The Huge New Hinsdale/Brattleboro Route 119 Bridge Construction Project Begins

This always has been a disgusting political indictment condemning all of us. It is ridicules all the details not now being all worked out, with the broader game plan sitting in idle waiting for the funding. The NHDOT is terrible underfunded, as is the care of our poor and defenseless foster children. There always was a destructive rivalry between the states and our two small towns. The primary cause of this is the level of object poverty in our two towns. Why do I think all issues delaying the building of the new bridge is a agenda to not spend money. Welcome to the balkanization of the USA where every state, person, town and city is nation-state unto their own! Where the weak federal government is too intimidated to set our over arching laws, codes and regulations. We are a nation of squabblers with no set direction. It is a steep regression of a once great nation.

Is our great savior only President Trump!!!         

It is a indictment on our forth estate!!! Where they don't have the skills and resources to comprehensively paint our horrendous dysfunctions with our greater good.

That is why I was running my around that bridge protesting for three years like a mad man with a fake homemade halo on my head and then yanking unattached planks from a walkway of a grossly obsolete 1920s era rust bucket bridge. It was the best $1500 dollars I ever spent.

And the greatest over arcing issue of it all, always with tears in my eyes and infinite sorrows in my heart, is how severe and horrendously underfunded all our great institutions serving our common good have become.


We have become a geography of individual nation states with no glue to hold us together. It truly is survival of the fittest  We are aiming for nothing but our individual self interest. It is a great regression of democracy itself.

Sometimes with my fake homemade halo on my head, I feel like I am the only sane person in the USA.      

Brattleboro bridge to N.H.: repairsaga spans four decades

A new bridge might finally be built, adding a chapter to a story that began in 1977

Originally published in The Commons issue #406 (Wednesday, May 3, 2017).

By Wendy M. Levy/The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—How long does it take to build a new bridge?

When it connects two states across a body of water, includes a railroad grade crossing and a hazardous waste site, and involves one of Brattleboro’s least-favorite intersections, it could take 40 years.

And they haven’t even started construction…

I just last week gave the Keene Sentinel a heads up. I asked them to check into when my bridge build is to begin? It seems they blew me off. It is a $35 million dollar project. I don't understand why the local papers don't keep us updated on the huge construction project.

Sitting aside the marina today is a NHDOT soil sampling rig. They pull out bore holes of dirt, they evaluate the soil conditions in advance of the project. They drill down many feet or to bed rock. Then the engineers figure out what kind of bridge footing are needed for a particular bridge.

I wonder when the actual dirt digging begins???

Controversial VY Shooting Range in Hinsdale, NH and Leyden, Ma

Yep, I watched them bulldozing for the last two months. Noticed them building up the berms for the second time. It is a half ass shooting range. Last snow storm, I parked next to the sewage plant. I go out most snow storms and hike along woods behind the range for hours on end. A big old blizzard is even better. I love being out in any storm. The police and snow plows get irked with me parking on the roads during snow storms. I didn't want to park my car near the gun range gate cause my car might get stuck in the snow. So I am on River Road on the way back, been out for about six hours on the most beautiful snow storm you can ever image. I am exhausted and cold, it was a spectacular day. Up ahead is a police car coming towards me. The chief had seen me shoveling out by the side of a road in another wooded area in the morning. I see its the chief, it is the second time. I thinking man, the police department must be really short of the officers for him to be out so long. The Chief is a really dedicated person to his difficult job. About nine months prior to this, I complained to the selectman about this police department. Heroin is decimating the police department and they are severely undermanned. The chief explained in heavy snow my car is parked near the sewage plant, he asked me want I am doing out here. I told him I am walking the woods behind the old dump. He explained I am making it difficult for the plows to clear road. Because there were issues with me complaining about the police department, I didn't want to get in a argument with the chief. I said as little as I could.

Proposal to expand Hinsdale shooting range draws backlash

By Ethan DeWitt Sentinel Staff

HINSDALE — The opposition was relentless, the criticisms rapid-fire.

A proposal to renovate the Hinsdale Police Department shooting range and extend its use to employees of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant drew a strong backlash at a board of selectman hearing Monday night, as residents raised concerns with noise levels and safety.

The proposal, advanced by Police Chief Todd Faulkner, would amend the town’s shooting range ordinance to expand the use of the range to security personnel from the nuclear power plant, as well as officers from Cheshire County police departments...

Anyway, I use the trail from the dump gate, through the gun range, up behind the gun range, to the dam area, all the time. The path is completely cut off by the new berms. They took no consideration making a new trail bypassing safely the shooting range.

I never got charge with anything on the link below. The agents said in a deep elevated voice, to never say them three bad words again in the same paragraph. This was pre Snowden. I think the FBI, CIA or NSA through domestic surveillance, picked up my three bad words. Told the FBI to take a peek at me. I asked the agent they got this information, the told me they couldn't say for national security reasons. I am glade are agencies are paying so much attention to terrorism issues.        

VY: FBI/Joint Terrorism Task Force investigating VY incident (Nov 2013)

The last time I got involved with protesting Vermont Yankee's new shooting range in Leyden Ma, two FBI agents assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force demanded they talk to me "before the end of daylight today".They thought I was making terrorism threats to VY. Remember, very few of the plant operations staff is left at the plant now.

The similarities with the Leyden and Hinsdale shooting range is the police force and Vermont Yankee are bullies. They wasn't proper notification. None of these dummies could imagine the amount of semi and automatic gun fire could effect the local population.  

