NEI's Energy Markets Report - September 24

NEI's Energy Markets Report - September 24 - 28, 2007

Here's a summary of what went on in the energy markets last week:

Electricity peak prices rose between $2-16/MWh at all hubs except for ERCOT. The eastern hubs, NEPOOL and PJM West, increased by $8/MWh and $16/MWh last week due to unseasonably hot weather at the beginning of the week (see pages 1 and 3).

Gas prices at the Henry Hub rose from $6.22/MMBtu to $6.26/MMBtu. By the end of 2008, U.S. liquefied natural gas import capacity is expected to double to more than 10 Bcf per day (EIA). Total U.S. gas consumption in 2006 averaged about 60 Bcf per day (see pages 1 and 3). Gas futures at the Henry Hub for September 2008 averaged nearly $8/MMBtu (see page 2).

Nuclear plant capacity availability averaged 91 percent last week. Six reactors began refueling outages last week while two were in maintenance. River Bend’s unexpected shut down is under investigation and Browns Ferry 3 was down briefly for drywell leak inspections (see pages 2 and 4).

Cushing OK WTI oil prices increased $3.31 to $82.26/barrel two weeks ago. Crude oil prices that week surpassed the $80/barrel threshold reaching as high as $83.85/barrel on September 20. As EIA speculated, the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates continues to have an effect on rising crude oil prices. Crude oil futures averaged $78.04/barrel for September 2008 (see pages 1, 2 and 3).

For the report click here. It is also located on NEI's Financial Center webpage.

Comments

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...

How many nuclear plants does it take to meet the world's energy needs?

Several weeks ago Joshua Pearce at Clarion University in Pennsylvania released a study titled “ Thermodynamic limitations to nuclear energy deployment as a greenhouse gas mitigation technology .” In the study he stated... nuclear energy production would have to increase by 10.5% per year from 2010 to 2050 to both replace fossil-fuel-energy use and meet the future energy demands. This line, of course, made the headlines and has been picked up by several outlets and blogs . When looking into his calculations for this statement, he made one assumption error that overstated the above sentence by nearly a factor of three. Page 121, Section 4.1 of the study states: Richard Smalley pointed out that in 2004, the global economy consumed the equivalent of 220 million barrels of oil per day, which converted into electricity terms is the equivalent of 14.5 TeraWatts (TW), or 14,500,000 MegaWatts (MW) (2005). … With a nuclear plant having about 1000 MW (1 GW) of capacity, we would need 14,500...

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...

NEI Nuclear Notes

Search This Blog