NRC MAILER-DAEMON message?

Update 9/15/ 2016

(Brace)

Seems the problem is popping up again. I know allegations is going be looking at this. Is it going to take me contacting the NRC's Chairman in order to get region 1 to do your job professionally? 

I am disgusted with the treatment of this problem. I can't believe there isn't a documented trail. It is as if you are habituated into making any old excuse to not document the sins of the department and Allegations.

I can't believe the bs excuses you threw at me:

1) its a IT problem and not anything to do with allegations, we don't have to document this.
2) its beyond stupid, using a NRC account within the NRC IT system to so call send test e-mails to validate yahoo e-mails continue to get received by the NRC. it just lazy!!! I had effectively summarized this article to everyone and nobody would accepted the facts as I know it. I have to go by facts and the Allegation department gets to make half ass assumptions to delegitimized a concerned member of the public and I imagine nuclear industry employees.  

It's 12/12/12 all over again...

Mike Mulligan 9/15/26

Originally posted on 12/12/12 beginning here.

The NRC promised to talk to me about this...they called me once when I wasn't home. Nobody has talked to me yet. So you get it, the agency tries to contact you at a inoperative time, they give you a bum number, they don't have the courtesy  to notified by email of the time of the call...I guess they give you one shot to talk about an event and that is it.

I got no "easy" transparency on my first shot at this contacting the agency...I just knew how to manipulate the agency by playing one level of the agency against the other. they were trying to blow me off!  Easy and persistent contact to resolve a problem is the enabler of transparency...and the agency has to hold themselves scrutinizable to the quality of their communications. 

The deal I was going to talk to a highly specialist...not a generalist who sees the big picture. He'd tell me the worthless technical details... but no chance of knowing the big picture and the power to change what is wrong. This technical specialist would be amazing in he area...but a absolute idiot with seeing the big picture and the skills to impose changes.  

Get our discussion transcripted...that is all i want. 

US regulator: Transparency is key Fukushima lessonThe Associated Press
TOKYO -- A top U.S. nuclear regulator says one of key lessons learned from Fukushima's disaster is the importance of a strong and independent operator that is transparent.

How often does allegation's blow off peoples concerns without merit and then state gross inaccuracies without due diligence? I guess he is technically correct, but they do block globally peoples emails.  

On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 8:33 AM, NRC Allegation <NRC.Allegation@nrc.gov> wrote:

Mr. Mulligan,

We are pleased to inform you that the NRC does not block any individual e-mails coming to the NRC.

Should you have a safety or security concern that may impact the safety and security of the public and the environment, please report to the NRC.

Thank you,

Originally post on 12/4/2012...

On Mon, Dec 10, 2012 at 11:03 AM, Webber, Robert <Robert.Webber@nrc.gov> wrote:

Mr. Mulligan:

Good morning.  Chairman Macfarlane’s office asked that I contact you concerning your inability to send emails to NRC staff.  Please accept my apology for the difficulties you have encountered.  We have seen an increase in spam and other unwanted emails originating from IP addresses registered and belonging to Yahoo!  We use a product, Cisco Ironport, to detect and block spam.  As a result, incoming email traffic from the Yahoo address is “throttled” by Cisco and is denied by our firewall from reaching its destination.  Cisco has been communicating on our behalf with appropriate contacts at Yahoo! regarding their outbound mail issue and have been assuring us that they’re working on it.  We will continue to work with Cisco and Yahoo in an effort to help them resolve this issue.

Please contact me at....... should you wish to discuss this matter further.

Bob Webber, Director

Infrastructure and Computer Operations Division

Office of Information Services

Dec 6 @5:30pm: I e-mailed the NRC chairman yesterday...really her staff....she had somebody call me named Jack L from region 1. My 90 year old mother in law took the message...it got a little garbled. I am at my house right now?


What drive me crazy is the NRC won't help me understand why I am getting these Yahoo Daemon bounces with my emails. You notice how I am beginning to use the the Google mail account. Should have changed over years ago.

Ultimately, if the NRC took it seriously there would have to be a public notification. We are having spam issue from Yahoo...we had to create a filter to not overwhelm our system. That is why you are getting a yahoo DEAMON warning that the NRC is rejecting your emails.

Spam reputation hinders Yahoo mail delivery

Monday, November 14, 2011
Sean O'Malley

Some yahoo.com e-mail users don't have much to shout "Yahoo!" about these days.
According to Don Hone, an e-mail administrator for OIT, Yahoo's spam reputation has fallen to the point where messages are being consistently rejected by other providers, including Ohio University. Attempts to contact administrators at Yahoo have so far been unsuccessful.
"At this point," Hone says, "Yahoo users who need to send e-mail to OHIO students or employees may want to consider moving to a different e-mail provider."
Like many institutions across the country, Ohio University uses reputation-based filtering as part of its defense against spam. In the automated spam filtering world, "bad reputation" has a very specific meaning. When a company, Internet provider, or institution sends too much spam from a particular server, that server gets points taken away from its reputation. If a server's reputation drops too low, that server gets blacklisted. According to Hone, approximately half of Yahoo's e-mail servers currently are experiencing some sort of spam-related restriction.
Students and employees who are forwarding their accounts to Yahoo may wish to consider disabling that forwarding and using their university account instead. Although messages forwarded from OHIO to Yahoo will get through, replies from Yahoo to OHIO may be delayed or blocked.

