NH Senate President Chuck Morse: "We are in the midst of an infrastructure crisis"

This is how the government hater teabaggers disassemble our transportation system. This is what happens when the political parties spend their days sabotaging each other...

http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/10763193-95/nh-senator-if-gas-tax-bill-doesnt-pass-trucking-industry-will-be-targeted

N.H. senator: If gas tax bill doesn’t pass, trucking industry will be targeted

By KATHLEEN RONAYNE

Monitor staff

Wednesday, February 19, 2014
(Published in print: Wednesday, February 19, 2014)

The prime Republican sponsor of a bill to increase the gas tax said if the bill doesn’t pass, he will seek a repeal of laws that benefit the trucking industry, including a 2005 bill that increased the weight trucks can carry by 24,000 pounds.

“That added weight is helping to destroy our roads, and what do we hear from them? ‘We don’t want to help you,’ ” Sen. Jim Rausch, a Derry Republican, said yesterday.

The Senate Ways and Means Committee heard testimony for nearly four hours on Rausch’s bill to increase the gas tax by 4 cents this year and again in 2018, then tie future increases to the consumer price index. The state’s gas tax of 18 cents per gallon hasn’t changed since 1991, making it difficult for the state Department of Transportation to complete projects as inflation causes costs to rise.

Rausch told the committee this is not a tax but a user fee, because how much it affects people will depend directly on how much they drive on the state’s roads.

…Supporters of the bill said fixing the state’s roads and bridges is key to bringing in new businesses, growing the economy and keeping young people here. Clement said the Department of Transportation would need to eliminate as many as 700 jobs if it can’t fill the expected 2016 deficit. But opponents said the increase would hurt drivers and consumers and that putting a formula for future increases into law now wouldn’t allow for public and legislative input later.

 02/19/2014 jonstah wrote:  

"I'm wondering which legislator or relative of one has to have a bridge fall out from under them before someone does something to improve our roads and bridges"

I think over the years we have mistrusted government so much...the solution to it has been to weaken the government and the politicians. Then you end up with the minority able to completely sabotage the majority.

Over government should be mostly winner take all...with the winners, like the governor or the majority of the senate or house, then getting extraordinary powers to change our government. It you don’t like what they are doing, next election cycle vote them out.

This is not a transportation problem....it is political in nature. Actually, it is the people of NH or a USA...they have given up with controlling their government.

February 18. 2014 9:14PM 

NHDOT chief warns of cuts, says gas tax needed

By DAVE SOLOMON
New Hampshire Union Leader

 

CONCORD — Transportation Commissioner Chris Clement commended DOT workers as a snowstorm raged outside the hearing room in Concord on Tuesday, but warned lawmakers that he could have to lay off 700 of those workers if the Legislature fails to approve an increase in the state's gasoline tax or a new casino.
As several one-time sources of revenue for the state's highway fund evaporate, Clement told members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee that his agency is facing shortfalls of $48 million and $105 million over the next two budget cycles if the Legislature does nothing to increase DOT funding.
"We need help," he said.

Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Odell, R-Lempster, tried to keep the conversation focused on a proposal by fellow committee member Sen. James Rausch, R-Derry, to increase the state's 18-cent gas tax by 4.2 cents a gallon, but the conversation kept turning to gaming as an alternate revenue source.
"We need both," said Clement, warning of continued deterioration of the state's roads and bridges, failure to widen I-93, and a budget shortfall that could cost him almost half of the 1,600 employees who work for his department
Cost of gas tax

Opponents of Rausch's bill, SB 367, warned that it would do serious harm to the state's transportation and forestry industries, with cost being passed along to consumers.

"Those sponsoring the bill say it will only increase the cost $16 per passenger vehicle per year, based on 25 miles per gallon, traveling 10,000 miles per year," said tree farmer Tom Thomson of Orford, honorary chairman of the state chapter of Americans for Prosperity. "What they don't tell you is how this tax will have a devastating impact on the trucking industry."
In written testimony, he accused Clement of politicizing his position: "It appears that Commissioner Clement has decided to become the DOT's top lobbyist, and take his Power Point presentation to every corner of the state, claiming his agency is short of revenue by $70 to $100 million; while threatening to lay off 300 to 700 DOT employees if he does not get additional revenues through an increase in the gas and diesel tax."
Thomson warned that truckers are running on razor-thin margins and any increase will put some out of business.

"The others will just pass the increase onto the consumers," he said. "Stop and think about it. Everything we consume moves by diesel. Raising the tax makes the price of everything, including food, higher due to any increase in the diesel tax."
Rausch called on the trucking industry to do its share to maintain the roads in a state that has been far more generous to the industry than its neighbors. He pointed out that New Hampshire has a lower gas tax, higher weight limits and lower fines for violations than any of its neighboring states.
"We give them breaks, and what do we get in return?" he asked.

Under Rausch's proposal, the state's gas tax, which has not been increased since 1991, would increase about 4.2 cents a gallon and produce about $30 million in new revenue for transportation projects. A formula using the Consumer Price Index would be reapplied every four years to adjust the gas tax to align with inflation.
Growth in DOT budget

Senate President Chuck Morse, also a committee member, pressed Clement on the growth in his budget in recent years, saying it had gone up 20 percent a year over five years at a rate that simply was "not sustainable."

Basically, they decimated the employee ranks of the NHDOT over recent years. They privatized most of the NHDOT for campaign contribution..it is a grossly failed experiment. 

Clement admitted that DOT spending had gone up more than $100 million since 2007, but said most of that was due to infusions of cash through the federal stimulus program and other one-time events. Even though the DOT spends about $700 million, most of that is pass-through of federal highway funds. The amount of discretionary funds used to finance payroll and other department operations is only about $142 million, Clement said. 

