Bharat Heavy to Triple Nuclear Investments After Pact

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., India's biggest power-equipment maker, plans to triple spending in nuclear components once overseas companies are allowed to supply technology and fuel under an agreement led by the U.S.

``If the nuclear deal comes through we are quite confident there will be a lot of orders in this area and we don't want to be left out,'' Chairman and Managing Director K. Ravi Kumar said in an interview at his office in New Delhi, where the company is based. ``We will invest depending on the volume.''

Bharat Heavy rose the most in five months in Mumbai on optimism the government's victory in a confidence vote last night will lead to the lifting of a ban on overseas supplies of nuclear technology. Areva SA, the world's biggest maker of reactors, and General Electric Co. may win orders when the accord between India and the U.S. is sealed, Nuclear Power Corp. of India has said.

``The orders could be divided and companies such as Areva, Siemens AG and ABB Ltd. will be involved,'' said Taina Erajuuri at Glitnir Asset Management in Helsinki, which manages $158 million in Indian assets, including Bharat Heavy. ``The government may prefer some local companies as well, like Bharat Heavy and Larsen & Toubro Ltd.''

Shares of state-controlled Bharat Heavy surged 11 percent to 1,773.35 rupees at close of trading in Mumbai. Larsen, India's biggest engineering company, rose 7.8 percent to 2,772.9 rupees.

Investment Plans

Bharat Heavy plans to spend 15 billion rupees ($351 million) in two years building plants to supply components for reactors of 1,600 megawatts capacity, Kumar said yesterday. Without the accord, Bharat Heavy will invest 5 billion rupees to build steam turbine generators and other components for 700 megawatt plants designed in India, he said.

The accord with the U.S. can generate more than $10 billion of orders for Indian companies, including Bharat Heavy and Larsen & Toubro Ltd., by 2012 if the planned projects are awarded, UBS AG analysts Suhas Harinarayanan and Pankaj Sharma wrote in a note to clients on July 10.

``We estimate Bharat Heavy's business potential at about 25- 30 percent of the contract size for the turbine generator sets and electrical equipment,'' the analysts said. They have a ``neutral'' rating on Bharat Heavy stock.

Joint Venture

Bharat Heavy will set up a 50-50 venture with state-run Nuclear Power Corp. that will supply components for nuclear plants with a capacity to generate 700 megawatts, 1,000 megawatts and 1,600 megawatts of power, Kumar said. The company will also seek overseas partners to provide technology for these plants, he said, declining to name the companies.

The company aims to expand its nuclear power-plant business because of wider profit margins, Kumar said. The gross profit margins for such plants would be as much as 30 percent, compared with about 22 percent for thermal power plants, Kumar said.

Bharat Heavy has provided 80 percent of the equipment used by Nuclear Power Corp.'s installed capacity of 4,120 megawatts. In April, Bharat Heavy agreed to set up a venture to make nuclear plants that will seek technology to make steam turbine generators of 700 megawatts or more.

Areva, GE

Areva, General Electric, Toshiba Corp.'s Westinghouse Electric Co. and Russia's atomic energy agency Rosatom are among four manufacturers of reactors that would share $14 billion of orders from India when the U.S. agreement is signed, Nuclear Power Corp. said in August.

NTPC Ltd., the nation's biggest utility, rose 5.5 rupees, or 3 percent, to 190.45 rupees. Reliance Infrastructure Ltd. surged 10.6 percent to 1,016.7 rupees. Areva T&D India Ltd., a unit of Areva, gained 79.05 rupees, or 4.9 percent, to 1,686.45 rupees.

The agreement will allow India to generate as much as 40,000 megawatts of nuclear power by 2020, sufficient to light up four cities the size of New York, from 4,120 megawatts now. Electricity demand in Asia's third-biggest economy during peak hours widened to 17 percent in the last fisal year from 14 percent a year ago.

Singh was forced to seek a vote of confidence in the nation's lower house of parliament after his former communist allies withdrew support over the accord with the U.S. The Left parties have said the nuclear agreement will weaken India's ability to pursue an independent foreign policy.

Fuel Imports

The accord will allow India to import technology and fuel without joining the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. India last week presented a nuclear inspections agreement to the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency, which needs to approve the plan before the government in New Delhi can push forward with expansion of power production.

The IAEA's board will vote Aug. 1 in an extraordinary meeting on whether to endorse the plan, which will give inspectors access to 14 civilian atomic reactors. The inspections agreement is a key condition for a U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation treaty.

Nuclear suppliers have been barred from providing India with atomic technologies since it tested a nuclear weapon in 1974 without being listed as an atomic weapons state in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

(Source: Bloomberg)

Russian Agency Stops Building Nuclear Storage Facility in Siberia

The Russian Spetsstroy [special construction] agency on 1 April unilaterally stopped the construction of a dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel on the territory of the ore mining and chemical plant (Krasnoyarsk Territory), a high-ranking source in Rosatom [the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency] has told RIA Novosti.

