AREVA was recognized nationally last week by the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and three winning customers at the annual Top Industry Practice (TIP) Award program held at the 2010 Nuclear Energy Assembly. This coveted industry award program recognized AREVA and its customers for excellence among peers as it celebrated the industry’s most innovative techniques and ideas.

AREVA and its customer – Entergy Nuclear’s Palisades Power Station in Michigan – were honored with the “Best of the Best Award” for the innovation of a device, the gimbaled head. It greatly improves the inspection of reactor vessel heads for both control rod drive mechanisms and the in-core instrumentation.

The company also shared an award for community relations with Exelon Nuclear for the planning and execution of the transportation last fall of two replacement steam generators to Exelon’s Three Mile Island nuclear power plant
Dominion Power employees at Virginia’s Surry power station collaborated with AREVA to win a TIP award for developing the Deposit Minimization Treatment process to decrease the buildup of sludge on the plant’s steam generator tubes.

Click here for the full story.

Check out this great piece from Clean Skies TV on the announcement of a conditional loan guarantee for AREVA’s Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility under development near Idaho Falls, Idaho. The piece also focuses on the Administrations request for additional loan guarantee authority for new nuclear projects.

“The Three Mile Island reactor accident happened in 1979. Fortunately, because of the design of our reactors, with their containment building, external damage and radiation were very small, but it was clear that operator training was inadequate to handle such an emergency. The NRC began strengthening its safety requirements. While industry protested that stringent regulation would cripple it, something very different happened. U.S. nuclear reactors went from a typical 60 percent capacity factor to more than 90 percent today, the world’s best. U.S. licensing and training requirements are today regarded worldwide as the gold standard. The industry also became more profitable in the years after regulation.”

– Burton Richter, member of the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee in a letter published in the Washington Post yesterday

From The Hill.com, we are now starting to hear of a possible summer timeframe for the Energy-Climate Bill to reach the floor of Congress:

“Authors of an energy and climate bill are hoping to bring it to the Senate floor in June or July, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) said Tuesday. Lieberman, the coauthor of a compromise energy and climate bill with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), said they hope for the legislation can come up in about a month, once he and Kerry have proved to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) That they’re close to achieving 60 votes for their bill.

“I’m hopeful, maybe the end of June, or July, sometime,” Lieberman told reporters at the Capitol when asked when he hoped for his and Kerry’s bill to move through the Senate.



We would like to highlight some of the comments made by the leaders of Idaho in the wake of this important announcement for the Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility which is planned for their communities.

“DOE’s decision is great news for AREVA and Idaho,” said Governor Otter. “The loan guarantee confirms that Idaho continues to lead the nuclear renaissance in America. The decision also paves the way for new careers and economic recovery across the state.”
– 


Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter (link)



”This loan guarantee from the Department of Energy is a crucial step in meeting the demand for a reliable, U.S.-based source of enriched uranium to fuel our nuclear power plants,” said Risch, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. “It is also a great benefit to our local communities and the state for the positive economic impact the new construction and permanent operation jobs that will come about from this facility.”
– Idaho Senator Jim Risch (link)

“Developing new U.S.-based sources of uranium enrichment is critical to the country being able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, achieving energy independence, having a reliable supply for domestic power reactors and protecting our national security,” said Crapo. “If we are going to have a chance at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, a robust expansion of nuclear power is the only way to do it without tanking the economy. The Eagle Rock plant will be one of Idaho’s contributions to this worthy and attainable goal.”
– Idaho Senator Mike Crapo

“I want to congratulate AREVA and the people of Eastern Idaho who have worked so hard to secure this loan guarantee and bring the Eagle Rock facility to our state,” said Simpson, a member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee which funds the Department of Energy and the Loan Guarantee program. “Nuclear energy must play a strong role in our nation’s energy future and the Eagle Rock facility’s contribution to that future will be enormous.”
– Idaho Congressmen Mike Simpson

“This project will have impact far beyond Idaho Falls,” said Minnick. “Alternative energy solutions such as nuclear power and woody biomass are a crucial part of our work toward an economic recovery. This project will help Idaho businesses and universities do just that, and will help meet our shared goal of Idaho becoming a national leader in the new energy future.”

– Idaho Congressmen Walt Minnick

“The Eagle Rock loan guarantee offer is an extremely positive development for the nation’s electric infrastructure, for the Idaho economy and for U.S. energy security.”

View full release here

The U.S. Department of Energy has offered a conditional commitment for a $2 billion conditional loan guarantee to facilitate financing of AREVA’ s Eagle Rock Enrichment Facility planned for development near Idaho Falls, Idaho.

Graphic representation of the proposed Eagle Rock facility

With this loan guarantee AREVA can secure the financing necessary for this large-scale, capital-intensive project and take the next steps forward with this major investment in the American economy.

This conditional loan guarantee is not a hand-out, but is part of a program designed to provide a federal backstop for companies working to invest and provide important clean energy projects for the United States.

The DOE loan guarantee program was developed to provide a last level of support so that companies can invest in clean energy projects—including smart grids, renewable, and nuclear energy—to spur vital U.S. economic and energy development. According to the DOE, the “loan guarantee program is not intended for technologies in research and development. DOE believes that accelerated commercial use of new or improved technologies will help to sustain economic growth, yield environmental benefits, and produce a more stable and secure energy supply.”