Symptoms and cures for Yahoo users

The most common symptom of spam trouble for a Yahoo user trying to reach an OHIO address is a rejection message. For e-mails sent from Yahoo to OHIO, the rejection notice will have the following characteristics:

• From: MAILER-DAEMON@yahoo.com
• Subject: Failure Notice
• Reason: "Too many recipients received this hour"

OIT has communicated directly about this issue with students and employees who are forwarding their mail to Yahoo. Options outlined in that message include:

• disabling forwarding and using Catmail or Exchange
• opening a new account with a different e-mail provider and updating OHIO forwarding to point to that new account
• continuing to read mail on Yahoo, but using Catmail or Exchange when sending to OHIO users

On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 5:19 PM, Mike Mulligan <steamshovel2002@gmail.com> wrote:

About a hour ago I called the NRC hotline about this mailer- daemon problem...wondering why lots of my e-mails were getting rejected by the NRC. I always use yahoo mailer. Half go through and the others get rejected.

Is this the problem below?

I wonder if I use google, and it works, we know what the problem is. My guess it is this. I pity the rest of the Yahoo mail users?

I'd still like a phone call back verifying yahoo is the problem...

Makes me wonder if I am blacklisted...not that paranoid yet.

Mike Mulligan

16033368320

Hinsdale, NH

Spam reputation hinders Yahoo mail delivery

Monday, November 14, 2011
Sean O'Malley

Some yahoo.com e-mail users don't have much to shout "Yahoo!" about these days.
According to Don Hone, an e-mail administrator for OIT, Yahoo's spam reputation has fallen to the point where messages are being consistently rejected by other providers, including Ohio University. Attempts to contact administrators at Yahoo have so far been unsuccessful.
"At this point," Hone says, "Yahoo users who need to send e-mail to OHIO students or employees may want to consider moving to a different e-mail provider."
Like many institutions across the country, Ohio University uses reputation-based filtering as part of its defense against spam. In the automated spam filtering world, "bad reputation" has a very specific meaning. When a company, Internet provider, or institution sends too much spam from a particular server, that server gets points taken away from its reputation. If a server's reputation drops too low, that server gets blacklisted. According to Hone, approximately half of Yahoo's e-mail servers currently are experiencing some sort of spam-related restriction.
Students and employees who are forwarding their accounts to Yahoo may wish to consider disabling that forwarding and using their university account instead. Although messages forwarded from OHIO to Yahoo will get through, replies from Yahoo to OHIO may be delayed or blocked.

Symptoms and cures for Yahoo users

The most common symptom of spam trouble for a Yahoo user trying to reach an OHIO address is a rejection message. For e-mails sent from Yahoo to OHIO, the rejection notice will have the following characteristics:

• From: MAILER-DAEMON@yahoo.com
• Subject: Failure Notice
• Reason: "Too many recipients received this hour"

OIT has communicated directly about this issue with students and employees who are forwarding their mail to Yahoo. Options outlined in that message include:

• disabling forwarding and using Catmail or Exchange
• opening a new account with a different e-mail provider and updating OHIO forwarding to point to that new account
• continuing to read mail on Yahoo, but using Catmail or Exchange when sending to OHIO users

On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 8:33 AM, NRC Allegation <NRC.Allegation@nrc.gov> wrote:

Mr. Mulligan,

We are pleased to inform you that the NRC does not block any individual e-mails coming to the NRC.

Should you have a safety or security concern that may impact the safety and security of the public and the environment, please report to the NRC.

Thank you,

On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 12:18 PM, Mike Mulligan <steamshovel2002@gmail.com> wrote:

Sir,

1) Did you begin processing my Dec 2 VY 2.206 I sent to allegation...did you receive this email on Dec 2? I am just try to figure out what is wrong.
2) Do you believe the below "message expired for domain nrc.gov and host received too many recipients"?
Yahoo is telling me the nrc.gov received too many emails and thus my e-mail was rejected by the NRC....not seen by allegations.
I honestly thought it inconceivable the NRC could be filtering me or blacklisting me...anyone...but it can be looked like that with getting these Yahoo DAEMON rejection.
3) the intent of condition or cause question...is this happening to anyone else and why?
4) I have a fully functional virus scan program...Norton....I don't think it is a virus at my end but who knows.
5) Could this be coming from the gov servers and outside the NRC...but still filtering me not intentionally. But too much yahoo spam?
6) It just looks like a some gov server is unintentionally filtering me or it being overloaded by yahoo scam.
Thank you for the response.

Mike

From: "MAILER-DAEMON@yahoo.com" <MAILER-DAEMON@yahoo.com>
To: steamshovel2002@yahoo.com
Sent: Monday, December 3, 2012 5:06 PM
Subject: Failure Notice

Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following address.

<allegation@nrc.gov>:
Message expired for domain nrc.gov. Remote host said: 452 Too many recipients received this hour [RCPT_TO]

--- Below this line is a copy of the message.

