NUCLEONICS WEEK
Volume 60 / Number 33 / August 15, 2019
Fluor says new NuScale investors paying costs as it seeks to cut stake
Fluor sees growing interest in NuScale
„„
Fluor has second quarter of losses
„„
Fluor, the majority owner of NuScale Power,
said new investors in the small modular reactor
developer are paying its costs for the remainder
of the year. Fluor is seeking additional investors
to provide financial support in 2020, Fluor
executives said August 1.
Fluor CFO Michael Steuert said on a
conference call to discuss second-quarter
earnings that day that Doosan Heavy
Industries and Sargent & Lundy, which
recently took an unspecified equity stake in
UK industry happy with Brexit preparations, but worker movement a concern
The UK nuclear industry is happy with the
level of preparations to date for any form of
UK exit from the European Union October 31,
but concerns remain that if the country left
the EU without a deal or transition period it
could lead to the disruption of movement of
nuclear fuel and plant components, as well as
restrictions in the movement of sector
workers, according to the Nuclear Industry
Association UK.
Peter Haslam, the Head of Policy at the
NIA UK, said in an interview August 13 that the
industry was “satisfied that measures are in
Wind will replace Duane Arnold output: Alliant
NextEra closing Duane Arnold in 2020
„„
Iowa wind farms will replace output
„„
An Alliant Energy utility subsidiary will rely on
upgraded wind farms and build additional wind
generation in Iowa to effectively replace power
it will lose once the Duane Arnold nuclear plant
in Iowa is shut in September 2020.
A spokesman for the Iowa utility
subsidiary, Interstate Power & Light, said in an
interview August 12 that the utility now meets
25% of its customer demand in the state
through an off-take agreement with NextEra
Energy Resources, which owns the majority
www.platts.com
NuScale, are expected to fund cash
requirements of NuScale for the rest of
2019. None of the companies have said how
much equity the new investors acquired or
how much they will spend to support the
business.
Engineering and construction company
Fluor said in its quarterly financial results filed
with the US Securities and Exchange
Commission August 1 that it spent $34 million
in the first half of 2019 on NuScale, after
reimbursement of some costs from the US
Department of Energy under a cost-sharing
place” so that the UK nuclear power industry
can continue to operate after the country
leaves the EU, even without a deal or
transition period.
However, he emphasized that the industry
had significant concerns about post-Brexit
transportation “pinch points,” particularly
around French and UK ports, where
movements of nuclear fuel and plant parts
could be delayed due enhanced customs and
regulatory checks leading to entry backlogs.
The UK voted by a majority of 52% to 48%
in a referendum in June 2016 to leave the EU.
interest in the 647-MW nuclear plant and
controls 430 MW of net capacity from the unit.
NextEra Energy Resources also owns
nine wind farms with multiple phases in
wind-farm-heavy Iowa with combined
capacity of more than 1,000 MW. As part of
its deal with Interstate Power & Light,
NextEra Energy Resources will supply power
from four Iowa wind farms that will have
about 340 MW of capacity after a $250 million
project to upgrade and replace turbines is
complete.
NextEra Energy Resources had said in
agreement designed to spur development of
a US-built SMR. DOE reimbursed the
company $28 million in the first half of the
year, Fluor said.
NuScale CFO Jay Surina said in an email
May 23 that Fluor would remain the majority
owner of NuScale after agreeing to sell a
stake to Doosan and Sargent & Lundy.
However, during the August 1 earnings call
with analysts, Steuert said Fluor is open to
additional investors taking a stake in NuScale
to help “fund requirements beyond 2019.”
(continued on page 7)
Then-UK Prime Minister Theresa May in March
2017 gave the EU two years legal notice of the
UK’s intended March 29 departure from the
group. However, an extension of six months
until October 31 was subsequently agreed
upon, the second such Brexit postponement
following a 14-day extension in March.
