ML20136E896
Text
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From PAUL BLANCH <PMBLANCH0ix.netcom.com>
To WND2.WNP3 (j az), TWD1. TWP4 (gam)
Date:
1/29/97 5:42am
Subject:
Fwd: pr 97-013 Watch List
Subject:
pr 97-013 Watch List Sent:.
1/29/97 3:14 PM Received:
1/29/97 10:34 AM From:
Public Affairs, OPALIST@nrc. gov Reply-To:
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pr97013.txt follows --------------------
United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission 1
Office of Public Affairs Washington, DC 20555 Phone 301-415-8200 Fax 301-415-2234 Internet:opa@nrc. gov No.96-013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Wednesday, January 29,.1997)
NRC STAFF IDENTIFIES NUCLEAR PCWER PLANTS l
WARRANTING INCREASED REGULATORY ATTENTION The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff advised the Commission today that it has identified 14 nuclear power plants that warrant increased NRC regulatory attention.
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The plants were placed on the NRC watch list earlier this month at a meeting during which senior NRC managers conducted I
their semi-annual review of the performance of operating nuclear power plants and fuel cycle facilities.
The plants are:
Crystal River Unit 3, operated by Florida Power Corp. near Crystal River, Florida (listed for the first time),
l Dresden Units 2 and 3, operated by Commonwealth Edison Co.
near Morris, Illinois (first listed in June 1987, removed in December 1988, and added again in January 1992);
Indian Point 3, operated by the New York Power Authority near Buchanan, New York (listed in June 1993);
4 LaSalle Units 1 and 2, operated by Commonwealth Edison near Ottawa,. Illinois (listed for the first time);
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9703130363 970306 cf'1 PDR ORG NRRA D
Maine Yankee, operated by Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co.,
near Bath, Maine (listed for the first time);
Millstone Units 1, 2 and 3, operated by Northeast Utilities Service Co. at Waterford, Connecticut (first listed last January);
Salem Units 1 and 2, operated by Public Service Electric and Gas Co. near Salem, New Jersey (listed for the first time); and Zion Units 1 and 2, operated by Commonwealth Edison 40 miles north of Chicago (first listed in January 1991_and removed in January 1993).
The staff informed the Commission that the decision to place the Salem units on the Watch List was not based on any recent-performance problems or decline; the staff believes that Salem's efforts to achieve needed improvement are correctly targeted and the NRC is sati,L' 1 with~the licensee's overall approach.
However, the sth noted that Salem should have been placed or the Watch List previously because of Salem's past safety-performance.
The staff also indicated that the agency increased its attention and resources at Salem commensurate with a Watch List plant.
Finally, the staff concluded that, notwithstanding the improvements at Salem, it would not have been removed from the Watch List at this time had it been previously identified, because it has yet to demonstrate a period of safe performance at power.
The staff also informed the Commission that it has identified a trend of declining performance at Illinois Power Company's Clinton plant near Clinton, Illinois, and at Wisconsin i
Electric Power Company's Point Beach facility near Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
In an additional action, the NRC staff also has sent Commonwealth Edison Co. a letter formally requiring it to submit, j
within 60. days, information under oath or affirmation explaining
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why NRC should have confidence in the company's ability to j
operate six nuclear stations:while improving performance at each site.
In its response, the utility is also required to list criteria it has established, or planned, to measure its performance in light of NRC's concerns and to discuss its proposed actions if those criteria are not met.
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EDITORS:
Texts of letters to utilities with plants on the watch list or with a declining trend, along with the special-letter to Commonwealth Edison, will be available on the NRC's'Internet home page'at this address:
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.http://www.nrc. gov /OPA.
The transcript.of the commission briefing will be posted-later this week.
Profits for year lowest ~ever, NU says I
By SUSAN E. KINSMAN This story ran in the courant January 29, 1997
. For. Northeast Utilities, 1996 may be its most memorable year --
but for all the wrong reasons.
Its three Millstone nuclear power plants in Waterford were closed
- by -safety problems, and are still idle. Its connecticut Yankee nuclear power plant in Haddam shut down permanently because of unfavorable economics. The utility spent millions of dollars buying replacement power, cut its dividend and saw-its stock price. cut in half.
4 Tuesday, New England's largest electricity utility added up the damage to its bottom line from a year's worth of expensive problems. The result -- the lowest year-end earnings in NU's 30-year history, and possibly its highest quarterly loss.
