Areva US CEO: Investors want assurance that Idaho Falls plant will be finished

Areva US CEO Jacques Besnainou

When it comes to getting information on up-to-date developments in nuclear energy, there is no better resource than Dan Yurman, who used to work at the Idaho National Laboratory and now lives in Ohio.

Here is a link to a report he put up yesterday, an interview with Areva US CEO Jacques Besnainou, on what we might expect now that the French company has suspended construction of its $3 billion Eagle Rock enrichment facility near Idaho Falls.

Key points:

• Asked what has to change for Areva to move forward with construction, Besnainou said, "Investors will want to know that once Areva starts building the plant that it will finish it." While $2 billion in loan guarantees from the U.S. Department of Energy protects investors for the first two-thirds of the financing needed to build it, the remaining investors do not have the same protection.  A 4 percent contingency for cost overruns would amount to $120 million, which would have to be covered by Areva.
• There are considerable competitive pressures bearing on Areva's decision. In New Mexico, Urenco's operating enrichment plant already has a license modification from the NRC to double its capacity from 3 million to 6 million SWU/year. It may begin to expand and move up its target date of 2018 for that capacity if it sees Areva isn't going ahead with the Idaho site.

Idaho Samizdat: Nuke Notes: Areva US CEO Jacques Besnainou talks with nuclear ...

Downtown Idaho Falls building gets facelift

MCS Advertising is restoring its building downtown to its original look.

Here's a new development in the de-uglification of downtown Idaho Falls.

MCS Advertising, which owns the building at the southwestern corner of Park Avenue and B Street, is removing the hideous siding, something we have to assume passed for modern in the '60s. When they bought the building in September, agency owner Lisa Fischbach said they planned to restore the building to what it looked like in the 1920s.

Fischbach said they’ve taken to calling their property “Block 22” after its legal description, which dates back to 1884. They have gotten lots of paperwork that dates back to then, including the original warranty deed. “I can’t believe this came all this way with all these owners,” she said.

MCS has its offices on the second floor. Fishbach and her real estate agent, Kevin Cutler, are looking for tenants at the street level.

Fischbach said they were determined to keep an actual address downtown. “We’d been to a seminar on advertising agency principles, and they really advocated owning your own place,” she said. “We love it downtown and want to be part of the community.”
 

T.G.I. Friday's on Hitt Road closes

The restaurant gods giveth and the restaurant gods taketh away.

We got a note Tuesday from BizMojo reader Andrea Villalpando Todd that T.G.I.Friday's, 2665 S. 25th East was closing and Tuesday would be its last day. Sure enough, trucks arrived this morning to strip the furnishings. Management was told it was for lack of profit, said Todd, who had friends working there and who attended "the last supper" herself.

The restaurant lasted six years and employed 37 people. Not much more to report, but we may note that Hitt Road seems to be a survival-of-the-fittest environment for restaurants, chain or local. Everybody is making a big fuss over Chick-fil-A, but it was Fazoli's before that and we saw how long that lasted.

Given the location, it's hard to imagine some operator won't want to jump on the site and put something else in. What do you think would do well? What would you like to see?

Areva suspends plans for Idaho uranium enrichment

This is not good news, considering that the $3 billion project was expected to create about 1,000 new jobs over the first two years and 400 permanent jobs. Nevertheless, given the reaction to Fukushima earlier this year and the present state of Europe's economy, only an incredibly optimistic person would be surprised by this.

The bad news for Idaho starts in the sixth paragraph. 

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/areva-cut-1500-jobs-germany-15142862?singlePage=true

Dickey's BBQ plans to open in Idaho Falls

Thanks to one of our faithful tipsters, BizMojo Idaho has learned that Dickey's BBQ Pit will be opening a store in Idaho Falls in 2012, at 2090 East 17th Street (the former location of Taco John's).

Our confirmation came too late Monday to place a call to the 70-year-old, Dallas-based chain's home office. The company's map of scheduled grand openings, http://locations.dickeys.com/grand_openings/default.aspx, only goes to Jan. 19, 2012, so we think it's logical to surmise it will be after that.

Dickey's was started in 1941 by Travis Dickey, Sr., whose mission statement (if such a thing existed then) was, "Serve the best tastin' barbecue imaginable, just the way people like it. And don't make 'em wait too long to get it."

In the past 10 years, the chain has been expanding aggressively across the United States. The Idaho Falls restaurant will bring Idaho's total to three. One is already open Meridian, and another is planned for Nampa.