He said gas tax revenue has been declining due to the recession and improvements in fuel efficiency, while the state now has 140 red listed bridges, 37 percent of its road are in poor condition, and the expansion of Interstate 93 is underfunded by $250 million. 

"We are in the midst of an infrastructure crisis," he said.

Efforts to raise the gas tax, or road toll as it is known, failed in 2009 and again in 2013 largely because of Republican opposition.

This year, Rausch's bill has two Senate Republican co-sponsors, Sen. Nancy Stiles of Hampton and Sen. David Boutin of Hookset, along with House Republican John Cebrowski of Bedford.dsolomon@unionleader.com

Legacy with the Megaton to Megawatt Program

Banks sitting on huge stockpiles of rawuranium 

Will Uranium Spike Again?

On the Watch for a Nuclear Rebound

This is the legacy of the megaton to megawatt program...USA GDP. Jobs and economic growth transferred to Russia.

Russian nuke supply ceases, U.S. uranium production spikes

By Mark Wilcox February 5, 2014

With no more Russian nuclear warheads at the conclusion of a 20-year agreement to supply American nuclear power plants uranium for fuel, U.S. uranium production hit a 17-year high in 2013.

According to the Energy Information Administration, the Megatons to Megawatts program made its final delivery to the U.S. in December last year. USEC Inc., the private company that acted as executive agent for the intergovernmental deal, said the deal eliminated the equivalent of 20,000 nuclear warheads by recycling 500 metric tons of bomb-grade uranium into 14,000 metric tons of lower-grade enriched uranium.

Wyoming has largely stepped in to take up the slack from the dying program with the arrival of two in-situ uranium mining projects in the past year. Ur-Energy opened its Lost Creek facility near Jeffrey City last year, and sold about 90,000 pounds of yellowcake into the market near the end of 2013. During the fourth quarter of 2013, the EIA reported that total production of uranium was less than 1.1 million pounds, meaning Ur-Energy's new mine may have accounted for about 8 percent of production – though it's not clear whether the 90,000 pounds were all produced in the same quarter they were sold.

Meanwhile, Uranerz Energy Corporation, another Casper-based newcomer to uranium mining, should be starting production at its Nichols Ranch in-situ uranium project sometime in the first quarter. Altogether, EIA reported that yellowcake production from Wyoming accounted for nearly 900,000 pounds or about 80 percent, of all national uranium production during the fourth quarter. Wyoming, even without Uranerz's upcoming greenlit project, hosts three out of seven functional facilities in the U.S.

But the U.S. needs far more production than even that to stay even. Projections show contractually supplied uranium dwindling in the coming years, with only half currently under contract by 2017.

"Increased domestic production of uranium concentrate should help fill the market requirements going forward," the EIA stated.

Large Electric Users On Natural Gas Shortage?

These large users...they are the guys who deregulated our electric system. Allowed them to purchase electricity on the open market. Now it is biting them in the ass.

Government haters...

No matter how the businesses and corporation screw the markets up for us...the fix is always double up on what damaged us it the first place...

 

February 17. 2014 9:28PM

Report: Gaspipeline not enough to avert New England energy crisis

By DAVE SOLOMON
New Hampshire Union Leader

New England is facing an energy crisis brought on by high natural gas prices, and the call by governors in the six states for a new, publicly funded natural gas pipeline does not go far enough to solve the problem, according to a detailed analysis of the region's energy options.

The 30-page analysis, released on Feb. 11, was conducted by a consulting group, Competitive Energy Services of Portland, Maine, on behalf of the Industrial Energy Consumer Group, which represents large-scale users of electricity in New England.

"The governors' recommended addition of one billion cubic feet of natural gas pipeline capacity will help lower energy prices," according to the analysis, "but will still leave New England paying $600 million more for energy annually than if adequate pipeline capacity existed."

The consultants used 12 months of 2013 data to estimate future trends, and concluded that New England needs two billion cubic feet of new natural gas pipeline capacity — twice what the governors are calling for.
"Since 2012, a fundamental shift toward higher costs due to inadequate gas pipeline capacity has occurred in New England," they wrote.

It was just a year ago that the ratepayers in the region were enjoying lower costs attributed to new sources of natural gas tapped in nearby Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Although some experts predicted that the honeymoon would be short-lived, few if any anticipated the dramatic price swings alluded to in the CES analysis, which stated, "Previous studies did not perceive this fundamental shift because of the unavailability of 2013 data."

According to Maine attorney Anthony Buxton, counsel to the Industrial Energy Consumer Group, "This winter has provided frigid witness to the highest energy prices ever experienced by New England —prices routinely twice as high as those of last winter."

The human and economic costs have been significant, he said: "On just one Friday in January, the total cost of electricity in New England was $100 million more than what it would otherwise have been if New England experienced prices like the rest of the nation. The total above-market energy costs to New England in 2014 will be in the billions of dollars."

Buxton points out that in neighboring New York and Pennsylvania, natural gas is available at prices that often dip below $3 per million BTU, but because New England lacks adequate natural gas pipeline capacity, natural gas prices in cold weather have routinely been above $20 per million BTU.

A unique NE burden

"To make matters worse, these prices drive up the price of electricity astronomically for virtually all New England consumers," Buxton wrote. "Electricity prices have routinely doubled this winter ... These prices have closed New England mills for weeks on end, strained home budgets and burdened New England's economy uniquely among regions in the nation."

The worst is yet to come, he continued, "as customers with fixed-price contracts this year see those contracts expire and must now face the grim reality of much, much higher energy costs next winter."

Unregulated competitive energy suppliers who found it easy to compete with regulated utilities on price in 2012 are now struggling to offer a better buy to consumers, if they can.

Any new hydroelectric lines into the region from Quebec or Eastern Canada will help replace the region's aging coal, oil and nuclear plants, but will do nothing to reduce the need for two billion cubic feet of new natural gas pipeline capacity into the region, according to the analysis.

The consultants warn that failure to create new pipeline capacity will make hydro-electricity from Canada more expensive, even if the Northern Pass is built, as high electricity prices in the region are used as a basis for bids from Hydro-Quebec.

"Additional pipeline capacity into New England serves to discipline Canadian energy suppliers by reducing their pricing power," the report states. "To be assured of obtaining low prices for any imported Canadian electric energy, New England must move forward with developing additional pipeline capacity as soon as possible, and before entering into any electricity purchase agreements with Canadian suppliers."…



These are Maine teabaggers...government haters. The businesses and corporation that are sabotaging each other in order to create beneficial shortage and price spikes for themselves. These guys would screw the regular consumers in order to make just one more penny.

So I say screw the businesses...have the government on a emergency bases finance and build their over natural gas pipeline in NE. Build it twice as big or capacity as needed...build it with a eye on 30 years down the pike. Take land by imminent domain...bypass every inviromental laws known to man...

I went overboard a little...but minimize red tape on a huge level...put the environmental laws at a much lower priority...

Report: New England needs to add 2 billion cubic feet of natural gas pipeline

Details

Published Date Tuesday, 11 February 2014 00:04

Written by David Carkhuff

New England needs 2 billion cubic feet of new natural gas pipeline capacity to eliminate cost spikes and make New England competitive with the rest of the nation, according to a new consultant's study. 

The Industrial Energy Consumer Group, which represents some of the region's largest industrial facilities, commissioned a study, "Assessing Natural Gas Supply Options for New England and their Impacts on Natural Gas and Electricity Prices," from the energy consulting firm Competitive Energy Services to review the most recent data and "determine the true impact of high natural gas prices on New England," explained Anthony W. Buxton, attorney with Preti Flaherty of Maine and counsel to the Industrial Energy Consumer Group.

"This is a manmade crisis, truly, and we can fix it," Buxton said in an interview Monday.
The nonprofit New England States Committee on Electricity invited comment late last month on a proposal to expand natural gas capacity in the region.

"Announced in January, the NESCOE proposal requests the regional grid operator, ISO-NE, to socialize the cost of additional natural gas pipeline capacity and up to three electric transmission lines to increase the purchase of renewable energy," Buxton explained in a memo.

"As you are aware," Buxton wrote to the New England Gas-Electric Focus Group in this memo, "this winter (2013-2014) has provided frigid witness to the highest energy prices ever experienced by New England, prices routinely twice as high as those of last winter (2012-2013). The human and economic costs of these huge price increases have been staggering: on just one Friday in January, the total cost of electricity in New England measured by the energy clearing price was $100,000,000 (one hundred million dollars) more than what it otherwise would have been if New England experienced prices like the rest of the nation. The total 'above-market' energy costs to New England in 2014 will be in the billions of dollars."

Buxton went on to state that the crisis " is entirely man-made."

"In neighboring New York and Pennsylvania, merely 250 miles from Boston, a century's supply of natural gas is available at prices that are often less than $3.00 per million BTU, the equivalent of heating oil at a cost of 45 cents/gallon," he wrote. "But, because New England lacks adequate natural gas pipeline capacity, New England's natural gas prices in cold weather have risen routinely above $20.00 per million BTU and as high as $80 per million BTU. To make matters worse, these prices drive up the price of electricity astronomically for virtually all New England consumers. Electricity prices have routinely doubled this winter and have reached over $1.00 per kWh at times, twenty times the normal price. These prices have closed New England mills for weeks on end, strained home budgets and burdened New England's economy uniquely among regions of the nation."
Buxton said natural gas can save residential consumers as well.

The average Maine resident can save, after paying for the furnace, $1,500 a year by switching to gas from oil, he said.

On the commercial front, the natural gas problem affects Maine workers, Buxton said. A Waterville mill now requires shifts to call in to decide whether they can work depending on the supply of natural gas, Buxton said. A Gorham, N.H. paper mill only started up a couple of machines after being shut down due to similar energy-supply problems, he said.

"There are a lot of problems being caused by this all throughout New England," Buxton said. 

"It's pretty serious when you can't operate your electric grid or you're shutting down mills because they can't get natural gas," he said.

Unitil is seeking a rate increase, "and that's in significant part due to the price of gas in the marketplace," Buxton said.

"The high winter prices in New England suggest a natural gas delivery system that is stretched significantly," the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported.

"With rising natural gas output from the Marcellus production field, pipeline expansion to move this gas to New England is one option for alleviating market stress. ... Companies have proposed pipeline expansion, but getting the financial commitments to move forward has been difficult because the additional capacity may only be necessary for short periods during the year. Pipeline expansion may become more viable if baseload consumption of natural gas to generate electricity continues to increase," the agency noted (http://www.eia.gov/naturalgas/issuesandtrends/deliverysystem/2013).
Patrick Woodcock, director of the Governor's Energy Office, commenting on the natural gas capacity report, said, "Clearly capacity needs to be increased, and this winter is clearly illustrating that New England needs to move forward with basic infrastructure in order to provide stable and affordable energy for residences and business customers."

In December, New England's governors signed an agreement for a Regional Energy Infrastructure Initiative. They included Governors Dannel P. Malloy, Connecticut; Paul LePage, Maine; Deval L. Patrick, Massachusetts; Margaret Wood Hassan, New Hampshire; Lincoln D. Chafee, Rhode Island; and Peter Shumlin, Vermont.

"This initiative will accelerate regional cooperation on expanding renewable energy and energy infrastructure in New England. ..." the governors announced at the time.

"The agreement calls attention to the fact that the region's electric and natural gas systems have become 'increasingly interdependent,' creating a need for cooperative investments in energy efficiency, new and existing renewable generation, natural gas pipelines, and electric transmission," the governors announced.

"New England's energy costs are not competitive," LePage said at the time. "Our high energy prices drain family budgets and are a significant barrier to attracting business investment, especially in energy-intensive industries. At the same time, we are geographically positioned to take advantage of competitively priced natural gas and hydropower resources if we collectively invest in key infrastructure. This energy infrastructure initiative can bring these world-class resources to start powering New England industry and start saving money for families across our states."
 

In response to the plan, the Conservation Law Foundation questioned whether the approach — "electric tariff changes to build transmission to facilitate new wind and hydropower, and increase natural gas pipeline capacity by nearly 20 percent in three years" — would "achieve the states' legally mandated climate policies."

"This agreement raises concerns over whether the proposed upgrades would be consistent with the rapidly changing grid and states' climate laws and policies," said N. Jonathan Peress, VP and Director, Clean Energy and Climate Change for the foundation. "In particular there is a very real risk that the states will overbuild natural gas infrastructure that would ultimately not comply with these laws, increase our overreliance on natural gas, and potentially leave the public holding the bag for a bad bet."

Buxton said renewable energy should be a part of the region's energy mix, but he said natural gas can't be discounted.

"New England has historically been terribly burdened by oil, the cost of oil, the pollution of oil," as well as the foreign policy complications of acquiring oil from overseas, Buxton said. Natural gas provides an answer, he said.

"We need to complete that transition as we also move to renewables," he said.

Palisades New CRDM Cracks Notes

Get you wondering, they got radiation reports throughout this area...all they got to do is look it up. It sounds like something changed...why is the doses higher?

Those eight rods and expsecaially the center rods...they are taking about it costing Palisades 100 Rem. You you go by the below we are talking about 900 rem for the center rod job? The rods they are not doing this outage...these guys got a lot of radiation.

Why does it take the NRc so long to do a inspection on things like this and write up a inspection report?

Remember BWR Pilgrim's crud burst...course Palisades is a PWR?

New inspection report 05000255/2013005

Introduction: The inspectors identified a URI concerning the collective dose received by workers repairing the CRD-24 housing during the August 2012 forced outage.

Description: During the August 2012 forced outage, numerous work tasks were performed, including repairs of the CRD-24 housing. The initial dose estimate for this work as reflected on the Radiation Work Permit (RWP) was 2.950 Rem. The actual dose expended was 26.563 Rem. The data provided by the licensee at the time of the onsite inspection was not sufficient for the inspectors to complete their regulatory review of the collective dose received during this work activity. The licensee provided additional data to the NRC on January 7, 2014, that will be used to determine whether the dose received was within the licensee’s ability to control.

Why the secrecy with talking about source terms and plant wide radiation level trends?

The inspectors used licensee records to determine the historical trends and current status of significant tracked plant source terms known to contribute to elevated facility aggregate exposure. The inspectors assessed whether the licensee had made allowances or developed contingency plans for expected changes in the source term as the result of plant fuel performance issues or changes in plant primary chemistry

Why such a high change...a factor of five. Five times the normal rates. Christ, that wouldn't pick up a metldown. I am just saying public reporting with events at these plants are all keyed into protecting the bad actors...protecting the industry.  

The inspectors reviewed all significant changes in reported dose values compared to the previous radiological effluent release report (e.g., a factor of five, or increases that approached Appendix I criteria) to evaluate the factors which may have resulted in the change.

Recovery from the red grade:

However, the inspectors noted continued issues with regard to the planning and execution of routine scheduled maintenance. There were many instances where schedule conflicts, parts issues, or work instruction adequacy caused delays in the execution of work and schedule perturbations. Many of the issues could have been resolved as part of the formalized planning process in the weeks prior to work execution. The inspectors did note; however, that when conflicts or questions arose, work was put on hold and appropriately assessed by the license before moving forward.

 

 

 

.

 

 

 

Entergy Systematically Destroying Nuclear Plants through a Run-to-Failure Philosophy

Seems to be a lot of equipment problems here with Entergy?

March 12, 2013: FitzPatrick-EntergyNot Financially Qualified 2.206

Right out of a new FitzPatrick's inspection report. How widespread is this? Is Entergy run-to-failure their own employees. This sounds like the nuclear professional class fleeing Entergy..they see the writting on the wall. It just might not be about the fear of a closure...they might be worrying about losing their professional credentials and going to jail.   

.2 Inspection Procedure 92723 Follow-up Inspection for Three or More Severity Level IV

Traditional Enforcement Violations in the Same Area in a 12-Month Period documented in NRC Inspection Report 05000333/2013002. These three violations occurred within the same traditional enforcement area of impeding the regulatory process. Entergy’s evaluation was a collective review of a total of six traditional enforcement violations, which included three violations documented in 05000333/2013002 and three earlier traditional enforcement violations that occurred in 2011 and early 2012. All six violations were within the same traditional enforcement area of impeding the regulatory process.

Inspection Scope: On December 13, 2013, inspectors completed an in-office review of Entergy’s evaluation (CR-JAF-2013-02388) of three SL IV traditional enforcement violations, which were documented in NRC Inspection Report 05000333/2013002. These three violations occurred within the same traditional enforcement area of impeding the regulatory process. Entergy’s evaluation was a collective review of a total of six traditional enforcement violations, which included three violations documented in 05000333/2013002 and three earlier traditional enforcement violations that occurred in 2011 and early 2012. All six violations were Entergy’s evaluation identifies the apparent cause as being associated with inadequate management skills associated with the oversight of the Licensing department. Specifically, a site manager with considerable plant operations documented in NRC Inspection Report 05000333/2013002. These three violations occurred within the same traditional enforcement area of impeding the regulatory process. Entergy’s evaluation was a collective review of a total of six traditional enforcement violations, which included three violations documented in 05000333/2013002 and three earlier traditional enforcement violations that occurred in 2011 and early 2012. All six violations were within the same traditional enforcement area of impeding the regulatory process.

It is the bum laws and regulation causing this!

The behavior of Entergy is like the "loud music" murder case against Michael Dunning (and George Zimmerman)...the teabagger politicians who wrote laws in the books that are contrary to our common good. Of course, the good people sat back and let it happen. I am convinced Entergy could do a lot of damage to our nation with this destructive short term philosophy with running their nuclear fleet to ground...but it is perfectly legal. It is the nature of the wording in the laws that lets them get away with murder!  

In a brand new Pilgrim NRC inspection report below. Palisades is now replacing again the the CRDMs they destroyed. The CRDMs replacement are basically the same form as the repeated maintenance incompetence shut downs and start-ups, as with the safety injection refueling water tank in the past. Remember these tanks were never built as designed. They were defective from day one and lead to the repeated leaks. Ignore the word safety in "safety injection refueling water tank" as the NRC thinks it is not a safety system because of its leaks! Pilgrim over their excess shutdowns severely discharge radioactivity all over their plant...outside primary containment from crud burst. This isn't a plant issue, it is a fleet wide problem...this is a national problem throughout many other plants and fleets outside Entergy.

This is the greatest crisis in our nationwide fleet...all nuclear plants in the USA... we ever faced in the history of nuclear power.

The following observations have been noted by the inspectors: SRV performance was a driver for several down powers and forced outages in 2012 and into 2013; a number of unplanned down powers and shutdowns were the result of non-safety-related equipment failures; it appears that nonsafety-related equipment that was characterized as a run-to-failure is starting to reach the end of their service life and can likely become contributors to such events.

Feb 16: Let talk about 2013 with Arkansas Nuclear One....a year in the life of ANO.  What does a plant look like in a run-to-failure mode with two plant site.

March begins with unit 1 going into refueling. On March 31 they drop a 600 ton stator. It kills one, seriously injures 4, another 4 aren’t so seriously injured.  It tripped off unit 2 for about a month. All this death, injury and destruction was caused by Entergy not following their own procedures, not testing safety equipment (crane) and a undersized crane. Basically run-to failure or insufficient budgets to get a job properly done.

OHSA "This tragedy could have been prevented had the employer ensured vital safeguards to protect workers from potential hazards and proper planning for a project of this magnitude," said Carlos Reynolds, OSHA's area director in Little Rock. "OSHA will hold the employers accountable for not meeting their workplace safety and health responsibilities."

They restart Unit 2 on April 27. It goes well. This plant has been dead for a month.

Below is a dangerous sign of a sloppy nuclear plant and gross incompetence. Short term budgeting overrides long term profits! This is so unprofessional

(This is what incompetence looks like. A good plant typically breezes through a start-up with any issues and restarts)

• Aug 7 1% ANO attempts a restart on unit 1. This guy has been dead for about four months.
• Aug 8 18% increasing power.
• Aug 9 56% MFP trouble shooting.
• Aug 10  83% Increasing

• Aug 11 77% The start-up is being held up because secondary maintenance issues...something broke.

• Aug 12 87% Sart-up now being held up for a heat balance (wink wink).

• Aug 13 87% It’s still the heat balance thing.

• Aug 14 87%  Holding power for the heat balance. Oops, now shutting down.  

• Aug 15 0%  It is called feedwater sodium excursion.

• Aug 16 0% Now called a sodium exclusion.

• Aug 17 12% Gen synced and back at 100%
• Aug 18 86% Increasing
• Aug 19 100%

Is the above normal...it took them more than a week and a shutdown...

I am saying Entergy though nuclear budget issues are damaging or wearing out components. They are knowingly letting the plant run-to-failure. Examples are ANO, Palisades and Pilgrim! Non safety systems failures are power downing, tripping or shutting down the plant. The magnitude of the repeated power excursions are then damaging the nuclear safety systems.

You see what I am talking about, the NRC in their status report frames it as a transformer explosion while in Entergy’s LER they never mention the explosion. You can count on Entergy always sterilizing their language!   

ANO's LER to the NRC 

Event Cause: Based on the physical evidence available, the initial fault is suspected to have occurred at the ‘C’ phase 6900V flexible link on the 2X-02 6900V non-segregated bus, which propagated to the associated ‘C’ phase bus. Damage from the explosion led to phase-to-phase and phase-toground faults on the 6900V and 4160V buses. Based on observations of the 2X-02 ‘A’ and ‘B’ phase flexible links at this location, there was evidence of corona exposure on the tapping around the bolted connections, moisture and corrosion on the copper flexible links, and no vendor recommended putty on the bolt heads. Without the putty, partial discharge (corona) occurred which degraded the tape insulation.The flexible links and insulation have been installed in this configuration since at least 1979. In addition, the duct design air gap in the flex link area had a marginal air gap as compared to applicable electrical codes that combined with the lack of putty lowered margin for fault protection.

2X-02 is protected by various protective relays including high speed phase differential relays to actuate the main generator lockout relays for isolation of the transformer and the associated fault. Upon fault detection, these relays are designed to initiate prompt actuation of the main generator lockout relays that open the main generator output breakers, exciter field breaker, and associated 4160V and 6900V bus breakers. Although the relays did actuate during this event as evidenced by the instantaneous element target flags, subsequent inspections identified the output contact for the 2X-02 differential relays were not terminated. Failure of the relays to clear the fault allowed 2X-02 to source the fault for approximately 4 to 5 seconds prior to its failure, which exceeds the typical maximum through-fault current rating of 2 seconds for this class of transformer. (explosion)

You see what I am talking about, the NRC in their status report frames it as a transformer explosion while in Entergy’s LER they never mention the explosion. You can count on Entergy to always sterilizing their language!

(This below is what incompetence looks like again.)

0n Dec 9, 2013 in Unit 2 their aux transformer has an electrical explosion and fire. It is interesting; I guess the NRC feels sorry for these guys because they have yet to covered this event in any meaningful way. The plant tripped.

• Dec 20, 2013 forced outage...transformer repair.
• Dec 21 Just zero power. Out of the forced outage
• Dec 22 Now back to a force outage, transformer will remain broken till the next refueling outage.
• Dec 23 Steam line vent repair
• Dec 24 Another heat up in progress. Reactor startup right around the corner.
• Dec 25 Oh shit, cooled back down for MSIV issues
• Dec 26 MSIV Issue
• Dec 27 MSIV
• Dec 28 MSIV
• Dec 29 MSIV
• Dec 30 MSIV
• Dec 31 MSIV
• Jan 10 Completed testing on MSIV
• Jan 11 chemistry hold 30% power
• Jan 12 95%
• Jan 13 100%

Basically a month shutdown.

ANO out of two plants, had one plant shut down for a 6 months in 2013. A thumb rule is 2 million dollars a day cost for a down plant. Maybe $300 million for replacement power? These down plants were totally preventable...this isn’t a competent staff! It is putting profits and the stockholders above the community! 

When is Entergy cutting their dividend like Exelon and FirstEnergy?  

Reposted from 2/11/14

My take on this. For the last twenty years at many of these multi nuclear plant utilities, these nuclear plants have been the low cost producer and they have been the golden goose for the parent company. At points, the nuclear assets have carried the whole utility and they directly supported the stock price. They should have diverted some excess profits from the nukes into updating their plant...they should have put aside a rainy day fund for the nukes for when the market made a turning point to get them passed the stress.

These guys don’t deserve any bailouts or any sympathy!   

SUBJECT: PILGRIM NUCLEAR POWER STATION – NRC INTEGRATED INSPECTION 

REPORT 05000293/201300 and 07201044/2013001

February 10, 2014

 Pg 25

(the regulator)"Equipment reliability issues resulting in plant transients have been identified as a continuing trend by the inspectors and Entergy. The following observations have been noted by the inspectors: SRV performance was a driver for several down powers and forced outages in 2012 and into 2013; a number of unplanned down powers and shutdowns were the result of non-safety-related equipment failures; it appears that nonsafety-related equipment that was characterized as a run-to-failure is starting to reach the end of their service life and can likely become contributors to such events. These issues have directly led to six forced outages in 2013, and have contributed to Pilgrim crossing multiple performance indicator thresholds. Additionally, although two of the events which resulted in complicated scrams at Pilgrim in 2013 were the result of offsite initiators, these also represent opportunities for Pilgrim to further evaluate options to limit their vulnerability to, or to mitigate the consequences of, such events."

You could make the case these plants are intentionally not preparing plant evaluations...they are intentionally blinding their upper management to the results of this.

(*new) By the way, those SRVs that cost them so much money with reduced capacity factor. It is one of the most safety critical components in the reactor. They recently replaced obsolete SRVs with new ones. It is the brand new ones that repeatedly leaked and malfunctioned. They began leaking within months of new installation....with repeated shutdowns and downpowers throughout the operating cycle. We still don’t know why this happed and the report has been delayed from being released because their bureaucracy is overwealmed with paperwork. This goes way beyond only a run-to-failure philosophy with non-safety component.

Non-safety components consist of 99% of the components of a nuclear power plant...but their repeated failures on this scale can damage and degrade safety related components.

A hint of the scale with what we are talking about here....a nuclear power plant consists of many millions of components.

A relative small percentage of high worth “non-safety” components failure does result in damaging nuclear safety components and structures in a non-safety million component system!  Pilgrim and Palisades are a result of this!

The results of this business strategy is they are damaging plant reliability...ending in the damage cascading into degrading nuclear components and processes. The examples are ther recent ANO transformer explosion and dropped stator, the destruction the Palisades CRDMs and excessive shutdowns at Pilgrim plant, excessive radiation problems throughout inside the Pilgrim plant and now serous contamination in a well outside the building These issues all come from budgets taking a higher priority than plant reliability and safety.

So here is Entergy and Exelon at a Platts Energy conference talking about a unprecedented nuclear plant economic crisis. They are saying their nuclear plants are economical.

Nuclear giants urge market changes to thwart closures  

Hannah Northey, E&E reporter
Greenwire: Thursday, February 6, 2014  

　
The country's largest nuclear operators yesterday reiterated their calls for market changes to prevent a spate of reactor closures in markets that they say are becoming too reliant on subsidized renewables and cheap gas amid premature plant retirements.
Top executives from Entergy Corp. and Exelon Corp. -- the United States' biggest nuclear operators in competitive markets -- warned at a Platts energy conference in Washington, D.C., that electricity markets are rewarding the lowest-cost, near-term energy sources, namely cheap gas and subsidized wind. 

Being overlooked are merchant nuclear power plants that provide carbon-free base-load power, they said. 

"Regulators, policymakers really don't understand the consequences of some of their focus, which are well-intended; they want to do the right thing, move to renewable resources, reduce carbon output," said William Mohl, president of Entergy Wholesale Commodities, which operates about 5,000 megawatts of merchant nuclear power. "[But] we're really headed off a cliff if we don't see some changes in overall market design."

Think about this statement on a national level where a few bad nuclear plants can wipe out the profits across the whole fleet of nuclear plants. The west coast for years have had low wholesale electric rates. Can you believe this; "where losses have wiped out revenues at the company's other 19 nuclear facilities". These guys have been hacking and slashing at nuclear plant budgets for years. Generally when you hack away resources at a nuclear plant, you are intimidating the staffs of these nuclear plants.

Brown said Exelon is eyeing shaky finances at five of its merchant nuclear plants -- including Clinton, Quad Cities and other units not made public -- where losses have wiped out revenues at the company's other 19 nuclear facilities. Brown said those decisions will be based on movement with gas markets and what Congress decides to do with the production tax credits.

There it is right there out of the mouths of babes...investors and executive bonuses comes before plant reliability and nuclear safety.  By the way, the NE electric market prices have been skyrocketing since 2012.

"Frankly, what we're dealing with right now in some of these markets is they are insufficient to provide sustainability for investors -- and that's where you end up with a situation like Vermont Yankee," Mohl said. "And obviously, there are other units out there that are critical.

Basically, Entergy's one off plant in Michigan is deeply in with Exelon's territory...certainly their ISO. Palisades maintenance screw-ups and shutdowns has cost Entergy many tens of millions of dollars. If Entergy shuts down this plant it will be because they shot themselves in the foot for not putting enough money into this guys.

Chicago Business, February 6, 2014. "The clock is now ticking for Exelon Corp.'s Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear power plants. CEO Chris Crane said the company would have to decide by year-end on whether to shutter nuclear facilities that currently are losing money due to persistently low wholesale power prices. Analysts have identified the downstate Clinton plant and Quad Cities as the two in Illinois that fit this description. Exelon runs six nukes in Illinois."

Is Davis-Besse a Goner?

How can you trust these guys? Will they ever start-up again. These guys are in tremendous economic pressure from low electric prices and natural gas fracting...

So these big nuke fixes like a head job or steam generators are as likely to kill a plant as fix them?

Remember San Onofre and Crystal River?

These guys in the mid west are competing to cut their dividend. Exelon has recently and they are threatening to shutdown nuclear plants.

Are they really blackmailing the president?

FirstEnergy Corp. board slashes quarterly dividend by 34.5%

4:10 pm, January 21, 2014

Directors of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) have slashed by more than a third the quarterly cash dividend on its common stock as it also forecast lower operating earnings for all of 2014.The Akron-based electric company said it cut the dividend 34.5%, to a new rate of 36 cents a share from the rate of 55 cents a share that FirstEnergy has paid since 2008.The decreased dividend is payable March 1 to stockholders of record Feb. 7.

“This dividend change is expected to preserve a solid and sustainable payment for our shareholders,” FirstEnergy president and CEO Anthony J. Alexander said in a news release.

When will the stock holders going to get pissed by hoisting the head job and a steam generator job...now this?  FirstEntergy stock price is about $32 today...the last time they were at this price was back in George Bush's era of July 2001?

There stock price is acting like something big is up...

Freakin NRC region III sucks?

Davis-Besse had air gap in shield building

FirstEnergy found flaw while replacing 2 steam generators

Read more at http://www.toledoblade.com/Energy/2014/02/15/Davis-Besse-had-air-gap-in-shield-building.html#KWPjSToc0gWOBixH.99

OAK HARBOR, Ohio —Nobody knows why, but there apparently was a problem sealing up Davis-Besse nuclear power plant’s shield building after the plant’s worn-out reactor head was replaced in fall 2011.

FirstEnergy Corp. notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 11:14 a.m. Friday that the utility discovered an extensive air pocket or gap of concrete in the shield building's inner wall late Thursday night. The discovery was made while the nuclear plant was offline and in the early stages of a $600 million project to replace the plant’s two original steam generators — major pieces of equipment that create steam so the plant’s turbine generator can spin and, thus, make electricity.

After cutting a hole through the shield building to move the new generators in and take the old ones out, workers noticed a large void on the building’s inner wall.

The flaw runs the 25-foot length of a cut made in fall 2011 when the new reactor head was brought in and the old one was removed, said Jennifer Young, a spokesman for FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co.

The void varies in width from six to 12 inches. The depth of it is something less than the 2.5-foot thickness of that mostly concrete-and-steel structure, because there is no evidence of the flaw on the structure’s exterior, Ms. Young said.

“It’s probably an air pocket that got in there when the concrete was [last] poured,” Ms. Young said.

In its notification to the NRC — scheduled to be made public on the agency’s Web site (nrc.gov) on Tuesday — the utility characterized the structural defect as an “unfilled area”that “is likely due to not completely repouring the shield building wall opening in 2011.”

Ms. Mitlyng said she was not sure if NRC inspectors were on hand when the concrete was poured in 2011.

...Davis-Besse’s planned restart in fall 2011 was delayed until early 2012 because of cracks in the same structure.

FirstEnergy believes those are unrelated to the large void in concrete that was just discovered. Utility engineers previously attributed them to weather impacts from the Blizzard of ’78.

The NRC has no reason to believe they’re related...

Charles Dana Bridge: To My Lawyer

http://www.reformer.com/localnews/ci_23801494/bridge-protester-arrested-hinsdale


Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh bridges

February 11. 2014 10:02AM

Court tosses felony wiretap conviction in taping of Manchester police captain, high school officials

CONCORD – The New Hampshire Supreme Court threw out the felony wiretapping convictions of the founder of CopBlock.org, a group that claims it polices the police, saying the judge made a mistake in instructing the jury, an error serious enough the jury could have found Adam Mueller innocent.