Leyden rifle range run-in results in broken foot

Posted Wednesday, October 14, 2009 10:14 pm

By BOB AUDETTE

BRATTLEBORO -- A man who lives next door to the rifle range where Vermont Yankee security officers train sustained a fracture of a bone in his foot after it was run over by a vehicle driven by one of those guards.
"It hurts," said Matthew Cormier, 22, who said his 3-month-old child was awakened by a blaring truck horn as a vehicle was leaving the Leyden Rifle Range on River Road in Leyden, Mass., on Tuesday night.
He ran out of the house to ask the drivers not to blow their horns, he said.
The first vehicle that passed him almost hit him, said Cormier, so he tried to get the second vehicle to stop, which did not.
The third vehicle that went by was so close to the edge of the road that it ran over his foot, fracturing a bone.
"He didn’t even make an attempt to slow down," said Cormier. "He just kept on going."
Cormier denied he had thrown himself on the vehicle or made any physical move to block the road.
"If I had run out in front of him, I would probably be dead," he said.
He also denied that he damaged any vehicle during the altercation, which he was accused of by the security officers.
"How am I going to damage the vehicle when he is running me over?" asked Cormier, who called 911 after being struck by the vehicle.
Cormier said he plans to talk with a lawyer to figure out how to proceed, whether it’s just against the driver or against the driver and Vermont Yankee.
Leyden Police Chief Daniel Galvis said the incident is still under investigation.
Neighbors had called police to complain about the noise coming from the rifle range, which didn’t end until about 8 p.m., said Cecilia Tusinski, 64.
Tusinski and her husband Peter went outside to yell at and wave signs at the security guards as they drove by.
"We were highly incensed by the level of the noise," she said. "We went out specifically to voice our displeasure at the racket they were making. I yelled go home and don’t come back. We’re sick of you and have had enough."
The incident quickly escalated into a shouting match after one of the drivers stopped and threw his door open, she said.
"It was a heated exchange," said Tusinski.
She said some not very polite words were traded back and forth.
"I was yelling quite loudly and not in a very ladylike fashion," she said.
The driver not only swore at her and her husband, she said, but passengers in the next vehicle swore at them and gestured with their middle fingers. Her husband Peter said they also called them "crybabies."
"I then responded with some expletives," he admitted, adding "I believe we did nothing wrong. We expressed our displeasure through yelling and holding up a sign."
The sign read "Respect Leyden Taxpayers, No Shooting After 6 p.m."
"This is an intolerable situation," he said.
Though Cormier called 911 after being struck, police did not arrive until after they received a phone call that he had damaged one of the vehicles. When they did arrive, they were quick with their questions, asking if anyone was blocking the road or if anyone had threatened to go into their house and bring out a gun.
"It was nonsense," said Cecilia Tusinski.
"This is absurd that the state police were giving us the third degree," said her husband. "They’re more concerned about protecting VY’s goon squad than the citizens who pay taxes."
What was even worse, said Peter Tusinski, was the fact that none of the officers offered to help Cormier.
"Why in the hell would you send three state troopers and two local officers and not render assistance?" he asked.
The Tusinskis said they want Vermont Yankee to respect their neighborhood.
As taxpayers in Leyden, said Cecilia Tusinski, "We feel that our right to a peaceful night is being taken away by this escalation in the training of Vermont Yankee security forces."
Noise at the rifle range has gotten worse recently, she said, and Tuesday night’s racket was especially disturbing. She said that might be due to several factors, including it was a clear night, leaves have fallen off the trees, buildings at the rifle range were recently demolished and logging has taken some trees down.
But either way, said Peter Tusinski, having a large number of people firing at once creates quite a racket.
"The noise and disruption at night appears to have escalated," he said. "It’s getting everyone upset."
Another problem is that Yankee issued a schedule of when training was to be conducted, but hasn’t been sticking to the schedule, they both said.
Plant officials are attempting to make sure the schedules set are adhered to by their security forces, said Larry Smith, director of communications, which is a challenge, he admitted.
Smith also confirmed that Yankee had made a request of local police.
"We have requested a police escort," he said.
Sue Sojka, a registered nurse who drove Cormier to the hospital, said there is one solution that can make the problem go away.
"Get your butts home with your family and let us have some peace and quiet," she said.

Defective Safety Relief Valves: NRC Says It's Not Target Rock

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION INSPECTIONOF CURTISS-WRIGHT FLOW CONTROL COMPANY TARGET ROCK DIVISION, REPORT NO.99900060/2017-202 AND NOTICE OF NONCONFORMANCE

Entergy's Poor Southern Capacity Factor?

Grand Gulf: agonizing slow startup to 100%

Arkansas Nuclear 1	0
Arkansas Nuclear 2	0
Callaway	100
Columbia Generating Station	74
Comanche Peak 1	100
Comanche Peak 2	0
Cooper	100
Diablo Canyon 1	0
Diablo Canyon 2	100
Grand Gulf 1	95
Palo Verde 1	100
Palo Verde 2	0
Palo Verde 3	100
River Bend 1	89
South Texas 1	89
South Texas 2	100
Waterford 3	0
Wolf Creek 1

*Seems Waterford is in a normal outage. ANO 2 was at 50% power for forever based on leaking feed water heater and then shutdown to repair. Unit 1 seems to be in a prolonged normal outage.

Grand Gulf has severe employee troubles. They can't get it up past 94% power since startup?

River Bend been heavily coming down in power for a week, then stopping at 64%...who knows what went on? It doesn't look like a coast down to outage.