Under UK law, unless a revised version of
the country’s withdrawal agreement with the
EU is approved by Parliament before October 31,
or the departure is again delayed, then the
country will automatically leave the EU without
(continued on page 7)
Inside this issue
ISO-NE winter fuel security plan
takes effect after FERC fails to act 3
FirstEnergy Solutions encounters
opposition to restructuring plan 4
Orano posts $287 million
in net income for first half of 2019 5
Opponents of Ohio nuclear support
bill told to resubmit petition 6
Yangjiang-6 in China ready
for commercial operation 6
Nucleonics Week August 15, 2019

July 2018 that Duane Arnold would shut because it was increasingly
uneconomic to operate.
IPL had been under contract to purchase power from Duane Arnold
through 2025. But in December the Iowa Utilities Board approved a
settlement in which Interstate Power & Light could end the power
purchase agreement five years early, in 2020, in exchange for a
$110 million buyout payment to NextEra Energy Resources.
No new off-take agreement for power from the nuclear facility
have been signed, meaning Duane Arnold’s closure will not likely be
reversed, a power sector source said in an interview August 13,
speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss contracting matters.
The lack of willingness by market participants to sign such agreements
“speaks to the economic conditions in the Midwest Independent
System Operator market,” the source said.
IPL owns two wind farms in Iowa with a combined capacity of
IPL expands wind generation in Iowa 299 MW and recently brought online two others — Upland Prairie
In its second-quarter earnings report August 1, Alliant discussed its and English Farms — with a combined capacity of 470 MW.
plans to “transition” to cleaner energy resources by 2024 by reducing The utility is expected to bring online four additional wind farms in
its dependency on coal-fired generation to 23% of capacity in 2024 Iowa by the end of 2020, which will bring its wind generation capacity
from 31% at the end of 2018, and boost its use of renewables, mainly in the state to 1,449 MW.
wind, to 33% of capacity in 2024 from 20% at the end of 2018.
It said it expects to see its natural gas-fired capacity, currently at correction
42% of its fuel mix, remain roughly the same in 2024. Nuclear power An earlier version of a story originally published in the August 8 Nucleonics
would go from 9% of capacity in 2005 to 6% in 2018 and zero in 2024 Week incorrectly identified Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
after Duane Arnold closes, the company said. The story has been updated to reflect his correct first name and to state that a
The company has said it plans to eliminate coal from its pilot high-assay low-enriched uranium program is in Ohio.
electricity mix by 2050.

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Nucleonics Week August 15, 2019
Alliant Energy is a full or partial owner of nine coal power plants in
Iowa, totaling 5,003 MW of capacity.
Iowa’s wind industry represents more than one-third of the state’s
energy capacity — more than 7,300 MW.
Although Iowa is a leader in energy generation from wind, coal
generation remains the largest source of generation in Iowa at roughly
45% of total net electricity generation in 2018, according to data
released by the US Energy Information Administration in April.
Alliant’s chairman, president and CEO John Larsen said in an
August 6 earnings release that the company’s utilities “had lower earnings
year over year driven by lower electric and gas sales due to milder
temperatures in the second quarter, and timing of income tax expense.”
But he said that increasing the utilities’ wind generation portfolio
and operating efficient gas units at higher capacity rates will “result in
lower fuel costs for our customers.”
According to American Wind Energy Association data, Iowa had
8,957 MW of installed wind capacity as of the end of June. Only Texas,
with 25,629 MW of wind, has more.
Texas has been the focus of wind investments from dozens of
developers, some national developers such as Duke Energy, but
also international wind developers, such as Germany’s E.On and
Spain’s Iberdrola.
Wind generation in Iowa, on the other hand, is dominated by Des
Moines-based regulated utility MidAmerican Energy, NextEra Energy
Resources, and more recently Alliant’s IPL.
MidAmerican, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy,
ISO-NE winter fuel security plan
takes effect after FERC fails to act
A plan that system operator ISO New England proposed to resolve fuel
security issues during the 2023-24 and 2024-25 winters has gone into
effect automatically as the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
said it lacked a quorum to act on the filing.
The so-called inventoried energy program provides financial
incentives to plants with three days worth of fuel, or equivalent stored
power, onsite. It drew criticism from a wide range of stakeholders
ranging from consumer advocates to energy suppliers, who said it
would benefit coal and nuclear plants that were already planning to be
operating during peak demand periods in winter.
