2015 January 31 « nuclear-news

More costs, another long delay for new nuclear facility in Georgia, USA

Builder Projects 18-Month Delay for Nuclear Plant in Georgia, abc news, ATLANTA — Jan 30, 2015,

By RAY HENRY Associated Press Southern Co. said the firms building its new nuclear power plant in Georgia estimate the project will be delayed 18 months, potentially costing the power company $720 million in new charges, company officials said Thursday.

The latest delay at Plant Vogtle is another setback for a project that was supposed to prove nuclear reactors could be built on time and without the cost overruns that financially strained utilities decades ago. Power companies are already shuttering existing nuclear plants because natural gas is so cheap by comparison…….http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/builder-projects-18-month-delay-nuclear-plant-georgia-28594816

January 31, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, USA | Leave a comment

USA nuclear reactor corporations know that exports to India are nowhere near really happening

A year’s wait likely before commercial N-deals inked mydigitalFc.com By Subhash Narayan Jan 27 2015 The breakthrough in civil nuclear deal between India and US may be heads up for American equipment makers that plan to export eight unbuilt nuclear power reactors to India, but the companies will have to wait for up to a year before any commercial deal is inked with their Indian counterparts.

Commercial negotiations between GE, Westinghouse on one side and Nuclear Power Corp and

department of atomic energy on the other would take a year to conclude before projects can commence on ground in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, a government official said……….

There is another hitch in operationalising the deal as India would need to have a similar pact with Japan since many of the reactor components used by the joint US-Japanese companies come from there………

BHEL and French equipment company Alstom and have been talking for forging an alliance with NPCIL for building nuclear power plants here while L&T forged an alliance with GE in 2009 where the latter proposed provide the technology for ABWR nuclear island equipment and components and the Indian entity taking up the responsibility to engineer, manufacture and construct plant.

GE-Hitachi Nuclear Energy said that it would review the governmental agreement in due course. “We believe a sustainable solution is one that brings India into compliance with the international convention on supplementary compensation,” the company said in a statement given on Sunday.

Toshiba’s Westinghouse Electric Company did not issue a statement but its chief executive officer Danny Roderick told Bloomberg that the company would look at commercial agreements with Indian only after studying the Indian government’s offer to create an insurance pool

“Let us understand that Indo-US civil nuclear deal is government-to-government agreement while the final deals have to reached between companies. There is sense that a lot still needs to be resolved,” said Debasish Mishra, partner at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu……..

The first country to begin nuclear reactor exports to India was Russian company Rosatom that has supplied equipment for Kudankulam nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu despite resistance from local communities in the state. French company Areva is also expected to simultaneously export their European pressurized reactors (EPR) taking cue from umbrella agreement between India and US.

Under the umbrella agreement since the technology transfer will happen over a phased manner, nuclear reactor services companies are also likely to set up their shop in India through joint ventures with Indian entities.

The deal could also see increased exposure of Exim banks from US, Canada, Germany, France. Insurance companies from these countries are also likely to generate business.

Indo-US agreement provides for an insurance cover on liabilities to cover any disaster related liabilities.

Westinghouse has already been allotted a site in Modi’s home state of Gujarat to build a nuclear power station with total capacity of 2,500 MW and possibility of expansion in future. Similarly, two sites have also been identified for GE plants in Andhra Pradesh with an initial capacity of 3,200 MW………http://www.mydigitalfc.com/news/year%E2%80%99s-wait-likely-commercial-n-deals-inked-082

January 31, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, India | Leave a comment

Many a slip twixt the much touted USA-India deal and commercial reality

Hurdles Remain in Nuclear Deal, Indian Express By B B Singh 30th January 2015 For almost two weeks prior to president Barack Obama’s visit to India, the negotiators from both the countries had been burning the midnight oil to operationalise Indo-US nuclear cooperation but hurdles seem to be emerging one after another. The first and the most talked about hurdle arose from Section 17 (b) of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act 2010, giving the right of recourse to the operator of the nuclear installation if nuclear incident resulted as a consequence of an act of the supplier or his employee which includes supply of equipment or material with patent or latent defects or sub-standard services.

This provision was introduced to ensure that the suppliers took utmost care since they would be liable even for “latent” defects that may exhibit their appearance in their equipment later on after extended exposure to nuclear related stresses. This problem seems to have been solved by India’s proposal for an insurance cover of `1500 crore out of which 50 per cent would be government contribution and the remaining from a pool of insurance companies which are public sector units.

Oddly, it would mean victims compensating victims.

The next conflict has arisen in respect of Section 46 of the Act which provides that its provisions shall be in addition to and not in derogation of any other law for the time being in force. It further provides that nothing contained in this Act shall exempt the operator from any proceeding which might, apart from this Act, be instituted against such operator or the suppliers directly or through the operator. The victims of nuclear incidents are thus entitled to file tort suits for unlimited damages and even criminal proceedings against the operator as well as suppliers. ………….

The story does not end here. There is still some more to come. Under the Hyde Act, the US president is further required to submit to an appropriate Congressional committee any significant changes in the nuclear activities of India including construction of nuclear facilities, production of nuclear weapons or changes in nature and amount of fissile material produced and the purpose and operational status of any unsafeguarded new nuclear facility.

Still further under the Hyde Act, the US president shall have to inform the Congress an estimate of the amount of uranium mined and milled in India and amount of such uranium that has likely been used or allocated for weapons; the rate of production of nuclear devices and the material used therein. Some procedure will have to be worked out in the administrative arrangements to achieve this objective and procure such information on India’s non-civilian nuclear activities for information to the US Congress. In view of these requirements, the Indian negotiators are likely to face still tougher uphill tasks ahead.http://www.newindianexpress.com/columns/Hurdles-Remain-in-Nuclear-Deal/2015/01/30/article2643619.ece

January 31, 2015 Posted by Christina Macpherson | business and costs, India, politics, politics international, USA | Leave a comment