Arkansas Nuclear 1	0
Arkansas Nuclear 2	0
Callaway	100
Columbia Generating Station	74
Comanche Peak 1	100
Comanche Peak 2	0
Cooper	100
Diablo Canyon 1	0
Diablo Canyon 2	100
Grand Gulf 1	92
Palo Verde 1	100
Palo Verde 2	0
Palo Verde 3	100
River Bend 1	64
South Texas 1	69
South Texas 2	100
Waterford 3	0
Wolf Creek 1

Ticks

I pulled 5 off me this year. Its way above average. I think it is going to be a very bad season with ticks. I am the woods a lot riding my bike.

2016 Uranium Prices

NRC Blog Shutdown: Here it comes?

Bet you Trump shutdown the NRC's Blog. It sure isn't the same blog before Trump. Bet it revolves around a general Trump order for all agencies, don't post anything until we define what can be disclosed? We can't let the Obama leftovers at the agencies spew out their agenda...

Junk NRC and Watts Bar's Safety Culture?

***You get how pathetic the NRC is? It took a employee talking to allegations...to make the residents go looking for safety culture at Watts Bar. It makes you wonder how structurally preventing the residents from seeing the real plant condition at any plan. Now the residents are implicated. SO why couldn't the residents pick this up on their own during normal inspection routines?

You get in these NRC inspection, the NRC never goes to the employees asking them when trust issues and safety discussion, how did this mistrust exceed the safety of the plant? Actual conditions...    

This looks like the typical extremist southern utility ideology of total dominance and absolute submission by their employees. We are the total gods of our sites, we can lie and cheat to meet our ideological-business agenda of the organization. We totally define truth at our sites independent of our nation's culture of truthfulness and transparency.

The fallacy of the worth of third party safety experts in the industry can clearly be seen in Watts Bar. These experts are just PR arm of the executives. You get it, it's better the third party doing the lying and deceiving than the NRC who catches Watts Bar doing the same. Third party investigators always craft their reports to those that pays them. I would rather the NRC pay for these investigations.

Again, the NRC doesn't enforce truth telling and document inaccuracies and falsification. They think lying and deception aren't safety related.   

Watts bar interfered with the ability of the NRC to oversee the site by lying and deception, this in itself should have been a shutdown issue at both sites for a year. It is the only way to keep the system straight, prevent anyone else from pulling a Watts Bar on the NRC. Shut them down for a years and fired anyone who has a association with intimidating the staff. I doubt this is limited to the TVA or Watts Bar. It is all over the place.  

What everyone is afraid of, is doing a survey on Watts Bar employees asking them how effective is the NRC's oversight of Watts Bar?

Big picture: The NRC is down two commissioner. If indicates our political system is failing the nuclear industry. The silence of the commissioners is the largest symptom of the disease, it has nothing to with the condition of the industry being in calm waters with nothing to talk about.  

Both Watts Bar plant are shutdown now. One being in outage and the other shutdown on a collapse of the huge main condenser. I have talked to experts over this. The collapse of the main condenser is unprecedented in the industry. It a shocking indicator with how poorly build Watts Bar 2 is.

Report: TVA meddled in third-party reviews on Watts Bar Nuclear Plant

"Mistrust permeates the organization," says reviewing consulting firm. CEO says that's the old TVA.

A firm that investigated TVA’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant has alleged TVA edited third-party reports on the plant's work environment.

TVA's Office of the Inspector General enlisted NTD Consulting Group to review TVA's history of nuclear safety culture issues and the company's response to a "Chilled Work Environment" letter from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 2016.

The letter was written after a series of allegations reported to the NRC and to TVA's Employee Concerns Program indicating employees were afraid that raising safety concerns would result in harassment, intimidation or retaliation by management.

The NTD group released the final draft of its report April 19, which contains the results of TVA's most recent NRC inspection.

The inspection report said TVA lacked clear, objective criteria for evaluating how nuclear standards are met. The report called into question the independence of previous reviewing teams that sometimes included TVA personnel, and said the company was not "appropriately self-critical" in looking at the work culture.

TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson said he could not answer whether TVA had a hand in third-party reports, because that information came from employee interviews with TVA's Inspector General, and those are not shared with other company staff.

"I can't answer what consultants were told what or what was told to anybody else," Johnson said.

Johnson also disputed NTD's report, which included information from previous interviews with TVA's Office of the Inspector General.

"The report doesn't represent the current state of affairs at Watts Bar or at TVA," Johnson said. "The NRC told us last March we had a chilled work environment at Watts Bar and we have never contested that fact. We don't contest it, and we've been working hard for the past year to fix it."

The Inspector General did gather the interviews after a confidential informant first reported the chilled work environment in 2015, about a year before the NRC's letter. Upon reviewing the interviews, the NTD group alleged TVA leadership was "in denial" of events that were precursors to the NRC's letter.

"They were clear, covering a period of years," the NTD report said. "It appears there were attempts to downplay the precursors and failures to implement appropriate (corrective actions)."

TVA had hands in investigations?

According to NTD, one of the Watts Bar senior leaders told TVA's Office of the Inspector General they "heavily managed the results" of root-cause analysis reports on Watts Bar's work culture.

Members of management told investigators they had directed some findings be left out of reports because they were worried Watts Bar’s second reactor would not get licensed if there were a problem with the nuclear  

Members of management told investigators they directed findings be left out of reports for fear Watts Bar’s second reactor would not get licensed if there were a nuclear safety culture problem.