As such, the proposal may wind up being the first test of the Fair
RATES Act, enacted last year to prevent changes in power rates from
taking effect without review in the event of deadlocks or a lack of a
quorum at FERC.
In accordance with the new law, FERC commissioners filed
statements August 8 explaining their views, shining light on the
continuing divide on grid reliability and resilience issues between
Chairman Neil Chatterjee and Commissioner Richard Glick.
Chatterjee said in his statement that if there had been a quorum
at the time he would have voted in favor of ISO-NE’s proposed tariff
changes as “a just and reasonable short-term solution to help
compensate resources that provide winter energy security and improve
reliability while [ISO-NE] develops a long-term market solution.”
Glick, on the other hand, called the inventoried energy program
© 2019 S&P Global Platts, a division of S&P Global Inc. All rights reserved.
“patently unjust and unreasonable,” saying it was a windfall for nuclear,
coal, and hydropower participants and a waste of consumers’ money.
The statements also confirmed that Commissioners Cheryl LaFleur
and Bernard McNamee did not participate in the proceeding,
preventing the five-member commission from having a quorum. One
of the commission positions is vacant.
FERC was statutorily required to rule by August 5 on ISO-NE’s
March 25 filing seeking review of the program, according to a notice
August 7.
Federal Power Act Section 205 tariff filings of the type ISO-NE
submitted describing the program go into effect automatically, under
a legal principal known as operation of law, if FERC fails to issue an
order within 60 days accepting or denying the proposed changes. As
requested in ISO-NE’s filing, the new tariff language has a May 28
effective date.
Interim fix
The inventoried energy program at issue will compensate
generating resources, during the winters covered by the next two
ISO-NE capacity auctions, for up to three days’ worth of electricity
output during periods when the region’s energy security is most likely
to be stressed.
The program was announced after ISO-NE agreed to put forth an
interim market-based solution to address energy security concerns
brought on by increasing reliance on natural gas-fired generation that
can face pipeline constraints during winter cold spells.
The financial incentives aim to increase generation in the region
beyond what would otherwise occur, and to reduce the likelihood
that resources with stored fuel onsite would pursue retirement
before ISO-NE could implement a permanent, market-based solution
to address the region’s fuel security challenges.
The program will allow participation by oil, coal, nuclear, biomass
and refuse generators, as well as hydro, pumped storage, electric
storage and storage coupled with wind or solar. A gas-fired plant
could participate if it had a firm gas delivery contract meeting the
program’s requirements.
Participating resources will get paid a rate of $82.49/MWh in
exchange for selling a limited amount of inventoried energy forward
for the entire winter season from December through February.
3
Nucleonics Week August 15, 2019
Resources can also participate in just a spot part of the program,
earning $8.25/MWh by providing electricity on so-called inventoried
energy days.
Reasonably balanced
Inventoried energy days that would trigger a payout are limited to
days in December, January or February when the average of the high
and low temperature is less than or equal to 17 degrees F at Bradley
International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
Under this criterion, there would have been just five inventoried
energy days this past winter, and 15 in winter 2017-18, according to
data from S&P Global Platts Analytics.
Chatterjee said his support for the interim program was tied to his
concern for what ISO-NE calls “misaligned incentives for energy supply
arrangements.”
Chatterjee’s statement offered several reasons certain parties
oppose the inventoried energy program, including that its success
would be difficult to measure; its costs are too high while there are
less expensive alternatives; and its assumptions are flawed. Those
concerns, however, were reasonably balanced against the need to
maintain reliability, he said.
Without a quorum, Chatterjee said he was unable to discuss the
proposal’s complex issues with his colleagues.
‘Burning that money’
Glick, in his statement, asserted that ISO-NE had provided no
evidence that the program, estimated to cost as much as $300 million
in total, would actually improve fuel security or that any improvements
would be worth the cost.
The proposal failed to demonstrate a near-term operational
problem that couldn’t be addressed through existing rules, Glick said.
But one of the more egregious flaws of the proposal is that facilities
accounting for at least a third of eligible capacity already maintain
more on-site fuel than called for under the program, he said.