Received: from [98.137.12.191] by nm25.bullet.mail.gq1.yahoo.com with NNFMP; 02 Dec 2012 21:44:31 -0000
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Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2012 13:44:31 -0800 (PST)
From: Michael Mulligan <steamshovel2002@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Michael Mulligan <steamshovel2002@yahoo.com>
Subject: Vermont Yankee 2.206: Inaccurate And Incomplete Documents And LERs
To: "allegation@nrc.gov" <allegation@nrc.gov>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="951228646-31788744-1354484671=:18147"

--951228646-31788744-1354484671=:18147
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="951228646-990194195-1354484671=:18147"

--951228646-990194195-1354484671=:18147
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Dec 2, 2012=0A=0AR. William Borchardt=0AExecutive Director for Operations=
=0AUS Nuclear Regulatory Commission=0AWashington, DC 20555-0001=0A=E3=80=80=
=0ADear Mr. Borchardt,=0A=C2=A0=0ARequest an immediate shutdown of VY becau=
se the NRC and Entergy can't keep=0Atheir nuclear safety paperwork and docu=
ments accurate and up to date. I wonder=0Ahow that fits into risk informed =
regulations? =0A=C2=A0So here below is how VY's=0ASRV degraded thread seal =
LER 2010-002-01 dated March 1, 2011 expresses the=0A"cause of the event".=
=0A=C2=A0"Material testing determined that=0Athe apparent cause of the thre=
ad seal condition was thermal degradation. The=0Achange to use Buna-N mater=
ial in the new style seal resulted 

Junk plant Watts Bar 2: A National Disgrace Now Replace Their Swichyard

Can you even imagine it with all the NRC approvals and inspection for first operations, now they are replacing the main transformer and the switchyard? How did the NRC not see this? The switchyard is generally non safety related and the NRC doesn’t inspect it.

Honestly guys, it sounds like the transformer and switchyard for this effectively new plant is many decades old. They might have bought the transformer from the nuclear junk yard.

I have been telling you the symptom I see since startup, they got widespread quality issues with the equipment.

This has got to be a first in the nation, replacing the switchyard during preoperational testing…

 My guess is it’s going to be $50 to $100 million.  

TVA to Rebuild Switchyard Prior to Watts Bar 2 Operation

Sep 14, 2016

By Wayne Barber
Chief Analyst

Since the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) experienced an oil fire at the switchyard serving the Watts Bar nuclear station on Aug. 30, the federal utility has decided to rebuild the switchyard prior to full commercial operation of Watts Bar 2.

The fire forced the Watts Bar 2 nuclear unit offline not long after it had achieved 99 percent power output as part of increasing generation tests. As a precaution, TVA also took Watts Bar 1 offline temporarily on Sept. 1 so workers could safely inspect de-energized equipment in its switchyard.

Watts Bar 1 has since gotten back to 100 percent power, while Watts Bar 2 remains at zero power.

There is a “dual” switchyard at the Watts Bar nuclear complex and it has both 161-kV and 500-kV facilities, TVA spokesperson Jim Hopson told GenerationHub on Sept. 12.

The fire occurred on the “station side” of the switchyard serving Watts Bar 2, Hopson said. TVA cannot yet give an accurate prediction of either the cost of the switchyard repair or the length of time it will take to complete, he added. Work will be done by TVA’s in-house employees.

[Native Advertisement]

“We’ve got to fully understand what happened,” before that is determined, Hopson said. The transformer is an extremely large facility and the examination includes draining oil out.

“It’s a fairly extensive process,” Hopson said. “We want to make sure that it’s done right,” before Watts Bar 2 officially enters commercial operation.

Like TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson, the TVA spokesperson said that “commercial operation” is largely an “accounting term” that distinguishes capital expense projects from “operating and maintenance” expenses.

The Watts Bar 2 nuclear unit has been generating increasing levels of power this summer although it has yet to officially be deemed in commercial operation.

The deployment of Watts Bar 2 will mean that a second 1,150-MW nuclear reactor will be using the switchyard, Hopson noted.

TVA has not yet filed any reports on implications of the Aug. 30 fire, and subsequent repair project, with any federal agencies aside from the initial “event report” filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC inspector on-site is well aware of the situation, Hopson said.

TVA connected the long-anticipated Watts Bar 2 to the grid in early June. After the NRC issued an operating license for the unit last October, 193 new fuel assemblies were loaded into the reactor vessel the following month. TVA announced at the end of May that the reactor achieved its first sustained nuclear fission reaction.

Initial construction on Watts Bar 2 originally began back in 1973, but construction was halted in 1985 after the NRC identified weaknesses in TVA's nuclear program, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA).

In August 2007, the TVA board of directors authorized the completion of Watts Bar 2, and construction started in October 2007. At that time, a study found Unit 2 to be effectively 60 percent complete with $1.7 billion invested. The study said the plant could be finished in five years at an additional cost of $2.5 billion. However, both the timeline and cost estimate developed in 2007 proved to be overly optimistic, as construction was not completed until 2015, and costs ultimately totaled $4.7 billion.

Greenspan is the Biggest Crazies

His philosophy gave us the 2008 economic debacle.  He got out just in time in 2006.   

Greenspan Worries That ‘Crazies’ Will Undermine the U.S. System

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan voiced concern that the U.S. economic and political system could be undermined by what he called “crazies.”

“It is the worst economic and political environment that I’ve ever been remotely related to,” Greenspan, 90, told a conference in Washington Tuesday evening sponsored by Stanford University and the University of Chicago.

On the economic front, the U.S. is headed toward stagflation -- a combination of weak demand and elevated inflation, according to Greenspan. “Politically, I haven’t a clue how this comes out.”

“We’re not in a stable equilibrium,” he said. “I hope we can all find a way out because this is too great a country to be undermined, by how should I say it, crazies.”

