Department of Energy August 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

BPA is publishing a policy proposal regarding the agency's future power supply role in the Pacific Northwest after 2011. This proposal addresses how the agency proposes to market power and distribute the costs and benefits of the Federal Columbia River Power System, which will create valuable certainty for customers over their BPA power supply. Current contracts expire in 2011, and once BPA makes basic policy decisions, it will still take at least another 16 months to negotiate new contracts and put a long-term tiered rate methodology in place. This will leave little more than three years for the region's utilities to make and implement their plans for developing any necessary power supply. It is in the region's best interest to proceed with implementation of this policy and to execute new contracts soon to accommodate such planning and development. A final record of decision on BPA's policy will be issued in early 2007 after all public comments have been reviewed.

The Administrator, Southwestern Power Administration (Southwestern), has prepared Current and Revised 2006 Power Repayment Studies (PRS) that show the need for an increase in annual revenues to meet cost recovery criteria. Such increased revenues are required primarily due to significant increases in U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' generation investment at the project. The Administrator has developed a proposed Robert D. Willis rate schedule, which is supported by a PRS, to recover the required revenues. Beginning January 1, 2007, the proposed rates would increase annual revenues approximately 25.8 percent from $648,096 to $815,580.

This notice announces a meeting of the High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP). Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.

Today's notice corrects five minor errors in the list of model numbers for which Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc. (``MEUS'') requested a waiver and interim waiver of the test procedures applicable to residential and commercial package air conditioners and heat pumps.

Based upon feedback since the President of the United States announced the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) in February 2006, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is seeking Expressions of Interest (EOI) from domestic and international industry in building an Advanced Burner Reactor (ABR). An ABR in the United States would establish a fast reactor capability to be used to transmute fuel and consume transuranic elements within the fuel, generate electricity, and support implementation of GNEP. DOE is also seeking to define the interest of industry to build upon their proven capabilities and participate in demonstrating spent nuclear fuel (SNF) recycling technologies that meet GNEP goals. This EOI will help inform DOE's GNEP Program as to those issues that industry and potential host sites consider important to the construction of sustainable, commercial-scale SNF recycling technologies that meet GNEP objectives. The information gained from this EOI will be used to create Requests for Proposals (RFP) for the proposed ABR.