRC) has oversight of Bulgaria’s wholesale power market, including authority to set prices. It raised them by 13% in July 2012, putting many people in distress with winter heating bills. The government then threatened to nationalise the distribution firms, including Czech-controlled CEZ Bulgaria. CEZ said that such a move would be a "gross violation of laws of Bulgaria as a member state of the European Union." It claimed to have fulfilled all its obligations, and had received no notice from SEWRC to the contrary. A general election is due by July.
WNN 20/2/13. Bulgaria

Other papers significantly updated on the WNA Public Information Service (see WNA web site): China NP, Russia fuel cycle, Germany

 

 7 & 14 February 2013 

US utility gives up on nuclear plant
In February 2013 Duke Energy’s 860 MWe Crystal River PWR in Florida was decommissioned due to damage to the containment structure sustained when new steam generators were fitted in 2009-10, a self-managed project under Progress Energy. Its 40-year operating licence was due to expire in 2016. Some $835 million in insurance is to be paid.
WNN 5/2/13. US Nuclear power

Further delay expected in Finnish reactor construction
Finnish utility Teollisuuden Voima Oyj (TVO) said that it is "preparing for the possibility" that the third unit at Olkiluoto may not start operating until 2016. Last year it said that the reactor completion had been delayed beyond 2014. Construction of Olkiluoto 3 - the first-of-a-kind Areva EPR reactor - started in May 2005, with completion originally scheduled for 2009. Areva and Siemens are building the plant under a fixed-price turnkey contract.
WNN 11/2/13. Finland

US president avoids mention of nuclear power in major address
US President Barack Obama clearly acknowledged the threat of climate change and the pressing need to do something about it in his annual state of the union address. He highlighted the potential for solar, wind and even natural gas - but not nuclear. However, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) has welcomed the first benefits flowing to the industry from the creation last February of a senior administration role to expedite nuclear exports: Director of Nuclear Energy Policy at the National Security Council. The industry had pressed the federal government to improve the coordination among multiple agencies which have a role in permits for such exports, and approvals still take much longer in the USA than in other countries, according to NEI. The NEI also urged the government to complete nuclear cooperation agreements with countries such as Saudi Arabia.
WNN 13/2/13. USA Nuclear power

Japanese utilities raise tariffs
Following two years of financial losses, Tohoku Electric Power, with four idled nuclear power reactors, has applied to raise its electricity prices by 11.4% for domestic users and 17.7 % for industry, its first increases in 33 years. This is mostly to cover increased fossil fuel (especially LNG) use pending resumption of nuclear generation. Tepco increased its domestic tariffs 8.5% last year, Kansai has applied to increase domestic tariffs 11.9% and industrial ones 19.2%, while Kyushu wants to 8.5% and 14.2% increases respectively. Other utilities with idled nuclear capacity are expected to follow suit soon.
WNN 14/2/13. Japan

Other papers significantly updated on the WNA Public Information Service (see WNA web site):
Namibia, Sweden, China NP, Advanced reactors, Small reactors, Uranium enrichment

 

 31 January 2013 

German nuclear fuel tax ruled unconstitutional
The Hamburg Tax Court has ruled that the German tax on nuclear fuel is simply “to siphon off the profits of the nuclear plant operators” and therefore unconstitutional. It has referred the question to the Constitutional Court. Since January 2011, each gram of fissile nuclear fuel loaded into a reactor has carried a levy of €145, which means that nuclear power plants have so far paid around €1.5 billion through the tax as well as bearing much greater costs with reduced revenue from the government’s policy U-turn in March 2011.
WNN 30/1/13. Germany

Kazakhstan retains world lead in uranium production
Kazatomprom has reported total Kazakh uranium production of 20,900 tU (24,647 t U3O8) in 2012, estimated to be about 37% of world total. This is an increase from 19,451 tU in 2011, more than twice Canada’s production. Kazatomprom itself accounted for 11,900 tU in 2012.

Fossil fuel imports scorch Japan trade balance
Increased volumes of LNG imports and increased prices for those have impacted Japan’s trade balance for a second year. Total spending on LNG in 2012 increased by 25% to ¥6.0 trillion ($66 billion). This is about ¥2.5 trillion ($27 billion) more than levels before the March 2011 accident at Fukushima Daiichi, which preceded the progressive shutdown of nuclear generation. LNG now represents over 8% of all Japanese imports by value (compared with petroleum - 17%). Overall in 2012 Japan recorded a trade deficit of ¥6.9 trillion ($75 billion) after exports of ¥63.7 trillion ($699 billion). The country’s emission targets are moot.
WNN 25/1/13. Japan

UK progress towards waste repository stalls
After a 7-3 vote by Cumbria County Council to halt investigations into locating the UK’s high-level waste repository there, the UK has no live options for it. Two Local Boroughs in Cumbria are strongly in favour of locating the repository there, but agreement at both regional and local government level is necessary. Four years progress has been stalled. The site selection process is based on a principle of voluntarism under which communities explore their options with the right to withdraw at any time. The same policy has been applied with success in Finland and Sweden to find suitable and welcoming places for radioactive waste disposal. The vast majority of UK high-level wastes are already in Cumbria, in interim storage. Despite the vote, the County Council hoped that "The nuclear industry is, and will continue to be, a key part of the Cumbrian economy."
WNN 30/1/13. UK

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