Contract awarded in MOX construction project
’Missouri-based Alberici Constructors Inc. has won a subcontract to build part of a $4.86 billion mixed oxide fuel facility at Savannah River Site, which will convert surplus weapon-grade plutonium into fuel for nuclear power plants. Alberici received a $44 million contract from Shaw AREVA MOX Services LLC, which is under contract with the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration to design and construct the plant, known as the "MOX" plant. Alberici's portion of the project includes constructing the upper floors of a 500,000-square-foot concrete building where mixed oxide fuel will be manufactured. Portions of the building will include concrete walls and floors as much as four feet thick.’

FPL customers may pay $63 million next year for nuclear projects
Power & Light would pass $63 million in costs for planning future nuclear power plants to customers next year if the Public Service Commission accepts a recommendation its staff released Wednesday. That would cost customers about 67 cents per month in nuclear costs for the first 1,000-kilowatt hours used. But that is about $1.48 less than what customers paid this year for those costs, FPL officials said. FPL has proposed building two new nuclear generators at the Turkey Point plant near Miami estimated to cost $12 billion to $18 billion and a $1.5 billion expansion of four existing nuclear facilities. FPL awaits state and federal approval of the projects, which it plans to complete by 2021. Commission employees recommended approving a total of about $151 million in costs FPL projects spending next year to plan the projects. But customers would only pay $63 million because FPL spent less than it expected the past two years. The commission is scheduled to vote on the costs Oct. 16.’

Finmeccanica Unsatisfied With Areva Talks Over Italy Nuclear Plans
’ROME (MF-Dow Jones)--Finmeccanica SpA (FNC.MI) Chairman Pier Francesco Guarguaglini said Wednesday the defense and aerospace company is unsatisfied with the talks with French state-controlled nuclear group Areva SA (CEI.FR, ARVCY) over building nuclear reactors in Italy. Negotiations with Areva "are still unsatisfactory because they don't include the activity of the reactors," Finemccanica's CEO told a parliamentary hearing in Rome. "We want to have nuclear activities as Finmeccanica is ready to invest resource and manpower.‘

Obama to visit Seoul for talks with Lee on N. Korea: White House
’WASHINGTON, Oct. 7 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will visit South Korea in mid-November to meet with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on North Korea's nuclear dismantlement, enhancing the alliance and other issues, the White House said Wednesday. Obama will fly to Seoul on Nov. 18 for a two-day stay after attending the annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore on Nov. 13-15, spokesman Robert Gibbs said. The itinerary of Obama's Asian trip, the first since his inauguration in January, also includes stops in Tokyo on Nov. 12-13 and Beijing on Nov. 15-18. "This visit will provide an opportunity to hold his third bilateral meeting with President Lee and consult on North Korea, to coordinate on a range of regional and global issues and to further strengthen the U.S.-Korean alliance. The president also looks forward to meeting with U.S. servicemen and women stationed in Korea."’

PM: No immediate plan to harness nuclear energy
: Malaysia has no immediate plans to develop nuclear energy for power generation, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. He said the Government would have to increase the contribution of hydro-electric energy first, as part of its review of the fuel mix for the country. "Somewhere along the line, if we decide there's a strong case to generate electricity using nuclear power, we will take that decision but not immediately," he said after holding talks with his French counterpart Francois Fillon on Tuesday. Earlier, Najib attended the official welcoming ceremony at the Invalides before meeting Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) secretary-general Angel Gurria. The Prime Minister said nuclear energy could be a long-term option but it would not be an easy undertaking. He said the Government was studying the hydro option first and looking at renewable energy like solar power, although it was quite expensive.’

French envoy unveils plan to visit North Korea next month
’SEOUL - France's new special envoy on North Korea said Wednesday he would visit the communist country early next month and was seeking talks with its leader Kim Jong-Il. "I am scheduled to visit Pyongyang in early November," Jack Lang said, adding the North had endorsed his trip. "I expressed my wish to meet the highest figure." The trip will follow close consultations with South Korea and other members of six-party nuclear disarmament talks, he told AFP and local media in Seoul. "President (Nicolas) Sarkozy appointed me as special envoy because North Korea is a very important issue," Lang said through an interpreter. "That's why I am visiting countries concerned to collect as much related data as possible." Sarkozy appointed the Socialist former culture minister to the new post to explore establishing diplomatic links with the North, the Elysee said last Thursday.’

Iran says some countries offer it nuclear fuel
’TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that some countries had offered to provide Iran with uranium enriched to 20 percent for use as nuclear reactor fuel, the official IRNA news agency reported. Iran has always insisted on its right to carry out its own enrichment of uranium for a nuclear program which it says is for purely peaceful purposes, mainly to generate electricity. It rejects Western suspicions its real aim is to build an atomic bomb, which would require uranium enriched to around 90 percent. "There have been some proposals by individual countries and groups of countries. We are ready to hold talks with anyone interested. Our experts will soon start talks with those sellers," Ahmadinejad said. He said Iran could also buy nuclear fuel from the United States, its old enemy. "We want to buy fuel. We can buy it from anywhere and America can be a seller," ISNA news agency quoted him as saying. Western concerns center on the possibility that Iran could accumulate supplies of enriched uranium and divert them from its civilian program in order to built a nuclear warhead. To address this, Western diplomats say Iran agreed in principle at talks last week in Geneva to send about 80 percent of its stockpile of low-enriched uranium to Russia and France for processing. It would then be returned to Tehran to replenish dwindling fuel stocks for a reactor in the capital that produces isotopes for cancer care.’