TVA spokesman Jim Hopson leads a media tour of the new Unit 2 turbine floor Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. Watts Bar Unit 2 already has provided consumers with more than 500 million kilowatt/hours of carbon-free energy during testing. It joins six other operating TVA nuclear units to supply more than one third of the region's generating capacity, meeting the electric needs of more than 4.5 million homes.(Photo: Paul Efird)

Story Highlights

CEO: Inspector General interviews don't represent "current state of affairs."

Employees told reviewers they felt safer bringing up nuclear safety issues than non-nuclear safety issues to supervisors.

Watts Bar senior leaders reportedly told Inspector General they "heavily managed the results" of reports on work culture.

Latest NRC inspection shows some improvement but still more work to do. 
A firm that investigated TVA’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant has alleged TVA edited third-party reports on the plant's work environment.

TVA's Office of the Inspector General enlisted NTD Consulting Group to review TVA's history of nuclear safety culture issues and the company's response to a "Chilled Work Environment" letter from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 2016.

The letter was written after a series of allegations reported to the NRC and to TVA's Employee Concerns Program indicating employees were afraid that raising safety concerns would result in harassment, intimidation or retaliation by management.

The NTD group released the final draft of its report April 19, which contains the results of TVA's most recent NRC inspection.

The inspection report said TVA lacked clear, objective criteria for evaluating how nuclear standards are met. The report called into question the independence of previous reviewing teams that sometimes included TVA personnel, and said the company was not "appropriately self-critical" in looking at the work culture.

TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson said he could not answer whether TVA had a hand in third-party reports, because that information came from employee interviews with TVA's Inspector General, and those are not shared with other company staff.

"I can't answer what consultants were told what or what was told to anybody else," Johnson said.

Johnson also disputed NTD's report, which included information from previous interviews with TVA's Office of the Inspector General.

"The report doesn't represent the current state of affairs at Watts Bar or at TVA," Johnson said. "The NRC told us last March we had a chilled work environment at Watts Bar and we have never contested that fact. We don't contest it, and we've been working hard for the past year to fix it."

The Inspector General did gather the interviews after a confidential informant first reported the chilled work environment in 2015, about a year before the NRC's letter. Upon reviewing the interviews, the NTD group alleged TVA leadership was "in denial" of events that were precursors to the NRC's letter.

"They were clear, covering a period of years," the NTD report said. "It appears there were attempts to downplay the precursors and failures to implement appropriate (corrective actions)."

TVA had hands in investigations?

According to NTD, one of the Watts Bar senior leaders told TVA's Office of the Inspector General they "heavily managed the results" of root-cause analysis reports on Watts Bar's work culture.

Members of management told investigators they had directed some findings be left out of reports because they were worried Watts Bar’s second reactor would not get licensed if there were a problem with the nuclear safety culture.

They also said they were worried the reports would reflect poorly on senior management.

The confidential informant's 2015 tip on the plant's work environment also triggered an internal investigation by TVA's Employee Concerns Program. The ECP hired two consultants - one used to be a manager at TVA - to perform the investigation.

The consultants were told what they could include and must exclude in their reports. One of the consultants who performed the ECP review told the Inspector General he believed he was not invited back for a second debrief because Watts Bar senior management did not like what he wrote.

Once the consultants finished their report, they said TVA's ECP personnel edited it to remove any mention of the term "chilled work environment" and replaced it with the term "degraded work environment," a non-regulatory phrase that was reportedly never used by TVA or the NRC before.

The new phrase appeared in subsequent TVA reports at least 28 times.

The NTD group said the use of the term was an "unfortunate choice" that may have given an inaccurate picture of Watts Bar's work culture. Joey Ledford, an NRC spokesman, said that though the NRC does not recognize the term "degraded work environment," he does not believe its use impacted their investigations.

Johnson said TVA avoided using the term “chilled work environment” until it received the letter in 2016 because TVA views it as a regulatory conclusion that only the NRC could declare.

"We would talk about degradation or a degraded environment, which I think is common in the industry," Johnson said.

"Our focus is on meeting the requirements of the NRC, which is the exclusive regulator of commercial civilian nuclear plants."

TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said the NRC has not turned up any specific instances of retaliation, and contends whether it happened was never the issue.

"Perception equals reality in this case," Hopson said. "If there is even a perception people can't raise concerns or use their voices, then things can go off the rails. It's a culture that over time would have allowed something unsafe to happen, and that's why we take this so seriously."

'Mistrust permeates'

The plant has had a history of these perceptions.

In 2016, Watts Bar led the nation in allegations submitted to the NRC, indicating employees did not feel comfortable raising concerns internally.

Several employees reportedly told NRC reviewers in 2016 that they felt safer bringing up nuclear safety issues than non-nuclear safety issues to their supervisors.

In interviews with TVA's Inspector General, employees said they did not trust Watts Bar's Employee Concerns Program because they believed it was not independent from the nuclear plant. The Office of the Inspector General validated the employees' concerns about the ECP when another survey revealed 50 percent of Watts Bar's ECP personnel did not feel comfortable going forward with the safety concerns employees told them.

"Mistrust permeates the organization, yet in leadership's mind the challenge is contained to operations and represents a miscommunication problem rather than a need for management to regain trust and credibility," NTD's report said.

In 2009, the NRC ordered TVA to make changes after two investigations revealed a maintenance mechanic at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama was demoted for raising a safety concern.

That same year, Synergy Consulting Services completed a survey report indicating instances of mistrust and intimidation existed at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. A second report in 2011 said the behaviors were continuing. Subsequent reports by Synergy and other groups highlighted "significant weaknesses" in Watts Bar's safety culture.