Greenspan, who served from 1974-1977 in the Republican presidential administration of the late Gerald Ford, declined to comment on Wednesday when asked whom he was referring to.

Presidential Campaign

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is leading Republican Donald Trump in opinion polls, though her edge over the billionaire has narrowed. In winning his party’s nod, Trump ran a populist campaign, pledging to build a wall to keep out illegal immigrants coming from Mexico and threatening to slap tariffs on imports from China.

In his comments on Tuesday, Greenspan traced the rise of populism in the U.S. all the way back to 1896, when William Jennings Bryan gave his “Cross of Gold” speech at the Democratic Party national convention opposing the gold standard.

Greenspan repeated his concern on Tuesday that increased government spending on social security and healthcare are crowding out private investment and leading to slower economic growth. He bemoaned the fact that neither presidential candidate was talking about reining in those expenditures.

“Nobody wants to discuss it” for fear of a political backlash, he said.

Junk NRC and Dead Ender Pilgrim: Dangerous Maintenance At Power.

This is an indication of a grossly incompetent staff and grossly poor procedures. Nobody have the guts to call more senior management or the NRC to put a stop to this craziness before the maintenance? It only occurred for about one half an hour.

Where was the NRC…

Can you even believe this, the maintenance actively happened on Aug 26, 2014 and this very serious violation was discovered on April 19, 2016…

Licensee Event Report 2016-002:.01, Online Maintenance Test Configuration Prohibited By Technical Specifications

As specified under Limiting Conditions for Operations (LCO) Action Statement 3.9.B.2, "From and after the date that incoming power is not available from both startup and shutdown transformers, continued operation is permissible, provided both diesel generators and associated emergency buses remain operable, all core and containment cooling systems are operable, and reactor power level is reduced to 25 percent of design".

The potential safety consequence of this event if response (recovery) actions were delayed is the possibility of losing 4kV Buses AS &A6 for an extended period of time, resulting in a prolonged station blackout condition.

The potential safety consequence of this event if the "operator" barrier was removed is a station blackout

condition. Had the resulting consequence of th'e August 2014 maintenance testing been a station blackout, PNPS Procedure S.3.31, Station Blackout, would have been entered and the prescribed immediate and subsequent actions taken until the preferred (34S kV Offsite) power source or the standby (onsite) EOG power source was restored.

Junk and Dead Ender Pilgrim: "Communication Has Become Terrible With The Fire Department"

They are probable losing employees hands over fist. Who wants their careers tainted by this terribly operating plant.

Hydrogen gas leak forces investigation at Pilgrim nuke plant

"Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station leaked 2,680 cubic feet of hydrogen gas into Plymouth skies Friday from its turbine building, once again forcing plant operators to file reports with state and federal regulators.

“One local agency that should have been contacted never got the call, according to Plymouth Fire Chief Ed Bradley.

The event was just one more in a string of mishaps the 44-year-old reactor has experienced over the past month, and the plant owner plans to closely look at what happened.

“While this is an infrequent occurrence, it does not meet our standards and a prompt investigation is underway to determine the cause and to preclude recurrence,” Entergy Corp.’s spokesman Patrick O’Brien wrote in an email to the Times.

Pilgrim operators notified the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection of the event late Friday afternoon, and submitted a short event report to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Monday, in which it stated the required notice was also given to the Plymouth Fire Department.

The plant license holder must report any hydrogen releases greater than 1,900 cubic feet during a 24-hour period.

Bradley was unhappy about the lack of notice but said it's become typical behavior. "In the past three months, communication has become terrible," the fire chief said Monday. "And I don't know why." He said he made a phone call to plant managers Monday, who confirmed the release had taken place.

DEP spokesman Edmund Coletta said his agency received the phone call shortly before 6 p.m. Friday. “They are now required to hire a licensed site professional, which they have done, to submit a closure report on what happened, how it happened and why it happened,” he said. “They have 60 days to do that.””

Junk and Dead Ender Pilgrim plant: Shutdown Again From 9% Power

The ISO must consider these guys unreliable. Imagine the rescheduling going on here... 

NUCLEAR POWER

Pilgrim almost back online after eight days

Mechanical malfunction forces another shutdown

By Christine Legere 

Posted Sep. 13, 2016 at 7:52 PM

PLYMOUTH — Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station was slowly powering up Tuesday and reached 9 percent of its full capacity when yet another mechanical malfunction forced operators to shut the reactor back down, marking the eighth day the plant has been offline.

A turning gear that helps spin the turbine and maintain it in proper balance was not functioning properly, according to Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Sheehan said it will have to be repaired before the reactor can be restarted.

Since the problem is on the turbine side, rather than on the nuclear reactor side of the operation, public safety is not a big concern, according to the NRC and Entergy, the plant's owner-operator.

Entergy spokesman Patrick O’Brien said the plant will return to full power when repairs are completed. “Information on when we expect to return to 100 percent power is business sensitive and proprietary, and we are therefore not at liberty to make it public.”

Operators shut down the reactor on Sept. 6 because a faulty regulator valve was allowing too much water into the reactor building. That valve, and a second one, have been repaired, Sheehan said Monday.

Last Friday, while the plant was still in shutdown, there was a leak of 2,680 cubic feet of hydrogen gas in the turbine room which then went into the atmosphere, forcing plant operators to file reports with state and federal regulators.

