Why Has Cooper Been Shutdown For So long.

Obviously they are in refueling outage. Sept 29 is when it shutdown. Forty six days so far?

Junk Plant Watts Bar Still A Very Troubled Plant

Remember this is the new massively non transparent NRC. Most plant this cycle get zero or one findings.

November 1, 2018

 SUBJECT: WATTS BAR NUCLEAR PLANT – NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION  INTEGRATED INSPECTION REPORT 05000390/2018003 AND 05000391/2018003 

 Dear Mr. Shea:
 On September 30, 2018, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) completed an inspection at your Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2.  On October 24, 2018, the NRC inspectors discussed the results of this inspection with Mr. Tom Marshall and other members of your staff.  The results of this inspection are documented in the enclosed report.
 NRC inspectors documented four findings of very low safety significance (Green) in this report.   These findings involved violations of NRC requirements.  The NRC is treating these violations as non-cited violations (NCVs) consistent with Section 2.3.2.a of the Enforcement Policy.
 

Advice To House Majority Democrats: Need Emergency Hearings On "So Called" NRC Reform And Deregulation

Markey is long gone from the house. He was the prime mover with keeping the industry on its toes. The much younger generation has absolutely no interest in voting or nuclear power interest and their intentional lying. Who is going the take Markey's old position in the house The pro safety stalwarts are dead or dying off. Nuclear Energy is fading from our collective historic memory. 

And, we in a gigantic financial nuclear crisis. 

Basically, in the last three years, the NRC has drastically reduced industry's transparency and severely weaken regulation. As in all our agencies. 

As a first step, the House should force the NRC to put back on the internet the NRC's blog. They should allow outside people like me the ability to comment (and get a official response) on their old style blog and it would be retained in their system for posterity. This tool is very powerful.  This is contingent on the NRC would put on the blog a comprehensive list of current issues and restore transparency.

The Navy has on their "Navy Times" a similar government blog where the public can comment their newspaper and get a response from the Navy officials. It too has disappeared from the internet.  The New US agency social media like facebook and  twitter have been generally designed to push the Republican propaganda. They are really not adequate for accepting, recording and getting official's responses.   On the big picture, all the US government blogs mostly begun on the Obama, should be updated and restored to the Obama form.

Believe me, Democrats in power and heads of agencies and beyond hates these kinds of transparency and accountability...  

The Real Entergy Shows Its Ugly Head

Is this just training for Entergy? 

Entergy thinks we’re stupid

(Honestly, you are stupid.) 

Updated 7:28 AM; Posted 7:28 AM

 Entergy New Orleans CEO Charles Rice, at left in gray suit, listens as protesters oppose the $210 million gas-fired power plant that Entergy proposed for New Orleans East. The council approved the plant with a 6-1 vote after an hours-long hearing in March. (Kevin Litten, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune) 

By Tim Morris, Columnist

timothy_morris@nola.com

Fining Entergy New Orleans just $5 million for seeking to subvert the democratic process, mislead the City Council and wage war on residents hardly seems adequate.

For starters, there is the question of whether a $5 million fine will get the attention, let alone change the behavior, of a company with annual revenues of $11 billion and literal power over 2.9 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

And then there is the sheer hubris the company displayed in trying to rig a political process that was already so embarrassingly weighted in its favor that no self-respecting Las Vegas bookie would have taken odds against council approval of the company’s plans for a new gas-fired power plant in New Orleans East.

Taking council members at their word that the 6-1 vote for the plant last March was based on the testimony of “experts,” what advantage did Entergy gain by hiring actors to show up at hearings in matching orange T-shirts, carrying mass-produced signs and reading heartfelt pleas for jobs, power and an end to “cascading outages” from prepared scripts?

Was then-Entergy CEO Charles Rice really that obsessed with overwhelming and humiliating activists and concerned residents with a shock and awe campaign of paid protesters? Text messages and other previously private communications uncovered by an independent City Council investigation certainly suggest that.

"This is a war and we need all the foot shoulders [soldiers] we can muster," he says in a discussion of whether Entergy would be willing to pony up for more ersatz supporters.

It’s never a good look when the head of a major utility is caught equating what is supposed to be a fair and open democratic process with all-out warfare, especially when his side has actual nuclear power and the resistance is mostly worried about how a new plant will affect their property values, quality of life and their children’s health.

This is the worst use of political dirty tricks since Richard Nixon’s Committee to Re-Elect the President, CREEP, tried to bug the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate in the campaign against South Dakota Sen. George McGovern. The “third-rate burglary” eventually spawned an investigation that forced Nixon to resign from his second term in the face of impeachment.