NTD's review of TVA's Inspector General interviews pointed to several instances of employee intimidation that occurred in the years leading up to the NRC's chilled work environment letter:

According to NTD's report, a manager told the Inspector General that a senior leader called him into his office after workplace survey results came out one year and instructed him to discipline employees for their answers;

A maintenance employee told reviewers he lived in constant fear he'd lose his job because plant leadership routinely threatened to fire the entire staff and bring in a contractor;

Another employee said that during a refueling outage, one manager would come into the shop, sit down and glare at employees without speaking to them. He later told employees his intention was to get them to "the breaking point" so he could get the most out of them;

A senior reactor operator said he was "relieved from watch" for raising a safety concern to his supervisor. The NTD group believed the operator's concern was valid, but TVA reviewers did not corroborate it.

Other workers refused to speak to reviewers or flipped their badges over their shoulders so they could not be identified for retaliation.

"TVA failed to look for, and in turn deal with harassing, intimidating, retaliatory or discriminatory behaviors of the senior leadership that were common knowledge among personnel in operations and other departments," the NTD said, adding that precursors to the NRC's letter were not "subtle," as the ECP has previously stated.

TVA CEO questions validity

Johnson raised concerns about the validity of the NTD group's report in a response letter, arguing the report’s authors reviewed the information secondhand and didn’t observe the demeanor or credibility of the employees interviewed. TVA's Inspector General office is independent of the company itself, so Johnson did not witness the interviews firsthand either.

"We don't know who said what in what interview to whom. We are not privy to that information," Johnson said in an interview after the NTD report was released.

TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson pauses in front of the cooling towers before announcing the new Unit 2 reactor has entered commercial operation Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. "Watts Bar Unit 2 is a key part of our commitment to produce cleaner energy without sacrificing the reliability and low cost that draws both industry and residents to our area," said Johnson. (Photo: Paul Efird)

In his response to NTD, he wrote that he questioned the credibility of the interviews because the investigators were armed and credentialed and interviewed some employees more than once. He also alleged investigators may have used tactics designed to pressure or intimidate interviewees.

After the report was published, he added that during the time frame in which the interviews were likely given, TVA was trying to complete the second Watts Bar reactor.

"This was a stressful environment," he said. "People were tired. There was a lot of work going on and to put it in succinct terms, I think we stressed the workforce a little too much."

Corrective actions taken

Johnson said that since the NRC's letter, TVA has replaced the management team at Watts Bar and is working to regain employees' trust.

NTD reported that TVA hired a specialist after it received the NRC's chilled work environment letter to ensure senior leadership at Watts Bar would "own the situation."

Junk Plant Indian Point 3 Baffle Bolts: How Can You Ever Trust a Nuclear Safety Evaluation Again by Anyone

More failed bolts discovered at Indian Point

BUCHANAN – It was a little over a year ago when Indian Point unit 2 reactor core baffle bolts were found missing or impaired, causing opponents of the nuclear power plant to raise their voices against continued operation of the facilities. At that time, 227 of 832 bolts were found either degraded or missing.

Since then, an agreement was reached to permanently shut down units 2 and 3 in 2020 and 2021.

Now, it has been learned that 256 of the 832 bolts that keep the inner plates of the reactor core from coming apart in unit 3 were impaired.

Riverkeeper has been in the lead along with the governor to close down the facilities.

Riverkeeper spokesman Cliff Weathers said Wednesday the cause of those two situations must be determined immediately.

“We need to know why these two reactors are the only ones to suffer such problems. It is incumbent upon the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct a root-cause analysis of the problem. We don’t know if it is a design or structural problem or just a maintenance issue, but until the NRC determines the cause, they should not let unit 3 reopen,” he said.

Unit 3 has been off-line for weeks for a scheduled refueling.

Here is the NRC's Blog evaluation summation.

Entergy, Indian Point’s owner, is in the process of analyzing the condition and replacing the degraded bolts. It will also assess any implications for Indian Point Unit 3, though that reactor is believed to be less susceptible to the condition for several reasons, including fewer operational cycles.

South Korean Hanul (6 plants) Nuclear Facility Under North Korean Attack, 2 & 4 Are Melting Down

Nobody knows if ballistic missiles or infiltrators? Might have come from a submarine launched medium range ballistic missile with a huge weapon's load.

NRC Office Of Inspector Generial(OIG) Wants To Interview Mike Mulligan Over The 2.206 Complaint Process

Update April 20

This was part of my pitch trying to get the OIG auditors to make a case study on the 2.206 failure over the Pilgrim SRVs.

My Thinking Notes

https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber=ML13112B055

Title: 10 CFR 2.206 Petition RE

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

Docket Number: (n/)

Location: teleconference

Date: Thursday, April 11, 2013

Would you look over this Pilgrim 2.206 prehearing transcript.

Upon first installation with the so caled new SRVs in 2011, the first leak occurred within two weeks of first heat-up.

I have had a lot of experience with 2.206s. The routine of the process changed without notifying me. The chairman was being rude to me and unprofessional…I interpreted this behavior as intimidation and part of a coverup. I clearly stated it in the meeting. Hope they saved the recording of this? The tone of this was horrid.

Why wasn’t there a investigation over this 2.206 process intimidation?

Why didn’t somebody in the meeting report that mike felt intimidation in the proceeding? Why no transparent investigation of it?

There were some 15 to 20 officials listening in on the bridge. Why didn’t somebody report that mike felt intimidation and a cover-up here? A least a investigation to cover the NRC’s asses. Maybe if the OIG got involved, ordered a huge special inspection in 2013…maybe the 2015 SRV blizzard event wouldn’t have happened and Entergy would have made the rest of their bad actor plants to straighten up.

