Southern Co. Advances; Atomists and Their Games

For those who have been following nuclear energy issues for the last 10-15 years, this kind of news can cause a bit of a tingle:

The utility recently cleared a couple of hurdles in the approval process for Plant Vogtle units 3 and 4. Last week, the NRC determined its new Westinghouse AP1000 design meets current federal and state safety requirements. After the Fukushima I disaster, NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko had expressed concerns that Westinghouse, a unit of Japan-based Toshiba, had failed to properly measure the impact that earthquakes, tornadoes or other disasters could have on the new design.

Officials approved the plan after Westinghouse addressed those concerns. So far, the NRC has turned a deaf ear to anti-nuclear and other environmental activists who are urging the agency to halt new plant approvals like this one, as well as re-licensing older reactors.

Because we haven’t heard news like this before. It’s all new. And it’s very exciting. (The two reactors should begin operation in 2016 and 2017.)

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Although, the perambulations of stock prices don’t really mean that much to me, it’s interesting to see that investors don’t have a problem with Southern Co.’s nuclear ambitions:

With healthy sales growth and approval of its nuclear plants likely, there’s a lot to love about SO [the stock symbol for Southern] — for steady growth and solid income. SO just set a new 52-week high of $40.87 on July 21 and at $39.41, the utility is trading nearly 12% above its 52-week low of $35.19 last August.

Because really, why should they?

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Hard to say Russians don’t know how to have fun:

A competition held at Rostov to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the commissioning of reactor 1 saw some 48 participants from ten of Russia's nuclear power plants. During an opening ceremony, Ludmila Tkachenko, deputy chairman of the Volgodonsk city government, said: "I admire the work of Rosenergoatom Concern on the organization of sports competitions. There has already become a good tradition for atomists to hold various sports championships, competitions and tournaments in our city."

“Atomists.” I wonder what Russian word led to that translation, but I like it regardless. Looks like a lot of fun and a lot of medals were had by all. The story makes it clear that these are very competitive nuclear facility workers.

The plant has previously hosted and won medals in the All-Russia Hand-To-Hand Combat Tournament and its workers have cycled the 800 kilometre journey home from the Zaporizhzhya plant in Ukraine.

And here we play on softball teams. This video shows you what Russian hand-to-hand combat looks like.

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We’re a little surprised:

Ts. Damdinsuren, a senior Mongolian nuclear official, said Ulan Bator [Mongolia’s capital] has not changed its atomic plans despite the severe nuclear accident that occurred in Japan's Fukushima Daichi plant after the March earthquake and tsunami.

He said Mongolia has rich coal reserves, but using nuclear energy is favorable because fossil fuel could harm human health and the environment.

But only because the story ended up here:

A senior Japanese nuclear engineer said Japan would be glad to provide technology and safety control support for Mongolia's peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Surprised yes, pleased certainly.

The Rostov tennis team.

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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