Group items tagged

Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and major French nuclear energy company Areva will form a capital tie-up in nuclear fuel production, according to a report. Areva will buy a roughly 30 percent stake in Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel Co. and Mitsubishi Heavy will become the nuclear company's leading shareholder, the business daily Nikkei reported, without citing sources. Areva's new investment will expand its existing ties with Mitsubishi Heavy to building nuclear plants and supplying fuel to them, it said.

Areva and Japanese partners said they have formed a new fuel company in a four-party agreement, the companies said in a December 22 press statement. The four companies are Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Areva, Mitsubishi Materials Corp., and Mitsubishi Corp. The New Company, as they called it, "will be a full-fledged nuclear fuel supplier, integrating development, design, manufacturing and sales of nuclear fuel." The companies said they "are now entering into more detailed discussions with the target of having the New Company established during the first half of 2009." Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel Co. Ltd. will be restructured and MHI, MMC and Areva "will transfer their related business" to the new company.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd said it would spin off its nuclear fuel business on April 1 to form an integrated fuel design, production and service company together with France's Areva ) and two other Mitsubishi group companies. Mitsubishi Heavy announced details of the move in December but it did not set a date.

A Mitsubishi company has become the first wholly owned unit of a Japanese company to become a member of the Nuclear Energy Institute, Mitsubishi Nuclear Energy Systems MNES, said Monday. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tokyo-based Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, is one of four reactor vendors that is a member of NEI. Noriyuki Kuwata, MNES executive vice president, said in a statement that the NEI designation "is a very important step for MNES because NEI recognizes our current performances in the US nuclear industry." The other three reactor vendors that belong to NEI are Areva, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy, and Westinghouse Electric.

Inspectors in Japan have detected "weld defects" inside two massive steam generators being built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for installation at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station. Gil Alexander, a spokesman for plant owner Southern California Edison, said in a statement Wednesday that similar defects have not been found in two similar generators already delivered to San Onofre and scheduled for installation inside its Unit 2 containment dome this fall. "The deficiency, which is being corrected, was caused by a manufacturing process that was not used on the Unit 2 steam generators," Alexander said.

Chubu Electric Power Co. may burn more fossil fuels to keep lights on and machinery running in Nagoya, Japan's third-largest metropolitan area, as the utility finds more earthquake damage to its Hamaoka nuclear plant. Both functioning reactors at Hamaoka shut down after a 6.5- magnitude quake on Aug. 11 and as of today Chubu found 39 problems, including neutron monitor and auxiliary transformer malfunctions. There's no estimate when the reactors will resume operation, spokesman Toshimitsu Shibata said by phone. A monthlong closure at Hamaoka, which generated 16 percent of the Nagoya-based utility's electric power last year, would increase costs by about 10 billion yen ($105 million), according Reiji Ogino, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. For a company with annual sales of more than 2 trillion yen, there wouldn't be any serious affect on Chubu's share price, he said.

Chubu Electric Power Co. may burn more fossil fuels to keep lights on and machinery running in Nagoya, Japan's third-largest metropolitan area, as the utility finds more earthquake damage to its Hamaoka nuclear plant. Both functioning reactors at Hamaoka shut down after a 6.5- magnitude quake on Aug. 11 and as of today Chubu found 39 problems, including neutron monitor and auxiliary transformer malfunctions. There's no estimate when the reactors will resume operation, spokesman Toshimitsu Shibata said by phone. A monthlong closure at Hamaoka, which generated 16 percent of the Nagoya-based utility's electric power last year, would increase costs by about 10 billion yen ($105 million), according Reiji Ogino, an analyst at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. For a company with annual sales of more than 2 trillion yen, there wouldn't be any serious affect on Chubu's share price, he said.

"Toshiba Corp., Hitachi Ltd. and Tokyo Electric Power Co. are among six Japanese companies that will form a joint venture to sell nuclear reactors and technology to Vietnam and other countries. The group, which includes Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd., Chubu Electric Power Co. and Kansai Electric Power Co., will seek financial assistance from the trade ministry, they said in a joint statement yesterday. The companies have set up an office ahead of forming the venture this autumn. Japan is holding talks for nuclear cooperation treaties with India, Jordan, and Russia and has had preliminary discussions with Vietnam. The trade ministry will work to speed negotiations for the treaties, which are necessary for Japanese companies to export nuclear technology, the ministry said in a statement yesterday. "

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has made available to the public the combined license (COL) application for two new reactors at the Comanche Peak site near Glen Rose, Texas. The applicant, Luminant Generation, submitted the application and associated information Sept. 19. The application, minus proprietary or security-related details, is available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/col/comanche-peak.html. The Luminant application seeks approval to build and operate two U.S. Advanced Pressurized Water Reactors (US-APWR) at the site, about four miles north of Glen Rose. The US-APWR is a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries-designed 1,700 MWe pressurized-water reactor the NRC is currently reviewing for possible certification. More information regarding the review is available on the NRC's Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-reactors/design-cert/apwr/dcd.html.

A small fire broke out Friday at a nuclear fuel plant in the village of Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture, but did not cause any injuries or environmental damage, said the operator of the plant, which was scolded for delaying the report. The Ibaraki Prefectural Government told Mitsubishi Nuclear Fuel Co. to promptly report fires to local authorities in the future after learning that the company waited for about 30 minutes to report the fire, prefectural officials said.

Premier Alan Carpenter has been accused of failing to consider the impact on native title holders of his proposal to legislate to ban uranium mining. Mr Carpenter says he will introduce legislation banning uranium mining in Western Australia if he is re-elected. The Western Desert Lands Corporation, which represents the Martu people, says uranium mining could provide numerous opportunities because the area is home to the major Kintyre uranium deposit which was sold to Cameco and Mitsubishi earlier this month.

One of the latest reports regarding San Diego's Nuclear reactor comes from an article from Paul Sisson psission@nctimes.com and I quote "Inspectors in Japan have detected 'weld defects' inside two massive steam generators being built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries for installation at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS)". A spokesperson for the plant owners Southern California Edison (SCE) said "similar defects have not been found in two similar generators already delivered to San Onofre and scheduled for installation inside its Unit 2 containment dome this fall. The deficiency, which was corrected, was caused by a manufacturing process that was not used on the Unit 2 generators. He went on to say DEFECTS will not delay the cutting of the concrete domes and installation of the generators, scheduled for fall 2010."

Explorer Uranium Equities (UEL) has just signed its third deal with global uranium giant Cameco, a joint venture over the Rudall River uranium project in Western Australia, which happens to be just 25km from the huge Kintyre deposit now owned by Cameco (in partnership with Mitsubishi). This comes just a month after UEQ announced the start of drilling at Lake Blanche, South Australia, where Cameco is earning 51 per cent; there is a third joint venture between the companies in the Northern Territory.

A major drilling program has commenced in Western Australia to prove up what could potentially be Australia's fifth uranium mine. The Kintyre deposit, 2000 kilometres north east of Perth, is believed to hold around 36 million kilos of uranium of a similar grade to the Ranger mine in the Northern Territory. Last year, Canadian company Cameco joined forces with Mitsubishi to buy Kintyre from Rio Tinto for almost $700 million.