“That means that at least $40 million a year is likely to be spent on
resources, such as coal and nuclear generators, that will not change
their behavior in response to those payments. That is an utter waste of
ratepayers’ money,” Glick said. “Based on the record here, one cannot
help but wonder whether burning that money might contribute as
much to fuel security as wasting it on entities that we know will not do
anything differently.”
The inventoried energy program also drew the ire of some
consumer groups, state policymakers and energy companies in
comments previously filed with FERC.
Judicial review
For example, the consumer group Public Citizen said the program
appeared to be a regional version of the failed notice of proposed
rulemaking on grid resilience that the Department of Energy sent to
FERC in 2017. DOE had sent the proposal to FERC in a bid to support
generating plants that had 90 days of fuel on-site, which was seen by
some market participants at the time as a way to provide financial
support to struggling coal-fired and nuclear plants.
FERC unanimously rejected the proposed rulemaking in 2018
© 2019 S&P Global Platts, a division of S&P Global Inc. All rights reserved.
(Nucleonics Week, 11 Jan ‘18, 1).
Under the Fair RATES Act, parties may seek rehearing of the tariff
changes even in the absence of a FERC order. If FERC does not act
within 30 days of any rehearing requests that may be filed due to a
2-2 split or no quorum, the filing parties may appeal in court.
How judicial review under these circumstances would work
remains an untested question. While there is no order representing
the view of the majority of the commission, the individual statements
of the commissioners will become a part of the record and could be
considered as the basis for court review.
Recusals
Neither LaFleur nor McNamee offered comments with respect to
the merits of ISO-NE’s proposal.
LaFleur will leave the commission at the end of August with plans
to continue some role in the energy sector.
Questions have been raised since McNamee joined the commission
over whether he could legally vote on grid resilience and fuel security
matters, given his prior positions at DOE and the role he played in
drafting the grid resilience rulemaking rejected by FERC.
FERC ethics guidance allows McNamee to participate in certain
proceedings with grid resilience implications.
— Jasmin Melvin, Washington
FirstEnergy Solutions encounters
opposition to restructuring plan
A hearing in federal court is scheduled for August 20 on a
reorganization plan proposed by bankrupt power provider FirstEnergy
Solutions Corp. that is being opposed by the federal government and a
host of non-profit organizations.
FirstEnergy Solutions, owner of the two Beaver Valley units in
Pennsylvania and the Davis-Besse and Perry plants in Ohio, on July 23
submitted an amended reorganization plan in the US Bankruptcy Court
for the Northern District of Ohio following the rejection in April of an
earlier plan. But the federal government, the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel,
the Environmental Law & Policy Center, and others filed papers in
opposition to the new plan.
An August 2 filing by US Assistant Attorney General Joseph Hunt
and other federal government lawyers objected to the plan “because it
would improperly release and enjoin claims against numerous non-
Debtors,” court documents said. The plan “contains provisions forcing
the United States to ‘settle’ its claims and interests without its
consent,” according to the government’s filing.
The new plan would eliminate “non-consensual third-party
releases” that had been contained in the rejected plan, FirstEnergy
Solutions, or FES, had said in a statement April 18. Those releases had
been cited by creditors, federal agencies including NRC, and the court
as an obstacle to approval of the FES plan to emerge from bankruptcy.
FES entered voluntary reorganization in March 2018 under Chapter
11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. FES had said in April the earlier plan
provided “a clear path forward” for the company to emerge from
bankruptcy in 2018.
The associated FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co., which operates
4
Nucleonics Week August 15, 2019
the nuclear plants, is also seeking to exit bankruptcy reorganization on
the same schedule.
Margrethe Kearney, a senior attorney for the Environmental
Law & Policy Center, said in an interview August 13 that the hearing
before Judge Alan Koschik “could take one day, or it could take
three or four days.”
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission joined in the
government’s objection to confirmation of the amended plan, arguing
in its filing that the amended plan does not comply with the
Bankruptcy Code “and further contains overly broad language
concerning the Court’s jurisdiction.” FERC argued that the plan “does
not contain any statement that the Debtors have obtained FERC
approval for changes to any rates over which FERC has jurisdiction.”