My Pilgrim 2.206 date: March 7, 2013

ANO’s dropped stator: March 31, 2013

***I requested in the 2013 2.206 the Pilgrim SRV problem be referred to the OIG. Was it referred to OIG? I considered the OIG a black box. How was my OIG complaint dispositioned? I frequently get from the NRC inspectors, “I’ll refer your complaint to the OIG”. I have no idea if the resident sent the message to OIG, if the OIG dispositioned the complaint and why was it rejected. Is the OIG living in Russia? Is the NRC residents lying to me when they say they are sending my issue to the OIG, just to get me off their backs? The agency and OIG treats us so disrespectfully.          

Why didn’t higher officials not in the meeting sense there was improprieties going with our problem “Mike” after reading the transcripts?

Why wasn’t this reported to the OIG?

If you think the system is straight, you would think, if all the non public licensee reports about the magnitude of the leaks and poor testing leading up to this transcript, the NRC would require Pilgrim to shutdown and replace the SRVs. There was scant public reporting about the malfunctioning srvs, the down powers and shutdown required to replace the valves. The bureaucrats by this excessive secrecy are just protecting themselves from accountability?

We felt as Vermont Yankee was wobbling towards permanent shutdown, the NRC was giving Pilgrim special compensations outside the rules and laws of the NRC. We felt the NRC was withholding inspection resources from the Pilgrim in order to make their record look better than deserved? ANO and Pilgrim were quickly going down the tubes during this period, why couldn’t this all be prevented by the activities of the NRC and OIG.  

Why didn’t the LER system and inspection report system work during this? There was precious little reporting on the troubles of these valves until the next big blizzard in 2015. There was a white finding in this. The finding should have been much higher than it was. All valves should have been inop since 2011 based on the quality of the valves was unknown. The backup power line was unreliable too. It should have been at a much higher violation level. To date, it has been reported as test stand damage to the valves. I got from lead inspector with the upcoming inspection report that Entergy still hasn’t done a root cause on the SRV failures.

Believe me, it is very painful for me to read my comments in the transcripts. I have very poor verbal communication skills when I am nervous and under pressure.

Why didn’t the 2013 blizzard 2.206 process work to prevent the dysfunctions in the 2015 Blizzard? I am anticipatory, the NRC is reactionary. Believe me on predicting the future, there is no evidence available about future events. If you are excessively evidenced based, you can never disrupt the upcoming accident.

In hindsight with all the information, all the licensee corrective action and other internal reports, why couldn’t I make my case in real time. Because I didn’t have all of the available evidence. The NRC needs triplicate proof perfect evidence and never obtainable facts in order to get enforcement action.  

Do I just have a grudge with Entergy? A few years or months prior to Pilgrim, I put a 2.206 on the Vermont Yankee SRV actuators. They put in new SRVs just like Pilgrim did. Upon first leak rate testing with the new SRV pneumatic actuators one failed. The actuator shaft buna seals got brittle and leaked based on too much heat. Two of us put in 2.206s trying to figure out what failed. Information was terribly sparse.  As VY controversy pick up steam and the politicians got involved, the NRC got sensitive to their credibility. Many months later in an inspection report (and LER), the IR disclosed VY put in inferior environmental grade SRVs in the plant. They needed Type I SRVs, but there were no replacements available. The vendor talked them into putting in type II SRVs. The heat damage these guys. I don’t think the NRC gave permission via a public discloser it is ok to put information inferior grade SRVs into the plant. Why didn’t the NRc demand a 50:59 to allow VY to put inferior grade SRVs into the plant?

At this point, I felt the NRC lost control of enforcing environmental and safety regulations on the SRVs. I feel it is happening all over the industry. I feel 1000 times more sure it is still going on today. Any third world reactor can run at 100%. It is much more difficult to align the plant for the worst design event.

Pilgrim has the worst LOOP rate in the industry. The average is about 2 LOOPS per lifetime. LOOP rates are calculated into all violations and all sorts of other issues in the plant. The standard-generic rate for safety analysis and violations is about 3.5 LOOPs per lifetime. Pilgrim’s LOOP rate is beyond 21 LOOPs and we aren’t counting in the early years. Pilgrim’s is seventeen times worst than the inputted into safety analysis rate. One wonders why the real LOOP rate as penalty, isn’t inputted into all violations and safety analysis?

The OIG by me and others think this branch of the NRC as highly dysfunctional. We consider the OIG as a paper tiger. I had discussions with a high OIG official concerning the OIG’s investigation on San Onofre defective steam generator and the NRC response to this. He talked about the OIG is severely hemmed in because the they can’t challenge any NRC’s staff inspections and safety analysis. He talked about using tricky interview and investigative techniques to write up the San Onofre. The OIG needs to gear up with plant and oversight expertized to challenge any staff evaluation or activity at any plant. We think this OIG restriction comes from the utilities big bucks through the politicians influence over the NRC, limiting the capabilities of the OIG.

Loops and paper tiger OIG

My Pilgrim 2013 2.206

March 7, 2013

Bill Borchardt

Executive Director for Operations

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Washington, DC 20555-0001

Dear Mr. Bochardt,

Request an emergency and for a exigent bases, that the Pilgrim Nuclear plant be immediately shut down.

Don't tell me just before the Nor'easter Nimo struck the Pilgrim plant with a leaking safety relief valve and down at 80%, Entergy was intending to operate that plant with a defective leaking safety relief valve till the next refuel outage? Tell it ain't so. It certainly looks like with the current leak today that is intending to operate till next month.