Pilgrim was also shut down for four days last month due to a malfunctioning steam isolation valve designed to prevent radioactivity from leaking into the environment during a nuclear accident. Problems in that same valve system had caused a shutdown in August 2015.

Pilgrim, ranked by the NRC as one of the three worst performers in the country’s fleet of 100 reactors, is slated to close on May 31, 2019.

Meanwhile Entergy spokesman Joseph Lynch told a group of Plymouth officials Tuesday that the company has notified federal regulators that Pilgrim is ready for a full inspection, the final one in a series of three special inspections required because of the plant's poor performance.

Lynch said a team of NRC inspectors will arrive Nov. 28 for a two-week scrutiny of Pilgrim. Inspectors then return in January to wrap up, Lynch said.

— Follow Christine Legere on Twitter: @ChrisLegereCCT

Dead Ender Junk Pilrim: Releasing in excess of 10 Pounds of Hydrogen

Right, in recent times, two MSIVs and a feed water regulation valve malfunctions...now this. This is a indication of financial starvation and a lack of hope for the staff.

There are fans in the roof of the turbine building. The gas most likely was dispersed through this manner. The amount of hydrogen here carries a lot of energy and there always is a fear of detonation. It could blow off the siding and injure a lot of people. How would you like the end of plant operations to be precipitated by this kind of explosion or event? There is a possibility the leak began in the stator cooling system in the basement.  

A uncontrollable cascade of plant problems...

Wiki: The butterfly effect is the concept that small causes can have large effects. Initially, it was used with weather prediction but later the term became a metaphor used in and out of science.^[1]
In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions in which a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state. The name, coined by Edward Lorenz for the effect which had been known long before, is derived from the metaphorical example of the details of a hurricane (exact time of formation, exact path taken) being influenced by minor perturbations such as the flapping of the wings of a distant butterfly several weeks earlier. Lorenz discovered the effect when he observed that runs of his weather model with initial condition data that was rounded in a seemingly inconsequential manner would fail to reproduce the results of runs with the unrounded initial condition data. A very small change in initial conditions had created a significantly different outcome...

This isn't a normal release of hydrogen. This was a unintentional release due to operator error or a equipment malfunction.

Chaotic and erratic plant operations!!!!

How do we get here? Right, high ocean temperatures forced the unit to cycle up and down. We had a feedwater adventure at 91% power. Now this. Erratic plant operations!!! This is how the lessor nations operate their nuclear power plants. Plant design has a pipe going to way above the roof, where the hydrogen get dispersed in this way.

Power Reactor	Event Number: 52231
Facility: PILGRIM Region: 1 State: MA Unit: [1] [ ] [ ] RX Type: [1] GE-3 NRC Notified By: JOHN WHALLEY HQ OPS Officer: STEVE SANDIN	Notification Date: 09/09/2016 Notification Time: 20:01 [ET] Event Date: 09/09/2016 Event Time: 17:39 [EDT] Last Update Date: 09/09/2016
Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR Section: 50.72(b)(2)(xi) - OFFSITE NOTIFICATION	Person (Organization): MEL GRAY (R1DO) BERN STAPLETON (NSIR)

Unit	SCRAM Code	RX CRIT	Initial PWR	Initial RX Mode	Current PWR	Current RX Mode
1	N	N	0	Refueling	0	Refueling

Event Text

OFFSITE NOTIFICATION - RELEASE OF HYDROGEN GAS IN EXCESS OF THE REPORTABLE QUANTITY OF TEN POUNDS "At 1739 [EDT] on Friday September 9, 2016 the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection and the Plymouth Massachusetts Fire Department were notified of a Hydrogen release in accordance with plant procedures and 310CMR40.300, Massachusetts Contingency Plan Notification for Oil and Hazardous Material; Identification and Listing of Oil and Hazardous Material, due to a release of hydrogen gas to the environment exceeding the reportable quantity of ten pounds. The Massachusetts DEP Tracking Number is RTN4-26311. The release was from the generator hydrogen cooling system. There was no plant damage. Hydrogen system pressure has been restored to the normal operating band with the Main Generator secured and is stable. The cause of the event is under investigation. "This event posed no danger to the health and safety of plant personnel or members of the general public. "The NRC Resident Inspector has been notified.''

Junk Plant Salem 1 & 2: Indication Of Rough Seas For The Nuclear Industry

I see this as a indicator of heighten risk of a nuclear plant meltdown. Or an accident that's going to be on the doorstep of a meltdown, could turn into meltdown. At best, the Salem and Hope facility will tar the industry's reputation

As a professional, the reliability of the operation of the Salem and Hope facility is a disgrace to the nation. An indication of the problem with Hope Creek is their Safety Relief Valves. They can't quickly clear weak designed SRVs from the plant. For the last few years, this facility is in deep decline and this indicates the system can't quickly clear emergent problem across the board. This facility's operations has been chaotic and erratic. I think this is a indicator for the industry in general. The whole industry is moving towards the condition of Hope Creak and the Salem units.

I remind everyone we don't have the god's eye view of the safety of the massively complex organization and the massively complex machine, components and parts and material conditions. Outsider only see a sliver of the extent of these problems. One plant may have up to a million or more components...this is the second largest nuclear facility in the USA with three plant. The complexity here is mind boggling. This is why I spend so much of my time studying the documents of this facility. I am just a tea leaf reader.

