NEWS OF THE WEEK
R ICK M U L L IN /C& EN
PARTNERSHIPS DEBUT AT INFORMEX
Informex exhibitors see signs of a recovery in 2010.
FINE CHEMICALS: Trade show finds suppliers vying for position on high-tech outsourcing
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XHIBITORS at the annual Informex trade show
in San Francisco last week put a positive spin on business in the fine chemicals sector, pointing to a continuing trend toward pharmaceutical outsourcing and signs of an upturn in the general economy. Several companies announced partnerships they claim will position them to take advantage of new opportunities to supply active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and intermediates. Dishman Group and Ampac Fine Chemicals announced collaborations with Codexis under which both companies will have access to Codexis’ enzymebased biocatalysis technology. Nick Green, president of Dishman Contract Research & Manufacturing Services, says the firm will manufacture products for Codexis and will also use the technology in its own contract production of APIs and intermediates.
OBAMA SINGS A NUCLEAR TUNE RENAISSANCE: Administration offers $8.3 billion in loan guarantees for nuclear power plants
SOUTH ERN
Two operating nuclear power plants sit next to the excavation site for Southern’s planned new power plants.
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HE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION has offered to
provide $8.33 billion in loan guarantees to back construction of two 1,100-MW nuclear reactor power plants to be built in Burke, Ga., by Southern, an electricity-generating company. President Barack Obama made the announcement at a Maryland electrical union training facility on Feb. 16, stressing his goal of creating new jobs by reviving an industry that produces 20% of the nation’s electricity but hasn’t built a plant in 30 years. Obama said that the project would result in “thousands” of construction jobs and 800 permanent jobs, as well as the elimination of 16 million tons of CO2 emissions per year, the amount that would be emitted by an equivalent coal-fired plant. Equating nuclear energy with WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
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Aslam Malik, president of Ampac, says the agreement will allow his firm to add enzyme biocatalysis to its tools for chiral chemistry, which include simulated moving bed separations. Meanwhile, Albemarle’s Fine Chemistry Services division announced an agreement with PharmaCore under which it will provide large-scale manufacturing capabilities for the High Point, N.C.-based provider of custom synthesis and development services. PharmaCore announced a similar agreement with Fermion, a subsidiary of Orion in Finland, last week. The acquisition of pharma services company Excelsyn by contract research firm AMRI was announced during the show (see page 19). And Xavier Jeanjean, sales director for Isochem, told C&EN that the French contract manufacturer’s parent company, state-owned SNPE, is near an agreement to sell Isochem to Aurelius, a Munich-based private equity firm. A final deal, expected within days, would end a nearly decade-long effort to sell Isochem. According to a representative from Informex organizer UBM International Media, the preconference registration of about 3,000 was on par with last year’s attendance, as was the exhibitor count of about 500. UBM announced two new events: Informex Latin America on Aug. 23–24 in São Paulo, Brazil, and a specialty chemicals conference in Houston on May 11.—RICK MULLIN
renewable energy sources—wind and solar—Obama said government support will help the U.S. export, rather than import, these technologies in the future. The two plants are expected to cost about $14 billion, and Southern would build them next to two operating nuclear power plants. Southern expects to have the reactors running by 2016 and 2017. But neither the reactor design nor the site has been fully approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Last October, NRC announced flaws in the new Westinghouse AP1000 design that Southern wants to use. NRC said the reactor’s shield building for its primary containment structure was inadequate. NRC spokesman Scott Burnell notes that NRC has approved an early site permit for Southern, which allows the utility to begin excavation. NRC has also received Southern’s application for a combined construction and operating license. NRC estimates that it could approve Southern’s application by 2011, but to do so, NRC would also have to have approved the AP1000 design, which is incomplete at this time, he says. Critics worry about a loan default, which, under the loan guarantee, taxpayers would be required to cover. A report on such loan guarantees by the Congressional Budget Office warned that the default risk is high; more than half of those receiving loans could default because of nuclear power’s high construction costs and consequent high and uncompetitive electricity prices compared with that of electricity from natural gas- or coal-fired power plants.—JEFF JOHNSON
FEBRUARY 22, 2010