Is the game plan today to incrementally increase reactor power from 94% by 1% to see if a new SRV leak is getting worse?

Timeline:

1) New three stage safety relief valves installed in the plant around May 2011.

2) First leak and shut down on Dec, 26. 2011 (SRV RV-203-3D).

3) Second leak and shut down on Jan 20, 2013 (SRV RV-203-3B).

4) Third leak occurred a few weeks later and the plant was at a restricted to 84% power...the Nemo blizzard Feb 9, 2013 tripped the plant. The NRC promised these valves are fixed before startup. (SRV RV-203-3B).

5) Basically, they operated for 20 days at 100% power operation post shutdown, then reported on Feb 27 the plant is operating at 94% power with no explained reason until today. The reason for the down power was kept secret from the public.

6) Today March 7, 2013 I called the NRC's public relation people and the agency told me they had indications of a leak and that is why the plant is at a restricted power level. 

Don't forget the repetitive nature of the recently broken scram discharge volume vent and drain valves...implies Entergy is incapable of maintaining safety components of a nuclear plant.

The repeated nature of the failure of the safety relief valves means Entergy doesn't know the mechanism of the failure...it is a common mode failure. The design and manufacture of these valves are defective and it is extremely unsafe to operate a nuclear plant with all safety relief valves being INOP. A condition adverse to quality...

The NRC should have made a public comment about the new leaking safety relief when they first became aware of th leak. The implication is the agency was going to allow the plant to operate with unsafe SRVs until the refueling outage next month. The NRC is involved in a serious cover-up of an extremely unsafe operation of a nuclear power.

1) Request an immediate shutdown the Pilgrim Plant.

2) The is the second time I requested a special NRC inspection concerning the defective SRV valves.

3) Not allow the plant to restart Pilgrim until they fully understand the past failure mechanisms of the four bad new three stage safety relief valves.

(April 18 2017-again below, I request the paperwork trail with how this got to the OIG and its disposition of my request)

4) Request the OIG investigate this NRC cover-up to keep an unsafe nuclear plant at power.

Update  April 6

I doubt anything will change. It was a pleasant discussion. They are captured by the monstrous system just like everyone else.

To Michael Mulligan

CC

Cole, Levar Wong, Jimmy

Today at 12:19 PM

Mr. Mulligan,

 

Thank you for taking the time to meet with us this morning.  The meeting was very informative and forthright.  You provided us valuable material about the application of 10 CFR 2.206 from the petitioner’s perspective.  Please reach out to any of us if you think of anything that can help us in our audit.

 

Many thanks,

 

Deyanara Gonzalez Lainez, MBA, MSM

Auditor

Nuclear Reactors Safety Audit Team

Office of the Inspector General

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

*I received this email on Good Friday. I thought I was being spammed. I knew this was a holiday for the NRC employees. I looked at the document carefully, figured out it was the real deal. Within a hours, I got a call back from the OIG official.

Gov bureaucrats are usually very sensitive with sending something on a holiday. Sending it on a particular holiday can highlight the agenda of the meeting sometimes.

So I figure, I am going to be crucified or made the savior of the nuclear industry.

This is the only 2.206 that ever got past the prehearing process with me. It was successful in many ways. I got a prime example in Pilgrim where this process completely broke down.   

Dear Mr. Mulligan:

 

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is conducting the Audit of NRC’s 10 CFR 2.206 Petition Review Process.  Your petition filed on March 26, 2015, regarding the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station and Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plan, is part of the audit sample selected for analysis.  We would like to meet with you to discuss any insights you have on the 10 CFR 2.206 petition review process from the petitioner’s perspective and any specific concerns you had about the review of this petition.  Your petition and its supplements are in the NRC's Agencywide Documents, Access and Management System (ADAMS) under Accession No. ML15090A487, ML15198A091, ML15286A003, and the Final Director’s Decision under ML16054A731.

 

This OIG audit began on February 13, 2017, and its objective is to determine whether NRC staff follow agency guidance consistently in reviewing 10 CFR 2.206 petitions, and take steps to ensure appropriate information supports NRC decisions on 10 CFR 2.206 petitions.

 

If you agree to this meeting, can you please let us know when you might be available to meet next week? The meeting will take about an hour and will be conducted as a team conference call.  Please provide us the best number to call you.

 

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Deyanara Gonzalez Lainez, MBA, MSM

Auditor

My response

I appreciate your interest in me. I never have any confidentiality or anonymity needs in any of this. Sure, at your convenience next week. Just name the date and time. I will make myself available for the discussion.

A more controversial 2.206 would be the one surrounding the SRVs at Pilgrim in 2013. It shows where the 2.206 process utterly failed its intended purpose. But we can get to my themes going your way. 

Can you follow all the rules, but not meet the intent of the will with all the people of the USA?

Our highest national security priority is our collective faith in government...trusting our government. I love the USA with all of my heart.

( I love our adversarial court system)     

Sincerely,

Mike Mulligan

Hinsdale, NH 

Junk Plant Oyster Creek SRVs: The Collapse Of The Regulator.

Believe me, this plant is more poorly designed than any other plant in the USA. The NRC framed it inappropriately as a individual component issue of the ERVs for both events. It should be framed as a failure to maintain quality of the of the EVRs. It is two failures of the EVRs is a short period of time. The first being a yellow make believe violation, while the second being a rop violation.