Nixon, by the way, defeated McGovern in a historic landslide with the Democratic challenger winning only in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia while losing everywhere else, including his home state of South Dakota.

There has never been any evidence that any of Nixon’s subversive political knavery had much impact on the electoral outcome. But that’s what happens when the political process, which is supposed to be “war by other means,” is embraced as actual warfare.

Only in this case, the “foot shoulders” were more “Hogan’s Heroes” than “Saving Private Ryan.” Did anybody really think that hiring local actors to appear in public venues was going to escape detection?

At some point isn’t someone going to notice that a beer-drinking buddy who used to be laser-beam focused on playing a cadaver on “NCIS: New Orleans” was suddenly a rabid convert to extolling the virtues of a “safe, reliable gas-fired peaking power plant over the alternative of being 100 percent reliant on transmission during a storm."

They must have thought we were all that stupid.

And even as the City Council’s investigation uncovered damning communications between top Entergy executives, the company continued to claim it has been duped by the outside public relations firm it hired to sell the plant proposal. Investigators also complained that Entergy has been less than forthcoming in forking over information requested. Not exactly encouraging signs moving forward.

What we need is more lifetime voters, folks who make it habit to get to the polls — informed and engaged.

Rice abruptly stepped down as Entergy’s CEO in August to take on a new role in — I’m not making this up — the company’s legal department.

Perhaps he will get to review the resolutions passed last week by the City Council that could include that $5 million fine and other requirements meant to induce a “sea-change in the corporate culture” at Entergy New Orleans.

City Councilwoman Helena Moreno called the episode “just plain sad and disappointing" and lamented that Entergy had "lost sight of the company they’ve always claimed to be.”

NHDOT Are Scumbags

Update Nov 5

The Keene Sentinel and 99% of the mega rich newspapers owners are infected with the same philosophical mental model defect. Basically, me saying two plus two equals four. They would come back, I can't report that because you showed me no proof. The bankrupted black and white philosophy of them picking and choosing what is evidence and proof that is needed to report the truth to the best of their ability. They are too lazy to get off their fat asses to see something beyond the surface truth and their simpleton model of how the world in their heads works. Usually there is a agenda under this: I've got a keep my job and feed my family and the owners got to make the paper comport to their own monied ideology. More likely, I will never get advertising revenue if I tell what is really going on.    

***Why can't the Keene Sentinel connect the dots? I hear rumors they are shutting down. Most of their facility, including the front desk, are a shithole. 

I think this state wide NHDOT inspections on Truss bridges comes out of my activities with the Brattleboro/Hinsdale route 119 bridge. I have been accusing the state of doing fraudulent bridge inspection based on politics and favors beginning in 2011. I have been saying for many years now the conditions of the bridges are a lot worst than the bridge NHDOT inspections. This year it went from a perfectly safe bridge to a red listed bridge needing a special inspection every 6 months. From a normal five year bridge inspection schedule to a once every 6 months inspection. The next inspection grade down is a shutdown. For years now, I have been picturing up the horrible conditions of my bridges. The facts on the ground here is the state has no engineering mechanism to predict the decline with this ancient bridge. This is what was proven in Hinsdale this year.

(added)
The rub here, with the skimpy state inspections, they don't collect enough data points to truly understand the accurate condition of the bridge inspection and be able to anticipate the material degradations. Fixated on the black and white engineering philosophy of facts and evidence. Can't image what information is missing from your skimpy inspections process. As I've said for years, their inspection presses are made flawed for political considerations, but they think their processes are dead on accurate. Honestly, the only people allowed to inspect the bridges should be highly educated and trained state employees. The state should have total control of these employees and they not be loyal be loyal to any other interest. But this is the NH advantage? Hate governed and barely fund the NH agencies. I don't trust the  bridge inspection contractor. As I said before, the non government bridge inspection contractor is only answerable to money and profits...         

The new bridge's price is somewhere near $60 Million dollars...

There is a high probability 

Nov 4

Lane closures slated on Charlestown bridge

By Sentinel Staff

12 hrs ago

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

CHARLESTOWN — Motorists who travel the bridge that carries Route 11 across the Connecticut River between Charlestown and Springfield, Vt., can expect up to five days of lane closures starting Monday, the N.H. Department of Transportation has announced.

The closures are to allow for what the department describes in a news release as an “in-depth inspection” of the span. The inspection is part of a statewide effort to assess the condition of New Hampshire’s truss bridges, according to the state transportation department.

The closures will be in effect daily as needed, 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., as weather allows.

Drivers will be alerted to the lane closures by people with flags as well as by warning signs, and they’re encouraged to use other routes if possible due to the resulting delays.

Junk Plant Grand Gulf: Isn't It About Time For A Scram Or a Prolonged And Deep Downpower?