Salem 1 63%

Salem 2 100%

  

Junk Salem 1&2: Both Plants Stuck At 60% Again

Honestly, on this second largest nuclear facility in the USA, when have all three plants been at 100% this summer? Bet you for this facility, its the worst summer capacity history on the record.

Junk Plant Pilgrim: Forged Signature On Safety Document Not A NRC Violation

Where the hell are we heading!!!

Mr. John Dent, Jr.
Site Vice President
Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc.
Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station
600 Rocky Hill Road
Plymouth, MA 02360-5508
SUBJECT: NRC INVESTIGATION REPORT NO. 1-2015-008
Dear Mr. Dent:
This letter refers to the subject investigation by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Office of Investigations (OI) involving the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Pilgrim), owned by Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Entergy). The investigation,

Was the former planning manager fired for cause?

which was completed on December 18, 2015, was conducted, in part, to determine whether a (former) planning manager at Pilgrim caused Entergy to violate NRC requirements related to work planning or risk assessment. As described below, the NRC determined that the circumstances of the case did not result in a violation of NRC requirements.
The non-outage work planning process at Pilgrim is conducted in accordance with Entergy procedure EN-WM-101, “On-Line Work Management Process.” The scope of work for a given workweek is finalized 16 weeks before the start of the actual workweek. After that point, any proposed scope changes must be documented on a form (Attachment 9.1 to the procedure). The form records the desired work scope change and its impact (manpower and operational), and requires signatures from designated Operations and Work Control contacts.
In October 2014, Pilgrim staff identified that six forms authorizing work scope changes included signatures for the Operations and Work Control personnel that had apparently been forged by the planning manager. Pilgrim staff initiated an internal investigation and notified the NRC of the concern. The NRC conducted an independent investigation of the matter to determine whether the planning manager’s actions resulted in any violations of NRC requirements. In particular, the NRC evaluated whether the planning manager caused work to be performed without being properly evaluated for risk, as required by Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 50.65(a)(4).
Based on the evidence gathered during the OI investigation, the NRC concluded that, although the planning manager forged the names of Operations and Work Control personnel on the forms, this action did not result in a violation of NRC requirements. Specifically, the NRC determined that the work scope changes did not involve or potentially affect the performance of safety-related equipment; and that the planning manager’s actions did not cause the licensee to improperly perform unplanned work, remove required work from the schedule, or fail to perform a required risk evaluation.

Unlimited Qualities of Natural Gas In The USA?

Oil! Massive shale discovery in Texas

Published  1:18 PM EDT Sep 08, 2016

An overlooked corner of West Texas is believed to contain billions of barrels of newly-discovered shale oil.

Apache (APA) revealed the huge find this week after more than two years of stealthily buying up land, extensive geological research and rigorous testing.  

The Houston company estimates the discovery, dubbed "Alpine High," could be worth at least $8 billion.

Apache believes the new shale play spans at least five formations, contains over three billion barrels of oil and 75 trillion cubic feet of rich natural gas.  

"We feel very confident with what we have and believe this is a story that's only going to get better," Apache CEO John Christmann IV told CNNMoney.  

Wall Street is already seeing dollar signs, sending Apache's stock price surging 10% in the two trading days since the find was unveiled.  

"The play has the potential to be a transformative event for the company," Raymond James analyst John Freeman wrote in a research report. "Apache sees an incredible opportunity to establish the next big resource play in the U.S."  

Apache Energy's huge shale oil discovery in West Texas, named "Alpine High," is estimated to contain three billion barrels of crude. 

Related: OPEC's dire finances fuel oil freeze talks 

Apache has identified at least 2,000 drilling locations, and estimates an initial value of between $4 million to $20 million per well. That translates to at least $8 billion in value for the company, but potentially a lot more. The company has already drilled 19 wells in the play, with nine currently producing "limited quantities" due to infrastructure constraints. 

Rob Thummel, a portfolio manager at energy investment firm Tortoise Capital, said the announcement will "definitely open investors' eyes" and could lead his firm to make an investment in Apache. 

However, Thummel also urged caution, noting that Apache's management team doesn't have the long track record of more established shale companies like EOG Resources (EOG) or Pioneer Energy. (PES) 

"It's going to be more of a prove-it story," Thummel said.
Christmann, the Apache boss, said his company looks forward to "proving the significance of this discovery over time." He added that the find is the result of "intense technical work," including 3D seismic research.  

Related: Oklahoma orders shutdown of wells after earthquake
So what's next? Apache will need to continue testing the land to decide where it makes the most sense to start drilling at current prices. Both oil and natural gas prices remain depressed due to a huge glut, mostly fueled by excessive shale production from the U.S. over the past decade.  

Apache will also need to build infrastructure to handle all the potential oil and gas coming out of Alpine High. The company is expected to install a temporary processing facility later this year and eventually build a more permanent presence. 

"Rome wasn't built in a day, neither are major oil and gas fields," Thummel said.

Heroin: I Think It Is The Foreign Drug Kingpins Blackmailing Us

Back off USA, or 10,000 people will drop dead in the streets in one week...

Coroner: Heroin dealers using Cincinnati as a 'test tube'

Published: 09/07/16 04:09 pm EDT.

CINCINNATI, Ohio

Authorities suspect the Cincinnati area has been treated as a "test tube" by heroin dealers for use of a powerful animal tranquilizer, a county coroner said on Tuesday.