As part of the extensive loan guarantee review process, the DOE performed a comprehensive and stringent analysis which determined that the Eagle Rock project meets the highest standards for its innovative yet proven technology and the project’s creditworthiness.

Designed to meet the current enrichment needs of the nation’s nuclear power plants, this facility will be an essential part of America’s energy infrastructure and support the nation’s energy security. The construction and operation of the facility will also create an enormous economic impact including 4,800 direct and indirect jobs and billions of dollars of investments for the local economy.

However, this only represents part of the total investment AREVA is making in the United States. As the largest American employer in our sector, AREVA is investing today in new facilities, capabilities and employees to help meet our energy needs tomorrow. This includes significant investments for the construction of our heavy component manufacturing facility in Newport News, Virginia, and some $250 million in research and development for the US EPR™ reactor.

For more information see the press release.

Two members of our ADAGE team sat down for an interview with radio station KMAS 1030 about the proposed Mason County biomass plant in Shelton County, Washington.

Jim Gaston, the Project’s Manager, and Tom DePonty, Director of Public Affairs for ADAGE, explained the project and answered questions about the plant, the woody debris that will be used as fuel and where it will come from, the emissions expected from the boiler, the plant’s expected water use and wastewater needs, whether the roads will handle the expected truck traffic, and how this proposed plant will impact the economy.

Listen to the interview. Learn more about biomass energy at the ADAGE Web site.

It is often said that “as California goes, so goes the nation.” Yet many Californians have some preconceptions about how to meet our nation’s energy demand while dramatically cutting emissions, we may be headed to a stalemate in the battle against climate change. In fact, a significant number of residents remain opposed to nuclear energy, which is by far the nation’s largest carbon-free source of electricity.

Two influential leaders the California political landscape, Stanford University Academics and the Los Angeles Times, have made clear the opposing opinions gripping the state.

Stanford University physicist, Burton Richter, spoke recently during the weekly Stanford Energy Seminar on the need for Americans to overcome doubts of nuclear power, covered by an article in the Stanford University News. Richter’s presentation discussed why “it’s time for America to go green by expanding nuclear energy.” Noting that nuclear energy provides a constant source of energy generation without producing CO2 emissions, Richter said that “the main attraction for nuclear power for most of the world has nothing to do with greenhouse gas emissions…it has to do with available resources.” He also pointed out the need for the United States to become the leader in this field, but he noted that the policy necessary for this shift is the real challenge, saying “politics is a lot tougher than physics.”

Exemplifying this politics instead of science mentality an editorial in the Los Angeles Times this week attacked the proposed climate legislation for its inclusion of nuclear energy to meet the nation’s carbon reduction initiatives. Arguing that

“it is simultaneously a gift to polluters and the most significant step ever taken by this nation to solve the world’s most pressing environmental problem…the bill seeks to loosen safety and environmental safeguards to expedite the construction of new nuclear plants, which is both unnecessary and dangerous.”

We were not the only ones to take issue with this contradictory perspective, energy blogger Rod Adams had this response:

“It is logically inconsistent to indicate concern that spewing CO2 into the atmosphere can lead to a climate crisis and then to claim that it is unnecessary to take action to reduce the administrative burden that causes nuclear projects to require far more time and resources during construction than they legitimately should require.



Every time a new large nuclear power plant starts operating, it reduces coal consumption by about 11,000 tons per day and prevents dumping about 40,000 tons of CO2 each day. According to the Nuclear Energy Institute, the 104 nuclear plants that are operating in the US today allow us to avoid producing 650 MILLION metric TONS of CO2 each year. Those plants produce electricity at a marginal cost that is 32% CHEAPER than coal and only 40% of the cost of producing power from burning natural gas.


(Power from existing nuclear plants costs 2.03 cents per kilowatt hour versus 2.97 cents for coal and 5.00 cents for natural gas in 2009). http://bit.ly/anazS6



However, building new nuclear power plants in the US today costs about 3 times as much as it would in China – a portion of that is the cost of the delays imposed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Time is money!

The only beneficiaries of the excessive rules are the people who hate the competition from nuclear energy because they have dirtier and more expensive fuels to sell.”

With over 45 locations in the United States, AREVA understands it has an important role to play as a leader in its communities, as well as its impact on the American energy landscape. This includes engaging in dialogue and communication with our stakeholders. An important focus for this engagement has been the development and recent launch of its Community Advisory Council.

The mission of the AREVA Community Advisory Council is to raise awareness of various energy topics and build a dialog in respective communities of color and progressive advocacy organizations. Council members will provide guidance to AREVA with respect to the concerns of their communities and will work to develop strategic partnerships to benefit both organizations.

Members include:

• EarthEcho International
• Gee Strategies Group, LLC
• Stephanie Jones Strategies, LLC
• International Institute for Indigenous Resource Management
• League of United Latin American Citizens
• Labor Council of Latin American Advancement
• National Association of Neighborhoods
• Center for Asian Pacific American Women
• National Council of Asian American Business Associations
• National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators