Illinois Grid (electricity) not adequately designed for our climate?

Aug 28: Has the cheap natural gas caused Exelon not to be able to support maintenance and sufficient plant cooling capacity on their fleet of nuclear and fossil plants, then support their stock prices and bloated executive compensation...?

Exelon drops new Texas nuke plans, cites cheap natgas

Exelon Corp (EXC.N) will halt efforts to gain regulatory approval to build a new nuclear plant in southeast Texas, the company said on Tuesday.

"The action is in response to low natural gas prices and economic and market conditions that have made construction of new merchant nuclear power plants in competitive markets uneconomical now and for the foreseeable future," said Charles Pardee, Exelon Generation's chief operating officer."

July 24: It is interesting, did Obama and Exelon compromise the Illinois environmentalist...

Seems the nukes were the sentinel...their reportability requirements cued you  into troubles on our waterways even other than the nukes. Generally it is shameful how little transparency their has become in the utility industry. It has become a undemocratic institution!  


...Braidwood cooling tower from NYT

Robert Ray/Associated Press

Exelon doesn't want anymore wind subsidies because it undermines their nuclear program. A marginal quantity of a highly subsidized electricity can  undermine the majority of electricity or a lesser subsidized electricity. And this mandated green electricity is a worst poison to the system than one can imagine.

This kind of political ties always undermines the employees and the vulnerable public. I wouldn't mine it so much if the lesser players without as much money had equivalent reach to the  president powers. I just want the power of transparency!

Our family is still voting for you! There is still time for a redemption. It is mindbogglingly to think how much the Obama administration is advocating global warming is here and it is a direct threat to you, and they are at the same time are undermining the cooling capabilities of power plants to the biggest owner of nuclear plants in the USA. It is mindbogglingly...      

Ties to Obama Aided in Access for Big Utility

WASHINGTON — Early in the Obama administration, a lobbyist for the Illinois-based energy producer Exelon Corporation proudly called it “the president’s utility.” And it was not just because it delivers power to Barack Obama’s Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago... 

Me a month ago: "All the big dogs in the NRC, Exelon and big power companies, the Illinois state grid regulators...they are pissing their pants over what August might bring Illinois and they don't want the story out."

Right, big picture, I have made my statement and it got plenty of print...the majority of my conscience is now clear.

 Me July 18:

"...Pathetic, you people think a drought just uncovers the low rocky shoals and sand bars of our baking steams, river and waterways. I know a drought mostly uncovers a staggering build up and amount of fraud and corruption in our society. A 50 and 100 year drought of staggering dimensions is really a amazing transparency device or tool..." 

"At the same time, Exelon was working with other power companies to block or weaken a provision of proposed clean water regulations that were also under review. The E.P.A., aiming to prevent water intakes at power plants from killing fish and other aquatic life, was proposing regulations that the companies feared would require extensive renovations.

Exelon lobbyists and their allies, over the last year, have again secured unusual access to White House meetings, pressing for dozens of changes, even proposing how to redraft entire sections of the regulation, according to its written presentations to the E.P.A.
Days after a March 2011 meeting with Exelon executives, a White House official instructed the E.P.A. official in charge of drafting the water intake rule to rewrite major portions, according to White House e-mail records.

The E.P.A. official, Mary T. Smith, was called to a meeting shortly after lobbyists for Exelon and industry associations appealed for changes, and told to rewrite the regulation, agency e-mails show.

“You are disappointed, but you can’t work at the agency without understanding you are not the decision maker,” Ms. Smith, who retired from the agency this year, said in an interview.

The rewrite effectively narrowed the circumstances under which nuclear plants would be required to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to eliminate the hazard for aquatic life." 

Power Plants Releasing Hotter Water

***struggling because of "stubbornly low electricity prices"...

***"may be forced to seek bankruptcy protection 

By Erin Meyer and Julie Wernau, Chicago Tribune reporters
August 20, 2012 

As fish die in record numbers across Illinois this summer because of the intense heat and drought, state officials are granting power plants special exemptions to flush massive amounts of hot water into already stressed lakes and rivers.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is allowing power plants to dump hundreds of millions of gallons of water per day at temperatures approaching 100 degrees into the state's waterways, the Tribune has learned.

Temperature-sensitive fish already have been swimming deeper to find cooler water or have been abandoning environmentally inhospitable areas during the heat and drought. But with power plant operators dumping hot water at record amounts, environmentalists say the fish, along with the rivers and lakes they live in, could face increased risk.

Regulators and power plant operators say the waivers to release water hotter than normal are necessary so they can continue providing adequate power in August, following the warmest July in U.S. history when energy demand from air conditioners was soaring...

***Do you want people to start dying, or do you want to save some fish?" said Julia Wozniak, of Midwest Generation, whose job is to make sure the plants remain in compliance with thermal emission limitations.

***In issuing the variances to four coal-fired plants and four nuclear plants, the IEPA has largely relied on power plant and grid operators to say whether shutting down any individual facility would lead to widespread power outages.

***Plant operators — struggling because of stubbornly low electricity prices — have a financial incentive to keep plants running rather than power down. Analysts say that for every day that a power plant shuts down, its owner loses hundreds of thousands of dollars. And Midwest Generation, which operates six coal-fired plants in Illinois, is struggling and may be forced to seek bankruptcy protection along with its parent company, executives said this month.

***Henry Henderson, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Midwest office in Chicago, said state officials are making a mistake by granting variances to power companies to exceed hot water thresholds. Instead, power plants should power down, he said. 

***Callaway added that he has never seen a more uncertain time for the power supply in 40 years working in environmental compliance.

 First published July 15, 012

I'd like to talk about your drought...what it is doing to the electric grid and power system. Last week the two nuclear plants in the Braidwood facility (near Chicago) nearly had to power down because their cooling lake had overheated. This really isn't a nuclear safety or an environmental story. It asks us is the Braidwood nuclear plant and our power and electricity system adequately designed for the current and projected climate? It asks us if this drought worsens through August what kind of condition could the Illinois grid/electrical system be in? By fall, how many power plants nationwide will get knocked off the grid? This is a national story and you could be the first to get it out right? 

All the big dogs in the NRC, Exelon and big power companies, the Illinois state grid regulators, They are pissing their pants over what August might bring Illinois and they don't want the story out.  

We are in a humongous emergency! 

Lets talk! Mike Mulligan 1 603 336 8320 

Check this Newspaper article out about the Braidwood nuclear plant in 1988...your last big drought...how will we look this Aug 10?

Braidwood in 2001 got a 10% power up uprate into their cooling lake and thus drove the grid toward fagility in droughts and heat waves. This is the best from our best and brightest engineers! Need i talk about temperature records and all the once every 100 year weather event we have broken in the last few years? The power up rate caused the lake to heat up more and produce more algae, darkened the waters, thus sunlight is massively heating up the lake too. So the power uprate and sunlight are heating up the water more...and lake evaporation challenging the make up capability ?  

I think this 1988 newspaper reporter is amazing how he captured this for us!!! Don't forget to watch the Newsroom on HBO tonight?   

Edison To Tap Lakes To Keep Plant Running

August 10, 1988|By Michael Arndt. 

A variance in March...these guys got to be screwed? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 23, 2012 Illinois EPA grants Exelon Braidwood Station Provisional Variance from Discharge Requirements Springfield—The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) has granted the Exelon Generation’s Braidwood Station a provisional variance from the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) water discharge permitted temperature limits, due to recent unseasonably warm weather conditions. Braidwood Station is a nuclear-fueled steam electric generating facility located approximately five miles from the Kankakee River at Braceville. Circulating water used to cool and condense steam from the generating process is ultimately discharged into a cooling pond, then to the Kankakee River. It does not come into contact with any radioactive components and does not have any impact on radiation risk. Exelon’s NPDES permit places limits the temperature of the effluent versus the temperature of the river water during a given season, and gives Braidwood an allowance of excursion hours it can use if its discharge exceeds the temperature. Because of recent record breaking warm weather, the river temperature at the intake has exceeded temperature standards; therefore the capacity of the river to dissipate heat has been reduced, causing the facility to exhaust the permitted excursion hours. During the variance period, Braidwood Station must continuously monitor both discharge and receiving water temperatures and must visually inspect all discharge areas at least three times each day to assess the impact on aquatic life. It must also notify the Illinois EPA and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources if aquatic life is shown to be affected. If the increased discharge temperature results in adverse environmental impact, appropriate reparations must be conducted. Exelon Generation’s Braidwood Station must continue to meet all other effluent conditions in its NPDES permitalong with additional conditions contained in the provisional variance but not expressly listed above. The Illinois EPA has determined that any environmental impact from the variance would be closely monitored, and the Agency will be notified immediately of any adverse impacts; no reasonable alternative appears to be available; no public water supplies will be affected; no federal regulations would prohibit granting the request; and the facility would face an arbitrary and unreasonable hardship if the IEPA did not grant the requested variance. The provisional variance will be in effect no later than March 31, 2012. All other NPDES permit requirements will remain in effect.

From: Michael Mulligan
To: "allegation@nrc.gov"
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 1:26 PM
Subject: Re: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn: "Pray for rain" and Braidwood nuclear plant

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/il/nwis/uv?site_no=05520500

The 1906 low flow record is 360 cubic feet per second...it is now 424 cfs. It's 64 cfs from the 1906 low flow record. The mean is 1500 cfs...This is the guy who feeds the Braidwood lake. How long will they be allowed to withdrawal from this river and who does it impact downstream?

Kankakee River

From: Michael Mulligan
To: "allegation@nrc.gov"
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 1:01 PM
Subject: Re: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn: "Pray for rain" and Braidwood nuclear plant

"Meents, the site superintendent for Mazonia/Braidwood State Fish and Wildlife Area, said there were some dead floaters at Braidwood, the cooling lake in the southwest corner of Will County, but nothing major. It was mainly threadfin and gizzard shad. On Monday, there was still 100-degree water on the south end."

Yea, because they been already been dead for years because the algae bloom driven by elevated water temps from the power up-rate sucked the oxygen out of the water!

From: Michael Mulligan
To: "allegation@nrc.gov"
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2012 12:49 PM
Subject: Re: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn: "Pray for rain" and Braidwood nuclear plant

What is the water level in the Braidwood lake?

That really bad marker 1988 drought I was talking about yesterday is being mention all over the press today. Already many outlets say this drought and record heat is worst than 1988. The difference between 1988 and 2012 is in 1985 and 1986 they had more than average precipitation. Illinois now is in drought conditions in 2011 and through this winter and fall. And we had the warmest winter on record! We been breaking temperatures records for as far as the eyes can see.

You catch the date of this article, Aug 10, 1988...how will Braidwood be on Aug 10, 2012? Will it be a worst repeat of 1988?

You see all the other power plants throughout our nation who are in trouble by Aug 10...

We in the beginning of national emergency of historic proportions...

I can hear the NRC saying because there is no evidence of a worst than 1988 drought, thus a worst than 1988 drought is impossible. 

Edison To Tap Lakes To Keep Plant Running

August 10, 1988|By Michael Arndt.

New

Commonwealth Edison Co., which has said low water levels could force it to reduce output of its Braidwood nuclear station, signed an agreement Tuesday that should allow the power plant to run at capacity into autumn.

Meanwhile, rains across the state allowed Edison`s Quad Cities nuclear station on the Mississippi River to generate more electricity Tuesday, though it remained far below capacity.

Like several other Midwestern utilities, Edison has had to curb production at several power plants because this summer`s drought has diminished water supplies needed to cool the generators.

At the current rate of evaporation, which lowers Braidwood`s lake level by a half-inch a day, Edison has said it would be forced to slow the atomic

power plant`s production within days and suspend operations by the end of August.

The loss of the 2,240-megawatt facility would cut the utility`s capacity by more than 10 percent.

But Edison spokesmen said Tuesday that the utility has found a way to extend full-capacity operations by the twin-unit facility for at least another two weeks, even if it doesn`t rain for the rest of the month.

After meeting with local and state officials in Will County, Edison officials got tentative permission to enlarge a roadway ditch to feed the facility`s cooling lake with water from four nearby lakes formed by strip mines.

On most days, the strip-mine lake water will make up all the water that evaporates from the cooling lake-estimated to be 20,000 to 30,000 gallons a minute-and keep the cooling lake level above the mouths of the plant's intake pumps.

Under the tentative agreement, Edison can remove up to half the water in the four lakes, all within a mile of the twin-unit nuclear station and owned by Edison. Pumping is expected to begin next week.

In addition, Edison said it will drill wells to make sure that by draining the lakes, the company isn`t lowering the underground water table and jeopardizing well-water supplies for nearby farms and residents.

The move by Edison is similar to steps recently taken by Decatur-based Illinois Power Co.

That utility has been pumping 3,700 gallons of water a minute from a strip-mine lake into a cooling pond of a 165-megawatt coal-fired power plant outside Danville. The level of the cooling lake is 7 feet below normal.

Other utilities also are working to counter the effects of the drought, which has dropped the levels of rivers and lakes to record lows, forcing utilities to curtail power production from Arkansas to Minnesota.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, for instance, has built a dike across a channel on the Mississippi River to create a reservoir for a 990-megawatt coal-fired station.

Rain, howewer, is the best solution, utility spokesmen agree.

Thunderstorms late Monday and early Tuesday raised the level of the Mississippi and lowered its water temperature enough to allow Edison`s 789-megawatt Quad Cities I nuclear unit to raise its output to 500 megawatts from 400 megawtts.

Edison also said the rains should soon allow the twin-unit Dresden nuclear station, near Morris, to increase generation to more than 50 percent of capacity.

From: Michael Mulligan
To: "allegation@nrc.gov"
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2012 9:01 PM
Subject: Re: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn: "Pray for rain" and Braidwood nuclear plant

I just proved to you this NOED should have anticipated and the NOED is so engineering justification wise shallow and unsafe..it constitutes NRC and public falsification...

Did you see all the NRC officials involved in this meeting...

Nobody wants to admit the facility isn't designed as a public utility and power source...isn't adequately designed for the current and anticipated climate. It is a cover-up! And the outcome of all of this is it drives Exelon to unnecessarily over and over again to challenge safety and tech spec limits...

I have no needs of confidentiality or anonymity...

Mike

BRAIDWOOD LAKE FISHERIES FACT SHEET

Dec 8, 2011...

http://dnr.state.il.us/lands/landmgt/parks/r2/MZB/Braidwood_FishFactSheet.pdf

"Further increases in electrical output at the generating station have resulted in even warmer water temperatures during the past summers."

"Once supporting a variety of rooted and emergent aquatic plant species, Braidwood Lake is now dominated by an almost year ‘round phytoplankton bloom. In an excellent example of cooperation between corporate partners, constituents and the IDNR, a fish habitat enhancement project which was initiated in 2007 has continued on an annual basis."

This state document is post 2007...

So the phytoplankton bloom darkened the color of the lake, the elevated pond temperature drastically changed the population of the fish...and this darkened coloration and phytoplankton bloom is further capturing solar radiation and increasing the temperatures of the lake.

As air temperatures increases does phytoplankton bloom increase...

From: Michael Mulligan
To: "allegation@nrc.gov"
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2012 4:02 PM
Subject: Re: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn: "Pray for rain" and Braidwood nuclear plant

Is Browns Ferry next? But they got $250 million dollar upgrade to their cooling system and a new cooling towers after massive capacity losses due to their heat sink problems last year.

Who has the mega picture with heat sink problems and climate in the NRC?

I'd have to look at the Braidwood heat sink summer time temperature trends, maybe the peak heat sink temperatures over the last decade...were they trending up over years? Was it an inevitability years ago the limit wound be broken?

What is going on nationally with our heat sinks?

So why wasn't the agency in there years ago, hey buddy...you are going to have to start building cooling towers to stay running in the summers. When the day comes to beg for a NOED it ain't going to be to coming from us. That is what a real friend does. Sounds like this lake is private property.

Get, Alabama enforced their environmental laws causing a Browns Ferry prolonged down power and construction program last year...while the NRC says to Braidwood be stupid and don't worry about the future, we will always give you a free go pass go card when you violate our rules.

As the NRC inspector said to me this morning, we got to be thinking holistically. Is it in the interest of the Chicago grid region and populous, to keep giving Exelon a free go pass go card with their heat sinks...or should the agency force or coerce them for the greater good of the Chicago region to purchase cooling towers!

Maybe shutdown for the approaching heat waves to keep their cooling pond cool...then power up when the grid is fragile and staving for electricity...that way they will use their precious cooling pond for the most good. Cause the way it works now, you allow Braidwood ponds to heat up to the worst of a heat wave grid criticality...then force a shutdown at the worst possible time. How long we going to trade off nuclear safety for regional grid and public safety, when we know the cooling towers wouldn't cause Chicagoans to play Russian roulette.

Believe me i get it the finances of Exelon are weak and getting weaker...but closing our eyes and keep digging that hole deeper and deeper, is that strategy really good for the Chicago metropolitan area?

From: Michael Mulligan
To: "allegation@nrc.gov"
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2012 2:07 PM
Subject: Re: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn: "Pray for rain" and Braidwood nuclear plant
 

Coal City Ill:

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/il/nwis/rt

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/il/nwis/uv?site_no=05542000

The 70 year medium cubic feet per second river flow is 50 cfp...it is flowing now at .78 cfp 4 miles from the plant. The 30 year low flow happen in 1988 at 07 cfp. How did the plant work back then? Has the plant had a uprate...

This is a indicator of climate?

so two 5% uprates in 2001 for a total of 10% more heat load into the cooling pond...

The 2001 uprates drove the regional grid to be more fragile during droughts and high temperature events...

The facility is not designed for the current climate.

From: Michael Mulligan
To: "allegation@nrc.gov"
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2012 12:57 PM
Subject: Re: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn: "Pray for rain" and Braidwood nuclear plant
 This is called engineering analysis stove piping. You focus on a correct artificially narrow evaluation...leading to basing the outcome on an incorrect set of facts. You base the NOED outcome on a meaningless temporary weather forecast while ignoring the repetitive nature of looking at this through the eyes of a spreading drought and record historic temperatures...repetitively entering a NOED. It is engineered falsification and lying to the public. I don't care if the rules allow lying and creating an official falsification.

From Briadwood NOED:

"At the time, you asserted that weather forecasts and lake temperature modeling indicated that the UHS temperature excursion above 100ºF would end prior to midnight Saturday, July 7, 2012, due primarily to environmental temperature moderating to the mid 80ºF range and an increase in local wind."

From: Michael Mulligan
To: "allegation@nrc.gov"
Sent: Friday, July 13, 2012 12:33 PM
Subject: Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn: "Pray for rain" and Braidwood nuclear plant

This is to support my allegation by telephone of a few hours ago...

I request to talk to Washington DC NRC officials who are knowledgeable of the situation?

I left a phone message with Gary Shear, Acting Director Division of Reactor Projects, Region III to discuss his NORD. It should be noted when I got to the Region III phone system asking me to spell out the the last name of the one I wanted to talk to....SPEAR...the system wouldn't accept my correct spell out and dropped me to have call back to region III. Maybe the computer couldn't understand my New England accent. This part of the phone system requesting the person to spell out "the one who he wants to talk to" is broken and not working.

"Pray for rain," Gov. Pat Quinn said this week. "It's a good thing to do."

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/weather/stories/Pray-For-Rain-Drought-Illinois-162341306.html#ixzz20WDld9Ue

With all of Illinois and much of the surrounding region in the throes of drought, state climatologist Jim Angel said there is no easy soluti

...The problem I had with the NRC was that that the NRC wasn't “thinking big “ and far sighted. He didn't even mention to me Illinois was in a spreading drought. He was comforted with a certainty of a "weather front" was approaching to bring the Lake temperature down, but he had no fear of our uncertain summer. Certainty/uncertainty gaming.

There was almost certain knowledge that entering the NOED might be repetitive in nature...he and the NRC was only considering it was a "one off".

We are in an unprecedented weather/drought national emerging emergency...

I request the NRC form an emergency panel of "big thinking" top agency experts on and to monitor the 2012 summer drought situation and how the nuclear plants respond to this crisis.

I suspect the NRC is going to be confronted with a pan on the stove of popping popcorn amount of NOEDs at many plants before the summer is over.

All I can think of is in the drought of 1998 thru 200, the massive amounts of paper whipping NOEDs and tech spec changes that occurred back then. Braidwood did it.

The inspector justified to be me this was a once in a hundred year temperature event...I thought that kind of thinking was unsat. We are riddled in past years with many once in a hundred years weather events and i would consider every 100 year weather event to be normalized now. A once “in a hundred year event” weather event is not a rational justification to do nothing and just turn your head away from confronting problems.

I thought the inspector and the NRC was grossly situationally, environmentally and historically unaware with the conditions of drought conditions around his plant.

He mentioned temperature conditions around safety equipment in his plant was banging around upper limits. I reminded him most safety systems and components aren’t tested in the worst case and with an adequate safety margin at the upper temperature limits.    

http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/13/us/midwest-drought/index.html

...(CNN) -- Authorities have declared more than 1,000 counties as natural disaster areas as the worst drought in a quarter-century spreads across the United States this summer.

Is the drought hitting your area? Let us know how you're coping on CNN iReport.

http://www.nbcchicago.com/weather/stories/Pray-For-Rain-Drought-Illinois-162341306.html

"Pray For Rain:" Quinn

The entire state has been declared in some stage of drought as another heat wave aims for Chicago

Source: http://www.nbcchicago.com/weather/stories/Pray-For-Rain-Drought-Illinois-162341306.html#ixzz20WDTu1LW

http://www.wbez.org/news/quinn-plans-unveil-drought-plan-100870

Quinn plans to unveil drought plan

July 13, 2012

Associated Press

All of Illinois is now officially in a drought, and Gov. Pat Quinn plans a trip to southern Illinois on Monday to discuss the state's plans for responding to dry conditions.

Officials at the National Drought Mitigation Center in Nebraska say Cook County is fully in a moderate drought for the first time this year. But that isn't the worst of it. Far southern Illinois is designated as being in an exceptional drought, which is the most serious classification.

State Climatologist Jim Angel says Illinois needs several good-sized rains to turn things around.

Quinn on Thursday urged Illinoisans to pray for rain. And a Quinn spokeswoman says the governor's office is working on a variety of plans to provide relief to farmers and Illinois communities.

All of Illinois in a drought

Chicago received only about a quarter of average rainfall for June

July 13, 2012|By Mitch Smith, Chicago Tribune reporter

A patch of greenery persists Tuesday in an expanse of scorched grass along the Midway Plaisance in Chicago. The entire state of Illinois is in a drought. (Nancy…)

After flirting with drought conditions for weeks, the Chicago area is for the first time this year officially dry.

Two-thirds of Illinois is experiencing at least a severe drought, and about 9 percent is in an extreme drought or worse, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center, based at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln

Last month, Chicago got 0.89 inches of precipitation, far below the June average of 3.45 inches, according to Weather.com's totals forO'Hare International Airport. In July the city had only seen 0.28 inches of rain through Wednesday, and the short-term forecast promises little relief

False Ostendorff Senate Confirmation Testimony in 2010

False Ostendorff Confirmation Testimony in 2010

From: "Nieh, Ho"
To: "Steamshovel2002@yahoo.co m"
Sent: Mon, May 10, 2010 5:35:44 PM
Subject: Commissioner Ostendorff's remarks during Senate hearing

Dear Mr. Mulligan,

Thank you for your comment on May 8, 2010, on the OpenNRC website. On May 5, 2010, Commissioner Ostendorff made the following statement during the NRC oversight hearing before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Subcommittee on Clear Air and Nuclear Safety:

"So far, to date, none of the water samples taken at any of the plants have had any groundwater contamination in excess of the 20,000 picocuries per liter."

You are correct in pointing out this misstatement. The Commissioner’s intention was to say that, to date, no local drinking water samples taken near any NRC-licensed nuclear power plant have had tritium levels in excess of the 20,000 picocuries per liter limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Commissioner Ostendorff intends to correct this matter for the record of the hearing.

Sincerely,

Ho Nieh
Chief of Staff
Office of Commissioner William C. Ostendorff
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

We had millions of picocuries (4) water in the ground for god know how long and it did leak into the Connecticut river. They killed the nearby well pump and wouldn't allow testing...


William Ostendorff, GOP-Appointed Regulator, Under Investigation For Thwarting Nuclear Safety Probe

Posted: 08/15/2012 1:13 pm Updated: 08/15/2012 3:14 pm
Ryan Grimm

Excerpts:

"While Jaczko was touring the plant on May 31st, according to the sources, a significant leak of potentially radioactive water was pouring into the control room. Less than two weeks later, the plant was shut down to repair the leak. Yet Jaczko was never made aware of the issue while inspecting the plant. He asked the NRC's Office of Investigations to look into why the leak was kept from him.

Commissioner William Ostendorff, however, wanted no such investigation to take place. Shortly after Jaczko ordered it, Ostendorff shouted at the top agency investigator, Cheryl McCrary, in front of several NRC employees. He told her that the inquiry should be halted and that it was a "waste of agency resources," according to the sources, who were briefed on the exchange by witnesses.

The probe into Ostendorff is the latest tussle in an ongoing war inside the agency over how to regulate the industry -- whether to take a trusting, hands-off approach, or to apply the rules in a serious way. It's a battle being fought all across Washington, as longtime advocates of deregulation argue that government bureaucrats are stifling job creation. Inside some industries, deregulation might tilt the balance of power away from consumers and workers, but in the nuclear industry, the consequences involve life and death."


My Palisades 2.206

12) May I please have a meeting with the Palisades inspectors and other inspectors to discuss the conditions of Palisades before the petition board pre-hearing.

2) Heads need to roll in Region III and at headquarters for tolerating and covering up these very serious safety problem at Palisades and throughout the Entergy organization. This all has the potential to gravely damage our nation.  

Right, was this retribution for speaking my mind.

They told me they all discussed this e-mail and they misinterpreted that I wanted the to speak in the PRB.

So why didn’t they answer me this other question:

I mean, is there a 2.206 agency head or somebody in charge of the 2.206 process that i can talk to about my frustration with the 2.206 process?

And I directly answered him:

FROM:
Michael Mulligan
TO:
Thursday, August 9, 2012 4:20 PM
Mr

Please set it up at your convenience...so it will be a teleconference please. If you pay the freight and my accommodations, I could come to Washington to give my plea. Hey, you never know if you don't ask?

As with the recent VY tie issues and the request for the new diesel generator...I find it impossible to have a open and true discussion about the problems in the nuclear industry with the agency. I have very little information and the NRC fails to help educate me on the issues, or provide transparent information surrounding a nuclear plant...as I am not allowed access to a nuclear site. I have to trust the agency to be my eyes and ears to get a fair government process because a utility wouldn't give me a level playing field with gaining the appropriate information. We know your rules don't allow the NRC to give me a level playing field opportunity with all the facts or any facts, with all the information. This limits my effectiveness with engaging the Petition Board. I could make a case there would be a lot less turmoil and accidents in the industry...thus better public credibility of the agency and the nuclear industry...if I had a constitutional-democracy style transparency mandated level playing field with insider information. Fundamentally with the VY Vernon Dam, this make my case I can't trust the agency to have a full and open discussion about my concerns in the 2.206 process. Right, me fighting for a DG over the Vernon tie since 2010, then we discovered new grid vulnerabilities, and the ISO and the NRC forces VY-Entergy to get a DG before the turn of this year. This has nothing to do with Palisades, but it expresses my frustration with the 2.206 process. I am involved with talking to the NRC next week about this issue.

So yes, I would like to speak to the petition review board about Palisades.

I mean, is there a 2.206 agency head or somebody in charge of the 2.206 process that i can talk to about my frustration with the 2.206 process?

I find it beyond gracious of the agency and I am impressed the agency remembered this request...please may i speak to the said officials about Palisades recent problems before the 2.206:

"Additionally, you requested to speak with the NRC Resident and/or Regional inspectors prior to the teleconference. Do you still seek that request?

Mike

He posed the question:

From:
To: 'Michael Mulligan' <steamshovel2002@yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 9, 2012 3:34 PM Subject: RE: Palisades 2.206 Petitions dated June 27, 2012 and June 28, 2012 (G20120443 and G20120492)

Mr. Mulligan

We’ll continue to limit the meeting to one hour, but that’s certainly an admirable attempt.

Please let me know whether you still request to address the PRB. If so, do you require a teleconference or a meeting at Headquarters. The PRB can support a meeting in next couple of weeks.

Additionally, you requested to speak with the NRC Resident and/or Regional inspectors prior to the teleconference. Do you still seek that request?

Thank you.
Sincerely,

New Al Qaeda Attack In USA: Fast Attack Nuclear Submarine USS Miami SSN 755 in Maine

That is more like it:

Fury also confessed to activating a fire alarm on June 19. The May 23 fire aboard the USS Miami caused $400 million in damage.

July 28: I be on vacation for a week beginning today and out of internet or cell phone range.

 ..."because his case was still pending trial and results of toxicology tests were not available... does that mean they got his blood and could do extensive blood testing for an assortment of drugs?

...I'd still say a big fish associated with the shipyard got him that job...if he was black I'd say it was a cousin's kid of Obama that got for the job. This guy is a good employee mixing all them drugs with huge doses of alcohol.   

Suspect in USS Miami fire was arrested for alleged DWI
Posted July 27, 2012, at 12:45 p.m.

DOVER, N.H. — A man charged in the submarine fire at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated last month.
The Portsmouth Herald said Friday that 24-year-old Casey James Fury was arrested for allegedly driving while intoxicated and striking a parked car while in the midst of an investigation into his ties to a fire on the nuclear submarine USS Miami.

Fury was arrested by Dover police on June 14 after a patrol officer observed him driving erratically. He was charged with DWI-second offense after an accident.
...I am just saying these Federal prosecutors are lazy, incompetent and unethical. The indictment doesn't including all the information that might weaken, indict or impeach the testimony of Fury. Obliviously there are unknown and unindicted co-conspirators with the false fire alarm and fires, the federal prosecutors are using selective evidence in the indictment, and there may be reason to believe Fury is a patsy.

.Isn't it strange the indictment doesn't admit we ask Fury if he pulled the false alarm on June 19 fire alarm and he denied he pulled it...

...Fury so called admitted to setting two fires in his indictment... the $700 million dollar fire and alcohol swipe fire on the fire proofed white wood. The indictment doesn't mention the false fire alarm and thus Fury did not pull it.

Meanwhile NCIS officials said quote, "there is no known connection between the fire on the U.S.S. Miami that occurred on May 23 and the one on June 16, but that possibility cannot be eliminated at this time."

"The NCIS is offering a $5,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest in connection with the fires. In a new development, the agency is also investigating a third incident that took place on June 19 when a fire alarm was pulled in the vicinity of the Miami.OK, so there are two fires and one anonymous fire alarms pulled at on or near the USS Miami since the big fire."

Who is the scumbag who pulled the illegal and false fire alarm on June 16 right near the sub? What kind of employees do they got there?

...This statement is so riddle with arrogance, age-ism and egoism...and mostly horrendous disrespectful classism with the middle class worker.

I might remind this fucking idiot Navy captain the unbelievable responsibilities the navy places with the 24 year olds running these subs...I'll bet you the crew manning the nuclear plant that day of the fire were all under 24 years of age. How about heroic military under 24 year olds over in Iraq and Afghanistan willing to give up their lives for our common good? He is trying to bail his navy captain's cronies that never gave a shit with what was happening in the shipyard.  

The captain is another PR prop and he is will to throw our young adult population under the bus to divert you from what happened in this shipyard.

Right, he wants to hire our disconnected young adults as slaves for penny wages and low benefits...marginal humans for certain rudimentary jobs. They were just  rudimentary monkeys. Probably penny wages and the low wage castaways of our society so guys like him make big bucks and kingly pensions. Right, he wants to hire the shiftless and disconnected class for pennies and zero respect for the dirty jobs they do. All the painters and sand blasters in the shipyards and throughout the USA are without "ethics", "low skilled" and only have "rudimentary jobs" so the Captain says.

He is a sophisticated Navy prop trying to divert accountability of the admirals, shipyard and high Navy department civilian officials.   

Few warning signs in Portsmouth Naval Shipyard arson case

Retired Navy Capt. Peter Bowman of Kittery, Maine, a former commander of the shipyard...

Bowman said it is possible the Navy will have to tighten some of its hiring procedures, but he noted the shipyard needs some relatively low-skilled, but trained individuals to do certain rudimentary jobs. Fury was a painter and sandblaster at the shipyard, according to court documents.

It seems to me that the younger generation (doesn't) display the rather rigorous ethics and common-sense standards that people from previous generations had. In other words, you didn't have to be told you don't light fires because you want to get off early to see your girlfriend," Bowman said

...So where is the proof, so he might have prescriptions and purchases...but who is to say he is really swallowing the pills. Only a blood sample would be proof to me and at the time of the incident...

“He explained that he was taking Celexa for anxiety and depression, Klonopin for anxiety, Ambien for sleep and Xertec (sic) for allergies,” according to a criminal compiaint filed against the painter, Casey Fury, of Port

 Jun 18, 2012 message 20

I did this as logging...I have zero control of my message once I put it up topix. It is a auto logging device where I can't falsify the date or the message. You better be careful questioning me on the veracity of my own quotes cause I usually got it recorded in a trustworthy place and date stamped where I have absolutely no control of the message once submitted. You are right, in blogspot I can fiddle with anything in my blog...times and dates. I suspect they take a pictures of my blog on a daily bases and they can verify anything I say.

Said on this blog on June 21:

"Like i said with additional fires and false alarms, a nuclear submarine saboteur is playing with the Navy department investigators."

That reeks of a terrorist strike....

"He is being held at an undisclosed facility in the interim."

There is my famous May 25, 2012 quote:

"Rumors at the bars in Portsmouth say al Qaeda destroyed a United States fast attack nuclear submarine. That is the chatter on the internet.

"How about a new thrust with the Yemen al Queda...a Somali undocumented or falsified shipyard underwear incendiary bomber painter, cleaner or trash can emptier?

..And here is my statement about our news media...it is their humongous inability to analyze and make a separate evaluation of the world around them. It is as if they are just facts checkers without brains...they unthinking collect the PR facts from the businesses, corporations and government agencies without a care in the world of the larger purpose and meaning of their information. All I am is a repeater or amplifier of a signal without thinking...

They got three quarters of their brains partitioned off from the world...

...My analysis is from the opening moments of this fire, this fire to the navy uncovered a humongous festering wound in our submarines and maybe in our surface fleet. Our submarines aren't fire safe and they are a danger to all our sailors. From that ends all this soothing talk about vacuum clearer monsters, was the ends of not confronting the submarine general combustibility issues. A submarine can catch on complete fire faster than matches cascading into a whole book of matches flashing into fire!