Tests have confirmed carfentanil in the bodies of eight recent overdose casualties, Hamilton County's Dr. Lakshmi Sammarco said, and more cases are suspected. The drug, used to sedate elephants, can be thousands of times stronger than morphine.

Sammarco said the sudden surge in overdose cases raised concerns that dealers wanted to see what would happen in a community when they mixed carfentanil with heroin or sold it outright.

"The very intense and focused spike brought up a lot of fears .... that our community was being used as a test tube," she said. "What are they learning from it? Are they looking to see how many people it's going to kill or how quickly our first responders can respond? And how many customers is that going to generate for them?"

Authorities have said nearly 300 overdoses have been reported in the Cincinnati area since Aug. 19, with 174 reported in a six-day period. Communities in West Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana also saw overdose spikes in recent weeks.

Carfentanil has been blamed in other overdose surges, such as in Akron this summer. Cincinnati area authorities warned publicly in July that carfentanil was beginning to show up locally.

Sammarco said the office of Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman reached out to the Cleveland Zoo and the Summit County coroner's office to help her obtain carfentanil samples for testing. She said more overdose cases since July are being reviewed for carfentanil.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials have said they believe much of the carfentanil is being shipped from China to Mexico, where traffickers are mixing it with heroin and other drugs such as the painkiller fentanyl.

Cincinnati firefighters said they sometimes had to use multiple doses of the overdose-reversal drug naloxone to save users during the spike.

Heroin at Home: An Ohio Epidemic

Newtown police Chief Tom Synan, who heads the Hamilton County Drug Coalition task force, said Tuesday he wants Ohio to declare an emergency and free up more resources to help local authorities cope.

"We're bleeding profusely, and we need a tourniquet," Synan said.

A spokeswoman for Republican Gov. John Kasich, Emmalee Kalmbach, said the state is continuing to work with Cincinnati area officials to strengthen prevention, treatment and other resources.

"Making progress in our fight against drug abuse requires a determined, community-based commitment and a shared purpose that brings all of us together to find and implement the right solutions," Kalmbach said.

The state last week expedited a shipment of naloxone to Cincinnati to rebuild supplies as the spike slowed.

©2016 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Junk Plant Grand Gulf-Continued Terrible Capacity Factor

They are losing money hands over fist. Bet you it is run to failure...

Power Reactor	Event Number: 52225
Facility: GRAND GULF Region: 4 State: MS Unit: [1] [ ] [ ] RX Type: [1] GE-6 NRC Notified By: SEAN DUNFEE HQ OPS Officer: JEFF ROTTON	Notification Date: 09/08/2016 Notification Time: 04:27 [ET] Event Date: 09/08/2016 Event Time: 03:00 [CDT] Last Update Date: 09/08/2016
Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR Section: 50.72(b)(2)(i) - PLANT S/D REQD BY TS	Person (Organization): THOMAS HIPSCHMAN (R4DO)

Unit	SCRAM Code	RX CRIT	Initial PWR	Initial RX Mode	Current PWR	Current RX Mode
1	N	Y	100	Power Operation	82	Power Operation

Event Text

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION SHUTDOWN DUE TO LOSS OF RESIDUAL HEAT REMOVAL PUMP "On September 4, 2016 at 0258 [CDT], Grand Gulf Nuclear Station entered three [Technical Specification] Limiting Conditions for Operations (LCOs) due to residual heat removal pump 'A' (RHR 'A') being declared inoperable. "LCOs entered: 1) 3.5.1 for one low pressure ECCS injection/spray subsystem, 2) 3.6.1.7 for one RHR containment spray subsystem, and 3) 3.6.2.3 for one RHR suppression pool cooling subsystem. "Station management has made the decision to shutdown the plant to repair the RHR 'A' pump prior to the end of the 7 day LCO completion time based on troubleshooting and testing performed on the RHR 'A' pump. "Grand Gulf Nuclear Station initiated plant shutdown required by Tech Spec Actions 3.5.1, 3.6.1.7, and 3.6.2.3, at 0300 CDT on 09/08/2016 due to expected inability to restore RHR 'A' to operable status prior to exceeding the LCO time of 7 days." The unit is currently at 82 percent power. There are no other systems out of service that would complicate the orderly shutdown to Mode 4. The licensee will notify the NRC Resident Inspector.

Junk Plant Polo Verde Has A Special Way To Discover Maintenence Problems.

Basically setting up for maintenance issue then uncovering two additional maintenance problems not detected by the plant.

1) Seems something is wrong the breakers during the bus transfer. There are a lot of breaker problems in the industry. Was the busses in synch upon the transfer? Big chance of a electrical explosion.

2) The stuck open relief valve. The is what caused TMI. 

