Here is an email: =20 =09 Utilities Biweekly Report =09 A news service for energy professionals =09 October 17, 2001 =09 To Remove, Substitute or Add an email address to our list, please send bri= ef message to msid@ieee.org=20 =20 =20 FERC Rejects Reasons for Suppliers Higher Prices In an order issued on October 5, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission = (FERC) rejected the cost justifications of several power suppliers that so= ld wholesale electricity above the proxy market-clearing price during July= 2001. The electricity had been sold into the California Independent Syste= m Operator (CA-ISO) and Western Systems Coordinating Council (WSCC). FERC = said that the justifications from Dynegy, Reliant Energy, Mirant, and Willi= ams Energy were "either untimely filed and/or unsupported" and has ordered= refunds on those transactions. The four suppliers submitted their cost ju= stifications in compliance with FERC's April 26 order that established pri= ce mitigation for sales into the CA-ISO's spot markets starting in late Ma= y. That order required power suppliers and generators who submitted bids a= bove the market-clearing price to file a justification for the higher pric= es within seven days of the end of the month in which the sale occurred. F= ERC did not disclose how much money would be refunded since the four compa= nies requested that the matter be treated confidentially. In a separate ca= se, FERC Administrative Law Judge Bruce Birchman has until March 8 to issu= e a report on whether California is entitled to refunds of nearly $9 billi= on for wholesale power purchases when prices skyrocketed in the past year.= The report's recommendations will be considered by FERC commissioners for= further action. =20 Nuclear plant had long list of failings Inexperience, sloppy work habits and poor maintenance increased the chance= s of dangerous accidents at the Bruce nuclear power station in Ontario, th= e world's largest atomic facility, says a secret report obtained by The Gl= obe and Mail. The report was compiled in 1998 by a group of highly trained= , independent nuclear experts from the World Association of Nuclear Operat= ors (WANO), an industry advisory group based in Atlanta. It was given to O= ntario Power Generation, the provincially owned utility, the following year= . Among its findings: Some operators were unaware of such important topics= as the time it would take for water in reactors to begin boiling away if = flows of cooling water were blocked. Nuclear-plant operators disconnected = warning alarms they found too noisy. Operators sometimes did not watch ins= trument control panels, but had their backs turned to them, which could sl= ow any response to a problem. "Should an inadvertent loss of primary heat = transport coolant occur, operator response could be delayed, resulting in = a loss of core cooling." More than 2,500 nuclear-plant modifications were = not incorporated into design manuals, leading to confusion about how the p= lant actually runs. There was a backlog in preventive and corrective maint= enance and some maintenance work was poorly done. WANO tried to block The = Globe's access to the report, which listed dozens of other sloppy practice= s at the Bruce facility, and a second related report that found troubling = safety lapses at the Pickering nuclear station. But the organization recen= tly abandoned a court challenge seeking to have the documents remain confi= dential. It is the first time WANO reports assessing the performance of nu= clear plants have been publicly released anywhere in the world. A Bruce st= ation official said its performance has improved dramatically since the cr= itical report was written. WANO now considers Bruce "one of the fastest im= proving nuclear plants in North America," said Duncan Hawthorne, chief exe= cutive officer at the site. One nuclear energy critic said concerns raised = in the report about possible loss of cooling -- an interruption in the flo=
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Utilities Biweekly Report