That has been the aims of this cover-up until the nut case spit out his sins  

 

...All right, I got more credibility with my terrorist claims than the Navy department and their NCIS has with the quickie three week investigation they first envisioned and the cockamamie vacuum ember story based on no evidence, the navy department warned the fleet and all shipyards about the dangerous exploding vacuum cleaners...

1) I do worry about the our military capabilities with investigating terror events in the USA...will they always blame terrorist strikes or saboteurs on the lazy story of dangerous vacuum cleaners?

2) The navy department was fundamentally dishonest with how they reported this to the community in the opening months...certainty and uncertainty gaming...what they really knew and didn't know. They made you feel good though.

3) The terrible material combustibility issues with this dangerous combat ship and human safety issues with this submarine. You are telling me all it takes is a Bic lighter and a small pile of alcohol soaked swipes on a officer's bed small pile of plain cleaning rags placed on a officers bed that leads to the destruction of a nuclear submarine? Does such a small fire lead to this? There is gross negligence of the Navy and it shipyard.

4) I can't believe their wasn't a ship's company (crew)  roving fire watch 24/7 around the forward part of the ship who could catch this fire in the early stages!

I think the vacuum cleaner story based on the evidence at the time was a complete fraudulent story...a feel good nobody gets blamed cover-up story for public consumption

I was the first one in the USA who called this sabotage?  

Suspect charged with arson for sub Miami fire
By Sam Fellman - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Jul 23, 2012 10:43:55 EDT

Federal authorities on Monday charged a Portsmouth, N.H., man with “willfully and maliciously” setting the devastating May 23 fire onboard the attack submarine Miami at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.

Casey James Fury was set to appear later in the day in U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine, on two counts related to the fire aboard the sub and the burning of nearby building materials, a court clerk said.

The fire raged out of control for hours, causing $400 million in damages. The Navy is now weighing whether to save the Los Angeles-class boat.

It's extraordinary that this didn't flip into a full fledged off the military system federal criminal investigation...

Originally published 6/21...

Imagine how strange it looks not having somebody admit they pulled the fire alarm or discovered why and how the small fire started....after the 1 billion dollar nuclear submarine fire?  

July 20...

Links to USS Miami fire explored


Published 07/20/2012 12:00 AM


 Investigators looking at subsequent small blaze, pulling of alarm nearby.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has not ruled out the possibility of a connection between the large blaze that severely damaged the USS Miami, a small fire that later broke out near the submarine and a fire alarm that was pulled.


The Naval Criminal Investigative Service has not ruled out the possibility  of a connection between the large blaze that severely damaged the USS Miami, a small fire that later broke out near the submarine and a fire alarm that was pulled.


July 18:...If Iran is doing this to Israel in Bulgaria...they would destroy a billion dollar sub in the USA if they could?

UPDATED AT 6:04 p.m. ET: SOFIA, Bulgaria -- An explosion on a bus carrying Israeli tourists at an airport in Burgas killed at least six people and injured 32 others, Bulgarian authorities said. Bulgarian officials could not confirm the deadly blast was terror-related but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed Iran.


"Iran is responsible for the terror attack in Bulgaria, we will have a strong response against Iranian terror," said Netanyahu in a statement, according to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper.


Update 6/21: Naval investigators are the best in the world. They are exposed to numerous and enormous problems and this make them highly seasoned. These guys have seen everything. The navy is a huge organization and just is a lot of big moving part. So why in the beginning they tell us it is a three week investigation and now into a 3 month investigation? Does it indicated they recently found something humongous.

Like i said with additional fires and false alarms, a nuclear submarine saboteur is playing with the Navy department investigators.

Originally published on 6/1/2012

By Deborah Mcdermott dmcdermott@seacoastonline.com
June 21, 2012 2:00 AM

KITTERY, Maine — U.S. Navy officials said Wednesday that it will be several more months before the investigations into the USS Miami submarine fire are complete.

The Judge Advocate General manual and the safety investigations will not be completed until late summer or early fall, said Gary Hildreth, public affairs officer at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

In the days after the May 23 fire, Navy officials said the investigations should take only two or three weeks to complete

Update:THE BOMB:
"1600 31 May: Word on the street is that the cause of the fire may have been something hot getting sucked up into a vacuum by a shipyard worker, which was then left on the boat at the end of the shift."

The word I am getting is it was a time delayed incendiary device...somebody brought in the vacuum cleaner incendiary bomb on the ship. Nobody in their right mind would think a fire like came from a metal covered 25 gallon industrial vacuum or a smaller home style vacuum that wouldn't have enough juice in it.

It had to be a accelerant or high test incendiary chemicals...with the incendiary bomb strategically placed to get the fire going big time.

They knew for the terrorist's incendiary bomb to destroy the sub, the whole deal would only work in a time when the ship was mostly abandoned. Dinner time.

They thoroughly knew the daily flow of work in a overhauling nuclear submarine.

And they planned the incendiary bomb chemicals and timing device would remain undetectable after a fire?

Well, to infer it was a terrorist event, but have no direct fingerprints on it...

I wonder if there was prior warning this was going to happen, but the government dismissed it?

Did Iran attack us?

OBama Order Sped Up Wave of Cyberattacks Against Iran



How many of these have you seen?

USS Iowa turret explosion

After most of the water was pumped out, the corpses in the turret were removed without noting or photographing their locations.

Morse directed a cleanup crew, supervised by Lieutenant Commander Bob Holman, to make Turret Two "look as normal as possible". Over the next day, the crew swept, cleaned, and painted the inside of the turret. Loose or damaged equipment was tossed into the ocean. No attempt was made to record the locations or conditions of damaged equipment in the turret.

"No one was preserving the evidence," said Brian R. Scanio, a fireman present at the scene. A team of Naval Investigative Service (NIS) investigators (the predecessor of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service or NCIS) stationed nearby on the aircraft carrier Coral Sea was told that their services in investigating Iowa's mishap were not needed.