Before 2008 the construction of the dry storage facility had been financed by the Rosenergoatom concern and starting from 1 January 2008, funds were being disbursed under the federal targeted programme on nuclear and radiation safety.

A source in Rosatom said that the talks with Spetstroy on a new contract taking into account the new conditions for funding which had been "held before the beginning of July 2008 did not result in an agreement and Rosatom ended up publishing a notice on a tender for completing the construction of the storage facility".

"Terms for the tender envisage the participation of any construction organizations which have the required expertise and licences. In this particular case, the terms of the tender do not preclude the participation of Spetsstroy in it," the source said. The source also said that the three-month delay in the construction project was not a serious crisis.

A different source in the Russian nuclear sector has told RIA Novosti that some 700 people might lose their jobs as a result of Spetsstroy exiting from the construction project in Krasnoyarsk Territory. "A total of 1,200 people have been involved in the construction project and more than a half, 700 people, might find themselves jobless," the source said.

Russia's first dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel is due to be completed by 2011. Its projected capacity is 28,000 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power stations.

Originally published by RIA Novosti news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1450 10 Jul 08.

An interesting web site about Russian nuclear sites

The site is a flash map showing radiological situation on Rosatom nuclear sites, including not just power plant but also chemical plants and other nuclear-related sites.
Unfortunately, only Russian version available. By clicking on the site map you may zoom the object you wish to get more information about, and then select the measuring station. Small black line on the graph shows the measured technical level of radiation, the green color indicates natural radioactivity level.
http://russianatom.ru/

Rosenergoatom Denies Rumors of Incident at Nuclear Plant

MOSCOW. May 21 (Interfax) - Rosenergoatom, which runs all nuclear power plants in Russia, has denied rumors about an incident at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant, saying the plant is operating normally.

"The Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant is operating normally," Rosenergoatom's Technical Director Nikolai Sorokin told reporters on Wednesday.

Sorokin said this is not the first rumor about an incident at a nuclear power plant. "I do not know what it is, hooliganism or something more," he said.

He recalled a similar incident that occurred in the south of Russia about one and a half years ago, when someone spread rumors about an incident at the Volgodonsk Nuclear Power Plant.

Rosenergoatom Deputy Director Vladimir Asmolov said such rumors can be caused by things such as regional training exercises conducted by agencies such as the Emergency Situations Ministry, when "people in white clothes appear."

Asmolov did not rule out that opponents of nuclear energy may be behind these rumors. "The organizers [of such actions] are very media savvy, and it is possible," he said.

(Source: RedOrbit)

Russia eyes Kaliningrad site for 1 gigawatt nuclear power station

Rosatom nuclear energy agency head Sergei Kiriyenko said Russia wants build a nuclear power plant in the Kaliningrad territory in order to provide electricity to domestic and international markets, Interfax reported.

He added that Rosatom has already chosen a site for the plant, which will have a capacity of more than 1 gigawatt.

Rosatom also plans to call an international tender in order to select an investor for the plant construction.

The winning bidder will also be offered a 49 percent stake in the project.

Kiriyenko expects that European firms will supply 40 percent to 50 percent of the equipment for the plant.

(Source: Forbes)

Russian technical development: Floating NPP for Arctic platforms

Rosenergoatom is promoting floating nuclear power plants (NPP) for energy supply for Arctic oil- and gas drilling platforms. Instead of using gas to produce electricity for the platform one floating NPP can ensure needed power supply.

A promotion brochure from Rosenergoatom details the plans to use the floating NPPs for offshore oil- and gas installations in the remote Arctic oceans.

The general concept of the plan is based on the same technology as the floating nuclear power plant currently under construction at the Sevmash plant in Severodvinsk in the Arkhangelsk region.

The plant will be built as a barge where the core of the nuclear power plant is its KLT-40 reactor. This kind of reactors is similar to the ones onboard Russia’s civilian fleet of nuclear powered icebreakers operated by the Murmansk Shipping Company.

According to the brochure one floating NPP helps to save 150 mln. cub. m of gas per year. The floating NPP can in addition to provide electricity to the platform itself, also ensure power supply to gas compressor units used for gas transmission systems, either from offshore installations or from coastal transmission installations.

A standard floating NPP will be equipped with two reactors, providing 77 MW. Rosenergoatom is also currently working towards expanding the line of floating NPPs through development of small and medium sized reactors so that in the near future they can provide a series of floating NPPs ranging from 1,5 MW to 300 MW of electric power. The different sizes will allow addressing much more diverse tasks of such regional and self supporting energy supplies.

Rosenergoatom underlines that the package of organizational and engineering solutions applied in the design ensure compliance with all Russian and international standards of nuclear and radiation safety and meet the conditions of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The floating nuclear power plants life cycle is reported to be 38 years.

In August BarentsObserver.com reported that the Murmansk Shipping Company will turn the nuclear-powered container carrier “Sevmorput“ into a drilling vessel for the oil industry. The vessel will be ready for drilling operations in the Arctic within 18 months.

(Source: BarentsObserver.com)