Update Nov 7

Well, River Bend and Grand Goof are back a 100%. I still feel Grand Gulf is heading to a big fall. This round of erratic ops was just a warning.

But ANO unit 2 is still in a huge unexpected feedwater leak outage...

Entergy plants.

Update Nov 6

Grand Gulf 85%

The good news, River Bend is back to 100% power and Entergy always had plentiful nuclear engineering positions.

Update Nov 5

Grand Gulf is down to 92% power today.

Nov 2 62 % power
Nov 3 62
Nov 4 93
Nov 5 92

I would consider this a pretty large down power event. There is a slight chance this a adjusting control roads.

River Bend has had pretty erratic power operations this past week or so too.

What is going in at Energy's in region 4?

***River Bend has been erratically up and down in power for the last 5 days. Big moves.

US Terrorism Against Leftist Top Leadeship

Update

See, took the Saudi story right off the air?

***I think we got it all wrong. This US terrorism is a distraction from the Saudi murder with the Washington Post reportor. Factions within the Trump administration or our Defense establishment wanted to buy time to come up with a acceptable coverup story. They might cave to profond troubles with defense contracts and the Saudis being isolaled from the world.

ANO 2: What The Hell Is Going On With Their 9/16 Feedwater Leak

So they immediately scrammed or shutdown. This is a drastic example of how much deregulation has been going on with the NRC. Where is the event report on feedwater leak or on the shutdown or scram. This would have been required in the Obama years.

They scrammed or shutdown on Sept 16, 2018 and it is now Oct 25...that is 39 days. I wonder where the leak was located?  The feedwater pressure is up to 1000 psi and around 600 degrees. If the leak was in the primary containment, it would be a more of a safety concern. It certainly is a employee safety concern.

This sounds like many feet of feedwater pipe is being replace...

A leak in the feedwater system can emediately fill up a room with steam. This kind of leak has killed 4 people I believe the Surry plant. It wrecks havoc with creating shorts and equipment problems throughout the plant.  

Dead Ender Palisades: Losing NRC Faith in Science and Engineering over CDRM Leaks

This is what a plant looks like at end of life, when they are starving funding to the plant. Lot of equipment troubles showing up and losing employees prodigiously. What do we have about 10 plants in this condition is the USA? A big accident waiting to happen killing the rest of the industry.

Didn't they put in new CDRMs due to continuous leaks in around 2015. Check out my comments on this. Check out my comments below the article? Once President Trump came into power the NRC shutdown the "NRC's Blog". So they replace all but eight CRDMs in 2015. A CRDM replacement job is tremendously expensive and the radiation dose for the employees. Don't get me talking about titanium gonads protection for this job. Is the leak in the eight not replaced CRDMs in 2015...the the titanium gonad outage...or the rest of the CRDMs that were replaced. Is it a new CRDM or a old CRDMs. Basically the design of the reactor and the associated CRDMs was defective from day one of plant operation. It is a very old reactor. Palisades has the worst CRDM leak rate in the industry.         

An Inspector’s Perspective On the Control Rod Drive Mechanism Housing Flaws At Palisades 

Palisades maintenance outage underway

· By JIM DALGLEISH - Assistant Local News Editor
· 2 hrs ago

COVERT — The Palisades nuclear power plant is starting its second week of a repair outage, which comes in advance of a planned refueling outage, the plant and federal regulators reported.

Plant spokesman Nick Culp said Friday that operators shut down the reactor Oct. 13 for planned work on a degrading control rod drive seal.

However, “during the scheduled maintenance, an internal transformer fault occurred, resulting in the loss of power supply to several components,” Culp said. “At all times, the plant remained in a safe and stable condition. Palisades employees are working to replace the transformer. (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) inspectors were made aware of the planned shutdown and have been kept informed throughout.”

The NRC on Friday reported that the step-down transformer failed as crews tried to restart the reactor after the drive seal repair.

For proprietary reasons, Culp said, plant owner Entergy does not divulge when the plant will restart or if managers will roll the current outage into the refuelling outage. It will not say when the refuelling outage was to start.

“This maintenance project comes after 198 days of continuous safe operation and is reflective of our ongoing commitment to running the plant well,” Culp said in a statement. “... During the coming outage, Entergy will invest tens of millions of dollars in the plant’s safe and reliable operations.”

The fall refueling outage will be one of the last two before the plant shuts down in 2022, Culp said. 

Flooding Upstream Of The South Texas Nuclear Project, What Rivers?

Update

The site is not under a threat. 

***Hmm, Llano River and Colorado River. Plant is just south west of Houston on the coast. Central Texas is being inundated with precipitation.