"They got to paying off the on scene ship yard workers, throwing a military high security fence around this, warning the on scene sailors you will go to jail if you squeal. Rumors at the bars in Portsmouth say al Qaeda destroyed a United States fast attack nuclear submarine. That is the chatter on the internet.

How about a new thrust with the Yemen al Qaeda...a Somali undocumented or falsified shipyard underwear incendiary bomber bilge painter or trash can emptier?"

It could be a disgruntled shipyard worker or sailor who sabotage the ship. Does the navy has history of suspicious fires in the shipyard?

How about a strategy of the shipyard itself with approaching Navy cutbacks...expand the scope of work on this sub through sabotage? 

The Navy is declaring the cover up has within a days or two of putting out the fire.

..."Snowe said McCoy told her the heat damage was such that "they may not even be able to determine the cause of the fire."

..."She said there's a "critical shortage" of submarines in service, a fact McCoy reiterated in discussions with her."

..."Snowe says it is believed to be the most serious fire ever at the shipyard, and possibly the worst on a Navy nuclear sub."

So why isn't there a press conference with the sailors and people in the sub when the fire started? Tell us what they seen...how the fire started and developed. Well, you know everyone got to get their story straight and this is terrorism related anyways?

You get it, light smoke, then the sub exploded in flames coming out the hatch.

Submarine Created Hellish Scene

 Whitehouse said when he first arrived at the Miami, there was some light smoke coming out of the submarine and the ship's crew had been dealing with the fire. He said his firefighters located the fire in the front of the sub and on the middle deck of the submarine's three decks, but it quickly spread to the upper deck. At one point, flames were shooting out of the forward hatch.

It's a whole different beast,” Spinney said, adding despite the metal components, submarines have a lot of flammable material — like insulation and other items — which fueled the fire.

Mayor Eric Spear met Tuesday with Capt. Bryant Fuller, commander of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, to discuss the submarine fire of May 23. Markel said he was told smoke from the sub was toxic.

And you know, with our extremely flammable inside hull sprayed on thermal and sound deadening foam and electrical cabling... the cornucopia of the extremely flammable environment we created for our heroic submariners through the profits oriented and funding starvation with building out our fleet of nuclear submarines. Our fleet operations of nuclear submarines would be decimated with prolong emergency related rework costing billions of dollars over the fire.


Navy Times June 1, 2012

"Unofficial reports indicate the fire burned at very high temperatures inside the ship.

"Temperature “readings on the hull during the fire were very high,” said one source with knowledge of the incident. “It was indicative of an incredible fire on the inside.”

"The intense fire could have buckled hull frames or weakened the pressure hull, and the cost of repairs could be prohibitive."

"If the submarine cannot be returned to active service, it would become the first submarine and the first nuclear ship lost through a U.S. shipyard accident."

"...Miami could become the first ship lost in a U.S. naval shipyard since the 19th century."

The Portsmouth Navel Shipyard has been implicated in two terrible accidents. The destruction of the fast attack submarine USS Thresher and now the USS Miami. Gets you to wondering what the reputation of this shipyard is to the Navy, what the sailors think of the quality of the Portsmouth shipyard ships.

The contract to build Thresher was awarded to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on 15 January 1958, and her keel was laid on 28 May 1958.

And you know what, other ships beside submarines might be involved...
I don't believe a word of the Navy with their guess on their recent GW fire. You notice the GW was constructed around the same time as the USS Miami. They are both east coast ship builders but different corporations. I believe a motor or cable overheated and caught fire on the GW. Maybe a spontaneous combustion of a barrel of old rags. The general combustibility of the ship materials overwhelming the crew of the ship much like the USS Miami. The illegal cans of oil and butts was just was a product of a fire started somewhere else and caught up in the material negligence of the Navy. In both fires we are talking about approaching $1.5 billion dollar of lost taxpayers monies and we have no idea of the magnitude of other fires in Navy ships that might be related to ship general material fire combustibility.

As senator Snowe says, the Navy with the investigation on this aircraft carrier fire didn't find evidence how this fire started and the factors that made this a ship a combustion conflagration.

It is interesting, both fires took about the same time to put out.

It was only a guess from the Navy...

May 22, 2008

The USS George Washington, the fourth Navy ship to bear the name, was commissioned July 4, 1992. It is a Nimitz class nuclear-powered supercarrier with a crew of 3,000 but can carry up to 5,000. "The smoking was happening in an unauthorized space and the evidence points to it probably was a lit cigarette that ignited the oil," said Capt. Scott Gureck, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet. He said the investigation did not reveal who was smoking.

Flames were initially spotted near the auxiliary boiler room and air conditioning and refrigeration space in the rear of the ship. The safety of the ship's nuclear reactor was not threatened. The Navy over the years reduced the fire incombustibility over the years on our submarines. I personally don't think they are combat ready and can't stand up to the rigors of the sea. The new electronics seem to be particularly combustible and toxic to a crew in a fire. Post Admiral Rickover career, I think the defense contractors and the shipyards conspired with each other to put a excessive national security shield over DOD systems with the politicians. I don't think the materials and ships were ever properly vetted for safe material combustibility limits for the duty in military ships. Considering the outcome of the fire on aircraft carrier USS George Washington and USS Miami, the submarines are a fire trap for our submariners and are unsafe. My fear is we got a host of ships other than submarines out in the fleet where a small fire could ignite, with the resulting fire conflagration caused by runaway secret reduction on material combustibility limits severely damaging the combat effectiveness of the ships. I fear we have a grave fleet wide national security threat because our Navy ships have become amazingly vulnerable to a fire contagion.
As far as the exhausted state of the Navy, a sailor's death on the USS Essex, and later the collision with the oil tanker USNS Yukon with the Essex.  

“How far has the rot spread?’

With a looming hull swap, how much of an attitude that this-won’t-be-my-problem-much-longer existed amongst the crew?” he asked.

1) Considering the history of the US Navy gaming investigation, I request a professional out side the Navy investigation of this incident.

2) I request the Navy head of the shipyard be removed from his duties until the investigation is completed.

3) Request the NTSB be called in.