FES and Fenoc assets had been owned by former parent company
FirstEnergy Corp., which is now operating a largely regulated utility
after shedding the merchant generating assets now owned by FES.
The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel said in its filing that the plan
“improperly provides for exclusive jurisdiction of the Bankruptcy Court
going forward to the exclusion of any jurisdiction for regulatory bodies
which may currently exist under otherwise applicable law.”
The Consumers’ Counsel filing further stated that “consumers
could be unjustly subject to higher rates or other adverse impacts
without any of the government protections they normally would have,
if the Plan limits the ability of federal or state regulators to perform
their duties under applicable non-bankruptcy law. The Plan or the
order confirming it must include provisions to prevent any such harm
from occurring.”
Decommissioning concerns
Four groups referring to themselves as citizen organizations —
Environmental Law & Policy Center, Ohio Citizen Action, Ohio
Environmental Council, and the Environmental Defense Fund — said in a
joint filing that the debtors “cannot demonstrate that the Plan is feasible,
as it fails to ensure that the Debtors can meet their environmental
remediation and nuclear decommissioning obligations.”
“The Plan is not feasible because the unfunded decommissioning
obligations of Debtors’ nuclear plants are potentially much larger than
the obligations acknowledged in the Plan, and there is significant
uncertainty regarding the magnitude of decommissioning costs,” the
organizations said. “Debtors currently hold in trust only about half of
their estimated site-specific costs of decommissioning their nuclear
plants. In their June 30, 2019 Operating Report, the Debtors stated they
had $1.943 billion in their decommissioning trust.”
“Before it can approve the Plan, the Court should require Debtors
to put the full amount of site-specific cleanup costs — $3.2 billion —
into a separate, segregated nuclear plant decommissioning trust fund
or funds,” the organizations contended.
In April 2018, FES told NRC it would permanently cease operation of
its 971-MW Davis-Besse by May 31, 2020; the 1,011-MW Beaver Valley-1
and the 1,319-MW Perry by May 31, 2021; and 1,008-MW Beaver Valley-2
by October 31, 2021. Last month FES said it was rescinding its notice of
deactivation of Davis-Besse and Perry after Ohio Governor Mike DeWine
signed a bill that will provide financial aid for the plants. FES did not
rescind the deactivation notice for Beaver Valley-1 and -2.
© 2019 S&P Global Platts, a division of S&P Global Inc. All rights reserved.
The Ohio legislation created a nuclear generation fund that
provides a $9/MWh credit for nuclear generation up to a maximum
cost of $150 million a year.
The four groups said the support for the nuclear plants could be
terminated or reversed.
“The Debtors’ just-announced decision to continue to operate the
Ohio plants emphasizes the shortcomings in their Plan — it is only by
the fragile and impermanent grace of the Ohio legislature that these
plants are financially viable to operate,” the citizen organizations
filing said.
“This session of the Ohio legislature may have granted Debtors a
brief recovery window, but without a clear Plan in place with ‘adequate
means’ to cover decommissioning costs, this second chance is
meaningless. Furthermore, a substantial referendum effort to nullify
the recently passed legislation has already been announced. If the
referendum is successful, the law and accompanying subsidy would be
eliminated,” the groups said.
— Michael McAuliffe, Washington
Orano posts $287 million in net income
for first half of 2019
Orano reported net income of Eur259 million ($287.48 million) for the
first half of 2019, Eur464 million more than the loss it posted in the first
six month of 2018, the company said in its earnings release July 31.
The earnings came despite a 3.5% decrease in revenue to
Eur1.654 billion, compared to the Eur1.713 billion in revenue it reported
in the same period in 2018.
The French nuclear fuel cycle company’s operating income was
also positive, boosted by a Eur102 million increase in front-end
operating income, from a loss of Eur58 million in 2018 to Eur44 million
this year.
Driving the growth was Orano’s uranium conversion and
enrichment services unit, which generated Eur369 million in revenue,
28% higher than last year’s Eur288 million, due to an increase in sales.
The front-end business unit benefited from an increase in
enrichment sales volumes and changes to contract terms “related to
better prices and a more positive market outlook,” Orano said in the
earnings release.