Power Reactor	Event Number: 52226
Facility: PALO VERDE Region: 4 State: AZ Unit: [1] [ ] [ ] RX Type: [1] CE,[2] CE,[3] CE NRC Notified By: MIKE JONES HQ OPS Officer: DANIEL MILLS	Notification Date: 09/08/2016 Notification Time: 04:27 [ET] Event Date: 09/07/2016 Event Time: 21:31 [MST] Last Update Date: 09/08/2016
Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR Section: 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) - RPS ACTUATION - CRITICAL	Person (Organization): THOMAS HIPSCHMAN (R4DO)

Unit	SCRAM Code	RX CRIT	Initial PWR	Initial RX Mode	Current PWR	Current RX Mode
1	M/R	Y	100	Power Operation	0	Hot Standby

Event Text

MANUAL REACTOR TRIP DUE TO STUCK OPEN PRESSURIZER MAIN SPRAY VALVE "On September 7th, 2016 at approximately 2131 Mountain Standard Time (MST), Palo Verde Unit 1 was manually tripped due to a stuck open main spray valve. Unit 1 was operating at 100 percent power at normal operating temperature and pressure prior to the event. A 120 VAC non-class instrument distribution panel was being transferred to its alternate power supply to establish maintenance conditions. The distribution panel failed to transfer. The panel remained energized from its normal power supply; however, multiple components powered from the distribution panel began to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior. At this time, it was noted that a reactor coolant system main spray valve was open. The alarm response procedure was followed; however, the actions taken were unsuccessful at closing the main spray valve. The plant was then manually tripped due to pressurizer pressure continuing to lower. The reactor coolant pumps were turned off to terminate main pressurizer spray flow to control pressurizer pressure due to the inability to close the main spray valve. No ESF [Engineered Safety Features] actuations occurred and none were required. No emergency classification was required per the emergency plan. Safety related buses remained energized during and following the reactor trip. The emergency diesel generators did not start and were not required. The offsite power grid is stable. Limiting condition for operation 3.4.1 was entered due to low pressurizer pressure. No major equipment was inoperable prior to the event that contributed to the event. "Unit 1 is stable at normal operating temperature and pressure in Mode 3. Reactor coolant pumps are secured and natural circulation has been verified. Primary pressure is being maintained at its normal operating pressure manually with pressurizer heaters and auxiliary spray, from the charging system. The event did not result in any challenges to fission product barriers and there were no adverse safety consequences as a result of this event. The minimum RCS pressure was approximately 2070 psia (normal 2250). The event did not adversely affect the safe operation of the plant or the health and safety of the public." All rods inserted and the trip was uncomplicated. Units 2 and 3 were not affected and continue to run at full power. The NRC Resident Inspector has been notified.

Junk Plants Salem 1&2 Stuck At 60% For two Days.

Man, its a long and troublesome summer for these guys?

Hope keeps chugging along...

Junk and Dead Ender Oyster Creek Plant-91% Power For A Week

You got to be careful this time of year with plants not at 100% power. The plants might to heading to a refueling outage and power is slowing going down as they run out of fuel.

Junk Plant Pilgrim Second Scram On Ocean High Temperature Cycling

Update

Neal told me, in fact, there are two separate 23 kilovolts lines going into Pilgrim. One going to waste treatment plant and the other attached to the emergency shutdown transformer. Within a few weeks both shorted and created a small brush fire in the owner controlled area. Neal didn't seem to think there is a connection to each grounded event. I Told him if I worked a Pilgrim or the NRC, I'd be digging as hard as I could looking for a connection or link to both events. He said he would pass that onto the resident.

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant Shuts Down Following Valve Problem

September 6, 2016

PLYMOUTH – The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth experienced an unplanned shutdown this morning, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

A statement from the agency said it was caused by a high water level resulting from a problem with a regulating valve.

Water is pumped into the reactor so that it can be boiled, converted to steam and then piped to the turbine to generate electricity.

The NRC said their onsite inspectors responded to observe operator responses and verify the safe shutdown of the plant just after 8:30 a.m. 

Feed water regulation valve malfunctions are the types of problems you expect to see with jumping up and down in power.

Spokesman Neil Sheehan said plant owner Entergy will need to identify the cause of the valve fluctuations and make any needed repairs before the reactor can return to service.  
It’s just the latest equipment issue with the troubled plant that is listed as one of the worst in the nation by the NRC.

On Monday, the plant’s power was reduced to 90 percent because of elevated water intake temperatures. 

I believe they use the 23 kilovolt line as a backup electricity source if the lose all electricity at the site. It is a value safety system. 

There was also a downed tree on the 23-kilovolt power line to the plant’s waste-treatment facility on Sunday evening which caused a small fire near Rocky Hill Road.

The NRC said the line outage did not impact any safety-related equipment at the plant.

Entergy announced last year that they would close Pilgrim by 2019

Junk Plant And Grossly Obsolete Dresden HPIC Questions

Update

Talked to the senior: They basically had resistors needing adjustment for the particular duty...they shot themselves in the foot by not doing the pre use adjustment. They are other troubles with component. GE procures the motor from another vendor...


Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Unit 3 Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-25 NRG Docket No. 50-249

Subject: Licensee Event Report 249/2016-001-00, Alert Declared from Unit 3 HPCI Auxiliary Oil Pump Motor Fire

See, poor maintenance leads to a failure, then the new motor fails almost emediately. This is a repeated pattern throughout the industry…

Think about all the intermediaries the motor components are made from.

Why wasn’t there a LER written out for the 2015 event?  

2016-001-00 -The Root Cause of the HPCI AOP motor failure is inadequate control of critical parameters when installing a DC shunt wound motor. The Failure Mechanism was high armature current with a stalled rotor. The Contributing Cause of the HPCI AOP motor failure is historical motor procurement evaluation standards were not rigorous enough. 

Previous Occurrences:
In 2015, the U3 HPCI AOP motor failed during planned maintenance due to carbon dust buildup inside the motor as a result of inadequate cleaning and inspection of the motor and commutator.