Platts - Tuesday, March 22, 2005 http://www.platts.com ------------ Markey wants NRC IG to probe security information restriction Washington (Platts)--21Mar2005 Rep. Edward Markey has asked NRC's Inspector General (IG) to investigate whether the commission is withholding "important information" from lawmakers and the public under the guise of protecting national security. Markey (D-Mass.) cited several incidents to support his concern, which he outlined in a letter sent today to IG Hubert Bell. Markey gave as an example the fact that NRC was resisting the release of a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study on the safety and security of spent fuel at nuclear power reactors. The congressman said he reviewed the NAS safeguards report and believes NRC is preventing a redacted version from being made available because it disagrees with the report's conclusions, not because of "any legitimate safety concerns." Markey asserted in a prepared statement that he does not want any information that could aid a terrorist to be released, but he also does not want information to be unnecessarily restricted. ------------ Coal, nuclear plants provide over 75% of German power in 2004 London (Platts)--21Mar2005 Coal and nuclear energy accounted for more than three quarters of German electricity generation in 2004, with coal accounting for almost half of it, the association of German power suppliers, VDEW, said Monday. While the shares of brown coal and nuclear were unchanged at 26% (146TWh) and 28% (158TWh), that of hard coal dipped 2% to 22% (127TWh). The use of renewable energy rose by 1.5% to 9% (54TWh) of power production. Of that, wind and renewable hydro power generation each grew 1% to 4% (25TWh and 21TWh). Other forms of renewable energy--biomass, waste, photovoltaic-- accounted for 1% of production. The federal statistics office reported that electricity sourced from hydro power totalled 27TWh last year, a 12% increase since 2003, and a 41% rise since 1991. That compares with the highest year for hydro power generation in the past 15 years of 29.4TWh in 2000. The office underlined that not all hydro power can be classed as renewable energy. This story was originally published in Platts European Power Alert http://www.europeanpoweralert.platts.com ------------ Nevada asks attorney general, FBI to investigate allegations Washington (Platts)--18Mar2005 Nevada officials are asking the U.S. Attorney General and the FBI to investigate allegations that some documents on DOE's repository program at Yucca Mountain, Nev. had been falsified and to protect all records associated with the program from manipulation. Sens. Harry Reid (D) and John Ensign (R) issued the joint request yesterday, the same day that Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval also asked that U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales direct DOE to make all e-mails associated with the alleged falsifications available to Sandoval's office. "Without access to these e-mails, there is simply no way to ensure public confidence in the pre-licensing activities being conducted at the Yucca Mountain site," Sandoval said. The allegations, which involve quality assurance documentation on the computer modeling of water infiltration and climate studies at Yucca Mountain, have added new fuel to the state's fight against the planned disposal facility. Sources on both sides of the nuclear waste issue noted yesterday that the allegations, if true, could raise serious credibility problems for the DOE waste program, even if the scientific integrity of the data were untainted. ------------ Wisconsin regulators approve Kewaunee sale Washington (Platts)--17Mar2005 Wisconsin regulators unanimously approved the sale of Kewaunee at a meeting today. In a vote last November, two of the three members of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission had voted against the deal, primarily because of the lack of authority they said the commission would have once the plant was transferred to Dominion from current owners Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and Wisconsin Power & Light Co. But today commission Chairperson Burnie Bridge said that additional sale conditions offered by Dominion and the current owners would ensure that the commission continues to have a "meaningful role" in overseeing the plant, even if Dominion resells the sale. The parties to the $220-million deal had announced it in November 2003. ------------