Operating tests at the new Phillipe Coste plant that converts U3O8
to UF6 are underway, Orano said, “together with first production runs.”
The facility is “being started up gradually with the goal of reaching
monthly production at the end of year, in line with” its 7,500 metric
tons annual installed capacity.
Orano said in the financial statement that Phillipe Coste’s capacity
would be increased to 15,000 mt/yr during 2020 and plans to meet
monthly production goals in line the higher throughput in the first half
of 2021.
Jacques Peythiueu, senior executive vice president of Orano’s
chemistry and enrichment business, said at a June fuel cycle
conference that an equipment issue has kept the facility operating at
only a fraction of its capacity this year.
Revenue generated by the uranium mining and back-end business
units fell in the first six months of 2019.
5
Nucleonics Week August 15, 2019
Revenue for business activities regarding the back end of the fuel
cycle totaled Eur60 million, compared with Eur151 million for the 2018
first half. Uranium mining revenue was Eur492 million, compared to
Eur555 million last year.
Orano’s order backlog stood at Eur31 billion as of June 30, a slight
decrease from the order backlog value of Eur31.8 billion that the
company held December 31.
The company said the backlog represented “close to nine years of
revenue,” adding that its “order intake for the first half of 2019” was
Eur879 million, “mainly from export contracts signed with Asian and
American customers.”
— Oliver Adelman, London
Opponents of Ohio nuclear support
bill told to resubmit petition
Language errors in petition summary at issue
„„
Ohio AG says revised petition due October 21
„„
The Ohio attorney general has told a group that is seeking to overturn
the state’s recently approved legislation providing financial support for
nuclear plants that they must revise their petition, collect another
1,000 signatures, and resubmit the petition by October 21 if they want
to get the measure on the ballot in November 2020.
The group, called Ohioans Against Corporate Bailout, submitted
their petition to state Attorney General Dave Yost August 12. Yost,
a Republican, said August 13 however that the petition contained
21 “errors” in the group’s proposed summary language, and said that
the errors would require the group to try again.
Briefly
Yangjiang-6 in China ready for commercial operation
The 1,086-MW Yangjiang-6 ACPR-1000 reactor in Guangdong province
in southern China was declared July 24 as being “ready for commercial
operation,” Yangjiang plant owner China General Nuclear Corp.’s
subsidiary CGN Power Co. Ltd. said in a filing with the Hong Kong Stock
Exchange that day.
CGN Power Co. said in the statement that the group’s board of
directors confirmed July 24 that “all commissioning work” for the unit
had been completed and that Yangjiang-6 was “qualified for
commercial operation.”
The company added that the qualification meant that the “six
planned power generation units” at the Yangjiang nuclear power plant
have “fully been put into operation.” The Yangjiang plant has one other
ACPR-1000, Yangjiang-5, and four CPR-1000s, an earlier version of the
same reactor design.
However, the company added that the unit still “needed to obtain
© 2019 S&P Global Platts, a division of S&P Global Inc. All rights reserved.
A spokesman for the group said last month it could not release
the names of members of the group, but said it included energy
companies as well as numerous other organizations and individuals
opposed to the new law.
After months of contentious debate, House Bill 6 was passed by
the state’s legislature and signed into law by Republican Gov. Mike
DeWine on July 23.
The bill adds new fees to Ohio electric bills so that the Public Utilities
Commission of Ohio and the newly created Ohio Air Quality Development
Authority will be able to provide a total of $150 million per year from
2021 to 2027 to FirstEnergy Solution’s 971-MW Davis-Besse and to the
1,319-MW Perry.
The total payments over the seven-year span come to $1.05 billion.
Anyone wishing to submit a petition calling for a referendum
against the bill had to register their petition within 90 days of the
signing of the bill. Once that petition was accepted, the protesting
group would have to collect 265,774 petition signatures to put HB 6 up
for a vote in November 2020.
In a six-page letter on August 12 to Brandon Lynaugh, the founder
and owner of lobbying company Battleground Strategies, which is
backing the referendum push, Yost said that he received a summary of
the petition which, he said, he was unable to certify as “a fair and
truthful summing up of the measure to be referred.”
