Nuclear Energy Industry Transitions

Ameren Corp. has named Timothy Herrmann vice president, engineering, nuclear, at the AmerenUE Callaway Nuclear Plant. Herrmann has been with AmerenUE since 1981, most recently as chief engineer at Callaway.

Sacramento Municipal Utlitiy District (SMUD) has elected Genevieve Shiroma president of its board of directors. Susan Patterson was elected vice president.

The Department of Energy has named Ingrid Kolb director of the Office of Management. Tom Pyke is the department’s new chief information officer. Kolb previously served as deputy director of DOE's Office of Management, while Pyke joins DOE from the Department of Commerce, where he has been chief information officer for the last four years.

Exelon has announced several executive-level promotions:
• John Young, current executive vice president of finance and markets, will also assume the position of chief financial officer.
• Michael Metzner, current vice president of investor relations and shareholder services, has been named treasurer.
• Matthew Hilzinger, current vice president and corporate controller, has been promoted to senior vice president and corporate controller.
• Phillip Barnett, current vice president of Power Generation finance, will be senior vice president of corporate financial planning.

Constellation Energy has named George Vanderheyden president of UniStar Nuclear, its joint venture with AREVA Inc., and senior vice president of Constellation Generation Group. Vanderheyden, who currently is site vice president of Constellation Energy’s Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, will lead the company’s efforts to develop and deploy new nuclear facilities. James Spina will succeed Vanderheyden at Calvert Cliffs. Spina’s current role as site vice president at Constellation’s Nine Mile Point Station will be filled by Timothy O’Connor.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Environment, Energy, Politics, Technology, Economics

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Activists' Claims Distort Facts about Advanced Reactor Design

Below is from our rapid response team . Yesterday, regional anti-nuclear organizations asked federal nuclear energy regulators to launch an investigation into what it claims are “newly identified flaws” in Westinghouse’s advanced reactor design, the AP1000. During a teleconference releasing a report on the subject, participants urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to suspend license reviews of proposed AP1000 reactors. In its news release, even the groups making these allegations provide conflicting information on its findings. In one instance, the groups cite “dozens of corrosion holes” at reactor vessels and in another says that eight holes have been documented. In all cases, there is another containment mechanism that would provide a barrier to radiation release. Below, we examine why these claims are unwarranted and why the AP1000 design certification process should continue as designated by the NRC. Myth: In the AP1000 reactor design, the gap between the shield bu...

What Happens During a Refueling Outage?

You may have noticed over the past few weeks that a number of nuclear plants are shut down for refueling outages or are resuming operations after just returning from one. This type of routine outage usually occurs in the spring or fall when electricity demand is low so that nuclear reactors can replace about one-third of the spent fuel rods with new fuel and conduct other routine maintenance and repairs at the plant. To get a better sense of how refueling works at a nuclear energy facility, I spoke with Marcus Nichol, NEI’s senior project manager for used fuel storage and transportation, and asked him to explain the basics. Why does a nuclear plant need to replace one-third of its fuel? Nichol: The main purpose of a refueling outage is to replace older fuel that is depleted—meaning it can no longer efficiently produce energy from nuclear fission reactions—with new fuel. This “used fuel” has typically been used in the reactor for four-and-a-half to six years before it is pe...

Nuclear Utility Moves Up in Credit Ratings, Bank is "Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy"

Some positive signs that nuclear utilities can continue to receive positive ratings even while they finance new nuclear plants for the first time in decades: Wells Fargo upgrades SCANA to Outperform from Market Perform Wells analyst says, "YTD, SCG shares have underperformed the Regulated Electrics (total return +2% vs. +9%). Shares trade at 11.3X our 10E EPS, a modest discount to the peer group median of 11.8X. We view the valuation as attractive given a comparatively constructive regulatory environment and potential for above-average long-term EPS growth prospects ... Comfortable with Nuclear Strategy. SCG plans to participate in the development of two regulated nuclear units at a cost of $6.3B, raising legitimate concerns regarding financing and construction. We have carefully considered the risks and are comfortable with SCG’s strategy based on a highly constructive political & regulatory environment, manageable financing needs stretched out over 10 years, strong partners...

NEI Nuclear Notes

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