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Worldwide utilities are adding to existing plants or planning new ones
U.K. investments in new reactors
A consortium composed of Spanish utility Iberdrola, GDF-Suez, and Scottish & Southern has purchased a 500 acre site for $114 million at the Sellafield nuclear site according to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority which sold the land. The purchase is the first step towards construction of new nuclear reactors at the site with a planned capacity of 3.6 GWe. If the current schedule is met, the reactors could enter revenue service as early as 2015. (map from New Scientist May 2007)
In other U.K. nuclear reactor investment news, a new joint venture composed of E.ON and RWE announced it plans to build 6 GWe of nuclear energy generating capacity by 2025. Earlier this year it secured sites at Wylfa, north Wales, and Oldbury.
CEO Alan Raymant, of the new company, called Horizon Nuclear Power, said the new nuclear build could involve an estimated $25 billion in reactors and related infrastructure. He said an evaluation is underway to select either Areva EPR or Westinghouse AP1000 reactor designs for each site. Once built, the reactors will have 60-year operating lives.
Elsewhere in the U.K., EDF Energy is reportedly planning to build four 1,650 MW Areva EPR reactors at Sizewell and Hinkley Point. Combined with other investments in the U.K., a minimum of 12 GWe in new nuclear reactors is coming off the drawing boards in the next two decades.
Exelon plans major up-rates
U.S. nuclear utility giant Exelon (NYSE:EXC) is embarking on an investment plan in new capacity at existing reactors worth $3.5 billion. By 2017 the utility plans to increase the output of its fleet of 17 reactors by 1,300 to 1,500 MW.
That’s roughly equal to one of the new ABWRs being built at the South Texas Project. Put another way, the total scope of investments over an eight year period will come in at $2,300/Kw or half the expected “overnight cost” of a new reactor.
John Rowe, CEO at Exelon, told the Edison Electric Institute finance conference (webcast) Nov 3 that over the next five years the easiest changes, worth $800 million, will be to non-nuclear plant components including better turbines, generators, pumps, and electrical substation equipment. The investments, which do not require NRC approval, will result in an additional 500 MW for the entire fleet.
Rowe also said that in the middle of the next decade Exelon plans to invest $2.4 billion to “up-rate” current reactors by 900-1,000 MW. These investments require NRC approval, but are fairly routine as they involve nuclear power stations with currently operating reactors.
Earlier this year Exelon gave up on a hostile takeover of NRG and abandoned the growth by acquisition paradigm, and it gave up on a the planned new construction of a twin reactor complex in Victoria, TX.
Rowe also told the the conference, composed mostly of coal utility executives, that he expects the U.S. to have carbon offset regulations in place by 2012. Any carbon cap-and-trade program will benefit Exelon’s investments in uprating its nuclear fleet and could become a significant source of investment capital for the program.
Entergy says no to new reactors for now
J. Wayne Leonard, CEO at Entergy (NYSE:ETR), told the Edison Electric Financial Conference (webcast) Nov 3 his firm is unlikely to build new nuclear power plants in the next decade.
At one time, Entergy had plans for dual new reactors at its Grand Gulf and River Bend sites. It cancelled the projects when it realized the GE-Hitachi ESBWR reactor design it planned to use would not be a viable candidate for federal loan guarantees.
Leonard said that key factors in putting off plans for the new reactors is a long-term trend toward lower electricity demand as a result of the impact of Hurricane Katrina and the current deep economic recession.
UAE plans investment in nuclear energy
Even as the United Arab Emirates plans to award a $20 billion contract for the first stages in a program to build up to five new nuclear reactors, a new investment arm will be planning to put money into the global nuclear industry.
The Emirates Nuclear Energy Corp. has no connection to the contract award an official for the form told the Financial Times of London Nov 3. He said the investments have two purposes.
- First, Abu Dhabi wants to take stakes in companies that are building its new infrastructure.
- Second, having these stakes will insure the Emirate gets the technology it needs to complete the projects.
Danny Sebright, president of the U.S.-UAE business council told the Financial Times he didn’t expect these investments to involve controlling interests.
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