“I have identified numerous instances where the summary is either
inaccurate or contains material omissions of the statutory language.”
In the letter he itemized 21 specific errors he said he found in the
summary and said, “I must caution that this is not to be an exhaustive
list of all defects in the submitted summary.”
— Jeff Ryser, Houston
certificates such as the Electric Power Business Permit” from the
Chinese government, prior to Yangjiang-6 entering commercial operation.
The company said that commercial operation would start as soon
as all relevant permits from the authorities had been obtained, but did
not say when this might be.
Construction of Yangjiang-6 started in December 2013 and the
unit achieved first criticality June 22. First grid connection took place
June 29, according to CGN.
The ACPR-1000 pressurized water reactor is a Chinese reactor
technology that was originally based on French 900-MW PWR design
that was sold by France under license to China, but all intellectual
property limitations on the technology have now expired.
The Yangjiang plant is operated by CGN subsidiary China
Guangdong Nuclear Power Group.
— Oliver Adelman
6
Nucleonics Week August 15, 2019
Fluor ...from page 1
The investment by Doosan, a South Korean construction
company, requires approval from the interagency Committee on
Foreign Investment in the United States, which is required to review
the national security implications of foreign investments, Steuert
noted. Once the investment is approved, Fluor may not need to fund
NuScale until early 2020, CEO Carlos Hernandez said on the
earnings call.
That period of not needing to provide cash for NuScale could
extend longer, Hernandez said.
“We have noted a significant increase in investor interest in
NuScale, and we are pursuing discussions with other investors
currently,” Hernandez said. NuScale’s progress in NRC’s design
certification process — the regulator has completed three of six
stages of the safety review — “gives us a lot of confidence that we’ll
be able to attract investors in the next six months to a year,” he added.
Fluor’s financial results have deteriorated in recent months, as
charges have mounted related to engineering and construction
projects on which it is behind schedule or over budget. The company
has also reported delays finalizing new contracts.
The company reported a loss of $555 million for the second quarter
of the year, compared to a profit of $115 million in the second quarter
of 2018. Fluor said second-quarter revenue fell to $4.1 billion, down
from $4.9 billion a year earlier.
The company’s loss was driven by a $714 million pre-tax charge
related to a review of the status of many of the company’s projects
that showed some would not meet contractual deadlines and others
would likely not be profitable for other reasons, company officials said
during the call.
Engineering and construction contracts are increasingly
transferring financial risks from customers to construction
contractors, Fluor Chairman Alan Boeckmann said during the call.
Fluor does not have to accept such risks and must better balance the
risks in its contracts, he added.
Fluor starts strategic review of business
Fluor is engaging in a review all its businesses to decide whether to
sell or discontinue any of them and has hired investment bank Lazard
to advise it, officials said. Fluor withdrew all its financial guidance,
including expectations for profits and sales, for 2019 in light of the
review, they said.
The company’s CEO departed the company in May after a first-quarter
loss that surprised financial analysts.
Fluor shares fell almost 27% in trading August 2 on the New York
Stock Exchange, closing at $22.67 a share the day after the earnings
announcement. Like the broader market, the shares have continued to
decline, and closed at $18.40 per share August 13.
Shares are down from above $60 a share in October 2018, a decline
of more than 70%.
Sargent & Lundy is an electric power engineering and consulting
company with nuclear power plant design experience. Doosan has
been involved in building nuclear plants in South Korea and elsewhere.
— William Freebairn, Washington
© 2019 S&P Global Platts, a division of S&P Global Inc. All rights reserved.
Brexit ...from page 1
an agreement October 31.
Boris Johnson replaced May as prime minister July 24 and has
repeatedly publicly promised to take the UK out of the EU October 31
under any circumstances, “do or die.”
The UK and the remaining 27 member states of the EU agreed to
the UK’s withdrawal from the EU and European Atomic Energy
Community, or Euratom, at a summit in Brussels November 25, 2018,
as part of a wider withdrawal agreement between the UK and EU,
signed by the prime ministers of each EU member state.
