Nuclear Energy Industry Transitions

PPL Corp. has hired William Spence as its executive vice president and chief operating officer, effective June 26. Spence joins PPL from Pepco Holdings Inc., where he served as senior vice president.

Battelle has promoted Russ Austin to senior vice president, general counsel and board secretary, effective Aug. 1. Austin has been Battelle’s associate general counsel for almost five years. He will succeed Jerry Bahlmann, who is retiring after 30 years of service.

Lloyd Hollingsworth has joined CPS Energy as vice president and chief risk officer.

Cecil House has been elected vice president of operations support and chief procurement officer for Edison International and Southern California Edison. Previously, House served as vice president of customer operations at Public Service Electric & Gas Co.

Total Resource Management Inc. has appointed Vince Gilbert director of nuclear operations. Gilbert is a former special adviser of operations within NEI’s nuclear generation division.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has named Heather Astwood as the agency’s new nuclear safety attaché at the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna, effective in October. She will replace James Linville, who will return to the NRC’s Office of International Programs. Astwood currently serves as executive assistant and chief of staff for Commissioner Edward McGaffigan.

Dipesh Shah, will step down as chief executive of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority at the end of his three-year term in November.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, 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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