(2017)NRC to Increase Oversight at Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Plant The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will increase its oversight of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant following the finalization of an inspection finding involving deficient maintenance work on a safety-related relief valve. The finding was identified during a 2016 NRC inspection of Oyster Creek. The facility is owned and operated by Exelon, located in Lacey Township (Ocean County), N.J. The white safety finding indicates a low to moderate safety significance. The NRC uses a color-coded system to categorize inspection findings, with colors ranging from green, for very low safety or security significance, to white, yellow or red, for substantial safety or security significance. Findings determined to be greater than green result in additional NRC scrutiny. This finding involves a problem with one of the plant’s electromatic relief valves. EMRVs are used to depressurize the reactor during a pipe break. Oyster Creek has five of these valves. “These valves serve a key safety function and therefore it is important that they be available to help mitigate severe accidents at the plant,” said NRC Region I Administrator Dan Dorman. “We will conduct a supplemental inspection at Oyster Creek to ensure the underlying problems that led to this issue have been appropriately addressed.” Exelon was given an opportunity to request a regulatory conference to provide additional information to the NRC prior to a final agency decision, to submit a written response, or to accept the finding. The company chose to take part in a regulatory conference, which was held on March 9 in the NRC’s Region I Office. In terms of corrective actions, Exelon verified correct assembly of the valves following the most recent refueling and maintenance outage at the plant.

Old design problems means this violation wasn't in the ROP. It was like a warning ticket. If it was a full scale yellow finding with heavy NRC attention,  would the new violation have occurred?  

If it was a old design issue, this problem would have repeatedly showed up throughout the life of the oldest plant in the USA.

(2015)NRC Slaps Oyster Creek Plant With ‘Yellow’ Finding, Increases Oversight

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week upheld an enforcement action known as a “yellow” finding against the Oyster Creek nuclear generating station in Lacey Township following the investigation of release valves at the plant in 2014.

The “yellow” finding is the NRC’s second-highest enforcement action, and indicates “substantial safety significance,” NRC officials said in a statement released Monday. The plant was also given a “white” finding for a separate incident involving the plant’s emergency generators and a broken cooling fan.

The “yellow” finding involves design aspects of electromatic relief valves, or EMRVs, for the plant, which is owned by Exelon Corporation and scheduled to shut down in 2019. According to the NRC, during refurbishment work in June 2014 on two EMRVs removed from the plant in 2012, the company found an alignment problem with the valve’s actuator. When the valves were tested, they did not open. Once the issue was identified, Exelon immediately tested five of its then-installed EMRVs, officials said. All five actuated successfully. The company ultimately installed redesigned actuators for the valves during a refueling and maintenance outage at the plant in October 2014.

Even though the violation involving the EMRVs has been classified as “yellow,” the NRC has determined it represents an old design issue.

“That is, the issue stems from an inspection finding involving a past design-related problem and does not reflect a current performance deficiency associated with existing programs, policies or procedures used by the company,” the agency’s statement said.

As a result of the finding, the NRC will carry out a team inspection that will review Exelon’s root- cause evaluation and corrective actions for the issue...

The NRC threw the powerful Exelon a freebee with an old design issue. This is blatant corruption by the NRC and Exelon!!!! The was a "current" negligent maintenance issue in 2015 turned into a old design issue through the greasy NRC hands. Who ever heard of a such a thing in any other regulated industry...

How To Make It Trump's Nuclear Regulartory Commission

I think having half democrat and half republic commissioners dilutes political accountability. I'd get rid of it.

I think this scenario is really cool.

1) Let the clock run out on Svinicki. She is out. I know now Svinicki is really popular with house republicans.  

I don't know how the "going full nuclear" works out in the Senate and House? Would these guys get voted in by 51 votes instead of 60 votes in the senate. I think this is drastically going to change the environment of the commissioners. There is a lot of political horse trading going on outside the nuclear industry with nominating a NRC commissioner. It is never just a nuclear industry focus thing.   

I doubt the democrats would approve any nominee in these times. Could the republicans overwrite the enabling legislation of the NRC? End up with its only up to the president to elect the NRC commissioner with the senate's 51 votes.

2) Drop the even split republican and democrat thing.

3) Now you have only 2 commissioners. Then stack the deck with the new Trump three commissioners.

Big picture, I like the idea if something big happens, it would make the politicians and parties accountable no matter what political party.

You get what has happened here, the NRC initial legislation, it weakened political accountability as a favor to the big utility boys who owned nuclear plants.    

House Energy and Commerce Committee representatives urge Trump to Fill Nuclear Regulatory Commission Vacancies

Published on April 17, 2017 by Daily Energy Insider Reports           Share                     

Three U.S. representatives on the House Energy and Commerce Committee recently sent a letter to President Donald Trump, requesting that he fill current and future vacancies on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in order to maintain a quorum.
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden (R-OR), Subcommittee on Energy Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI), and Subcommittee on Environment Chairman John Shimkus (R-IL) jointly sent the request.
“We urge you to nominate commissioners to the NRC so the confirmation process may be completed as
soon as possible and provide the NRC a full contingent of commissioners to fulfill its critical mission in overseeing and regulating the civilian use of radioactive material,” the representatives said.
If no new commissioners are nominated and confirmed before July 1 when Chairman Kristine Svinicki’s current term expires, the NRC will lack a quorum, which is necessary to conduct necessary legislative action. The commission requires at least three of the five seats to be filled with no more than three members from the same political party in order to maintain a quorum. There are currently two vacant seats on the commission.
“Absent a nomination and confirmation of additional commissioners, the Commission will lack a quorum on July 1 when Chairman Svinicki’s current term expires,” the representatives said. “This situation could severely inhibit the NRC’s ability to execute its vital responsibility and hamper the nuclear industry.”