4 For 1996, NU barely broke even, a situation that is not expected to improve soon. Late Tuesday, it reported year-end earnings of
$1.8 million, or 1 cent a share, on revenues of $3.8 billion.
That represents a drop of 95 percent when compared with 1995, when the ' Berlin-based utility had earnings of $282.4 million, or
$2.24 a share, on revenues of,$3.75 billion.
1 Bernard M.-Fox, NU's chairman and chief executive officer, said the company expects to operate on about a break-even basis in 1997 while the three Millstone plants remain closed.
i The plants need special permission from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart, and none of the units are expected back on.line before the second half of the year.
The financial results were even worse for the three months ended Dec. 31.
NU warned financial analysts and investors more than a week ago that it was anticipating "significant" losses for the fourth quarter.
"Significant" turned out to be $76.4 million, or 60 cents a i
share, on revenues of $936.5 million.
By comparison, the company had earnings of $64.2 million, or 50 cents a share, on revenues of
$980.4 million for the same period the previous year.
"I'm assuming these are the lowest earnings we've ever had, and it's probably'the worst quarter we ever had in 30 years," said Jeffrey R. Kotkin, director of investor relations.
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l But_there was some good news for the utility's battered investors. NU's' board of trustees,' meeting-in the company's i
headquarters, made no change in the quarterly dividend of 25 L
cents a share, payable March 31 to shareholders of record March i
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Fox saidLthe payout will continue to be reviewed quarterly. In July, the trustees cut the annual dividend from $1.78 to $1.
Wall Street. expected lackluster earnings..But NU's results were even lower than analysts had predicted.
For the quarter, the mean estimate of analysts surveyed by IBES j
Inc.'was
- a. loss of 8 cents a share
-- just 13 percent of the reported loss. For the year, IBES'.mean i
estimate.was a profit of 60 cents a share -- 60 times the reported one-penny gain. Those estimates were fresh, being updated last week.
l The mean estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Nelson's Publications put NU's fourth-quarter earnings at 1 cent a share.
l For the year, it's mean estimate of 14 analysts was also 60 l
cents a share.
L Nelson's estimates also were updated last week.
NU's earnings were not released until after the stock market 1
l closed, and many New York analysts did not see them until late i
Tuesday because of technical problems in distributing the j
report, Kotkin said. The stock closed at $12.37 1/2, down 37 1/2 cents.
~1 Kotkin said a number of factors accounted for the difference.
He-said many analysts did not revise their projections after the company sent up the red flag about the fourth-quarter ~ losses.
Also, they were probably unaware of the size of the expenditures, particularly on replacement power.
The continued shutdown of the three Millstone plants was largely responsible for the huge cash drain on the company -- money that the utility may never collect from its customers. The utility has said it will not ask to be reimbursed for expenses resulting from mismanagement or performance below industry standards.
And state utility regulators promise to give close scrutiny to.
the expenses the company plans to pass on to customers. Kotkin said those expenses have not yet been determined.
The additional costs related to buying replacement power,
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improving operations at the Millstone plants, increasing operation and maintenance reserves and beefing up Connecticut's generating supplies totaled approximately $495 million and reduced earnings by $2.27 a share, Fox said.
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l Those costs were only partially offset by higher retail sales and
' lower financing costs, he said.
NU's non-fuel operation and maintenance costs totaled $1.57 billion in 1996, compared with $1.25 billion in 1995.
Nuclear power expenses were about $620 million in 1996. While most of the money went to Millstone, it also included expenses at Connecticut Yankee, Seabrook in New Hampshire and the Maine. Yankee nuclear power plant in which NU has a 20 percent l
share.
Kotkin said the 1996 total includes a $63 million reserve, increased from
$40 million, to cover expected operation and maintenance costs at Millstone in 1997. Nuclear power expenses are expected to total $600 million in 1997, Kotkin said.
In addition, the cost of oil and other fuels to produce electricity and the purchase of replacement electricity from other utilities rose to $1.14 billion in 1996, compared with l
$909 million in 1995.
t The company attributed much of the' fourth-quarter loss to a spike in oil prices -- which pushed up its cost of producing l
electricity,and buying replacement power.
Replacement power
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$127 million, or 58 cents a share.
Storm costs also added to fourth-quarter losses. NU spent $25 million. restoring power to about one-quarter of its customers in early December.'Of that, $15 million, or 7 cents a share, was not covered by insurance.
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Paul M. Blanch Energy Consultant l
135 Hyde Rd.
i West Hartford CT 06117 l
Tel: 860-236-0326 i
Fax: 860-232-9350 1
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