However, this agreement was subject to the approval of each of
the EU’s member states, as well as the European Parliament, and the
UK Parliament subsequently rejected the deal in three separate votes.
A “no-deal” Brexit October 31 would also see the country
immediately leave Euratom, according to the UK government, which
has said it interprets the referendum result as also meaning that the
country must leave Euratom at the same time it leaves the EU.
Euratom and the Euratom Treaty of 1957 that governs it were
founded to promote nuclear power in Europe. The Euratom Treaty
covers most aspects of nuclear fuel supply in the EU and has other
technical and regulatory functions.
The Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said in
a February 14 report to the UK Parliament that “all of the legislation
necessary to establish a domestic nuclear safeguards regime in the UK
is now in place,” noting that this includes legislation and regulations
which “set out the detailed legal framework for the UK’s new domestic
civil nuclear safeguards regime, after withdrawal from Euratom.” The
UK has also concluded a series of bilateral nuclear cooperation
agreements, including with Canada, South Korea and the US, to replace
existing agreements that Euratom holds with these countries on behalf
of the UK.
Nuclear goods need priority
Haslam said that the nuclear industry had “concerns about the
practicalities of nuclear movements in and out of ports” after October 31,
in the event of a no-deal Brexit, meaning that the industry is worried that
nuclear fuel and plant parts could face long delays in arriving at UK
power plants due to enhanced customs checks.
He defined nuclear movements as shipments containing nuclear
fuel and nuclear power plant components.
He added that were such transport “pinch points” to occur, then
the nuclear industry would like to see such shipments receive priority
over other goods.
Haslam also said that the UK nuclear industry was concerned that
the “free movement of [EU] nationals will have an impact” on the
sector. “We need people for Hinkley and power station outages,”
Haslam said.
Hinkley Point C is a 3,200-MW nuclear power plant being built in
western England by EDF Energy and China General Nuclear Corp. It is
the only nuclear power plant under construction in the UK.
Under European Union rules, citizens of any of the existing 28 EU
member states, including the UK, can work legally without requiring a
work permit in any other EU country. This could automatically end
7
Nucleonics Week August 15, 2019
October 31, if the UK left the EU without a deal, although Haslam did
note that prior to the original March 29 Brexit date, the UK government
had been planning to allow the continued free movement of EU
nationals into the UK, even in the event of a no-deal Brexit, until a new
immigration regime was in place in 2021. He added that the nuclear
industry hoped this would still be the case if the UK left the EU without
a deal October 31.
The UK government is considering introducing a special expedited
employment visa after Brexit to facilitate employment for non-British
scientists working in the UK, including in the field of nuclear fusion,
according to reports earlier this month in the Guardian newspaper and
on state broadcaster BBC. However, the government has yet to
formally announce the details of the program or how many visas would
be included.
‘Significant work remains’: EDF
An EDF Energy spokeswoman added in an email August 13 that
“there remains significant work to do to replicate all of the former
© 2019 S&P Global Platts, a division of S&P Global Inc. All rights reserved.
benefits of Euratom membership.”
She said that the company had a “number of outstanding concerns
in a no deal scenario,” including the “free movement of labour and
travel disruption.”
The EDF Energy spokeswoman did note that “all of the essential
actions to keep the UK nuclear industry operating through any form of
Brexit have been delivered,” adding that EDF Energy would, “like all UK
companies continue to monitor and act on potential risks arising from
a no-deal Brexit.”
Neither Haslam nor EDF Energy specified which ports might be
particularly impacted by a no-deal Brexit, but the largest transit ports
by volume between the UK and France are Dover in southern England
and Calais in northern France.
A spokeswoman for Westinghouse, which is the exclusive supplier
of nuclear fuel to the UK’s 8,493 MW fleet of advanced gas-cooled
reactors, declined to comment on fuel supply movements in an email
August 13.
— Oliver Adelman, London
8
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U.S. Nuclear Waste
Technical Review Board
Professional Staff – Scientists and/or Engineer
The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (Board) was
established in the 1987 amendments to the Nuclear Waste
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the NWPA and to provide objective expert technical advice
on nuclear waste management to Congress and the
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