Mueller, 31, formerly of Jackson, Wis., but now residing in Laconia, was convicted of secretly recording telephone conversations he had with a Manchester police captain, the Manchester West High School principal and her assistant in 2011 and spent three months in jail.

He was seeking their comments on a video he posted on YouTube that showed a confrontation between West High student Frank Harrington III, 17, and police detective Darren Murphy in the school's cafeteria. Harrington was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Murphy was recorded roughly pushing Harrington down onto a cafeteria table. A police department internal review concluded Murphy did not use excessive force.

Mueller, a Free Stater who goes by the name "Ademo Freeman," posted the telephone recordings online. Police learned of them when Mueller mentioned them on a local radio show and acknowledged he did not tell Capt. Jonathan Hopkins, then West High School principal Mary Ellen McGorry, or her assistant Denise Michael that he had recorded the conversations.

The Supreme Court, in its decision released Tuesday, said Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Kenneth C. Brown erred when he instructed the jury that a
 

...violation of the felony wiretapping statute requires a mental state of "purposely," when the statute specifically identifies "wilfully" as the applicable mental state...

Under state law, "wilful" means the defendant must act with an intentional or reckless disregard for the lawfulness of his conduct. In other words, the defendant has not violated the law if he has a "good faith" belief his conduct was lawful, according to the unanimous decision written by Justice Robert J. Lynn.

The court said the erroneous instruction likely affected the outcome of the proceedings and to allow the convictions to stand "would seriously affect the fairness and integrity of judicial proceedings."

Massive Radiation Accident Occurred At Pilgrim Nuke

So i am saying the crud burst that flooded a bunch of bottom level floors...this caused the well contamination outside the reactor and turbine building...


Here is the inspection report.

First crud burst: REPORT 05000293/2013002

This is going to be so costly...they are tremendously wasting maintenance funding and company resources. I can remember at VY doing rounds...I'd pop into the cleanup room without any protective clothes on. Then we had fuel failures and crud bursts. It would then take me a hour just to get dressed up and undress to do the same job. The radiation protection department would require it because the contamination was so high. Cycle that thought with the thousands of small and big jobs for a month, especially during future outages.

You get it, this seriously dilutes their resources from maintenance and operation of the plant into controlling contamination and radiation. It is a serious dilution of organizational resources! 

Massive Radiation Accident Occurred At Pilgrim Nuke

During the period January 1 through October 14, the plant has experienced several reactor scrams and forced outages. As a result of these scrams, crud bursts occurred that resulted in radioactive contamination being dislodged from reactor system piping and components and re-located elsewhere in these plant systems. This relocation has resulted in increased dose rates in the affected components and surrounding areas. The crud was transported to the CRD hydraulic control units, scram discharge instrument volume headers/ piping, reactor water cleanup system, reactor water sample sink, mitigation monitoring system, and the RHR system. 

Additionally, some of the scrams resulted from the loss of off-site power. With the loss of off-site power, sump pumps for plant areas became inoperable, resulting in the sumps overflowing and spreading contamination to floor areas.

I would just ask…these guys have been having excess shutdowns for many years. Why no report of crud burst in the past? They changed something else in the recent past, it created excessive crud…the recent hard plant trip just exposed this.

The crud can be extraordinarily radioactive...many 100's of gallons spilled onto the floor? That is how it got outside. You notice how they didn't explain the crud burst in their explanation of the 60 picocuries per liters out in the yard.  

Why wasn't the little sump pumps on the vital bus? One wonders how crapped up the torus has become? Was their other particles beside gamma?
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140118/NEWS/401180331

High tritium level seen at Pilgrim

January 18, 2014

PLYMOUTH — Concentrations of a radioactive isotope called tritium found in late December during groundwater monitoring at Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station were the highest detected since testing began at the plant in 2007.

Tritium levels at the 24 groundwater wells on the plant property generally range from undetectable to about 5,000 picocuries per liter, according to Joyce McMahon, spokeswoman for Entergy Corp., which owns and manages the plant. The drinking water maximum standard is 20,000 picocuries, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Tritium — a byproduct of the nuclear fission process — was found at 69,000 picocuries per liter in a sample taken from a well adjacent to a catch basin that collects and releases waste from the reactor into Cape Cod Bay.

Tritium levels at the 24 groundwater wells on the plant property generally range from undetectable to about 5,000 picocuries per liter, according to Joyce McMahon, spokeswoman for Entergy Corp., which owns and manages the plant. The drinking water maximum standard is 20,000 picocuries, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Last April, Entergy identified a separation of it neutralizing sump discharge line. The company theorized, at that time, that this line was the source of tritium groundwater contamination first identified years earlier at the site.

The new monitoring well is adjacent to the catch basin where the outfall from the sump discharge line was rerouted, which supports that theory.

After this latest spike in tritium, plant operators stopped using a line that runs from a holding tank for the radioactive waste to a catch basin adjacent to the reactor.

These guys below exactly mean what they say. Now if they said the crud resulted in increase in contamination (radiation) levels...this would be a rather small level of radiation. Talking about crud getting deposited outside the containment causing increased dose rates...that is talking about a tremendous increase in crud contamination levels. Dose and contamination rates are two different things!

This relocation has resulted in increased dose rates in the affected components and surrounding areas. The crud was transported to the CRD hydraulic control units, scram discharge instrument volume headers/ piping, reactor water cleanup system, reactor water sample sink, mitigation monitoring system, and the RHR system.

 

 

NRC Answers My Questions on the New Palisades CRDM Cracks

Moderator February 10, 2014 at 4:05 pm

To clarify our previous answer, the NRC did a confirmatory analysis, to verify that under the different potential growth scenarios, the flaws would still not grow fast enough to cause through wall leaks prior to the present inspection.Elba Sanchez Santiago

My response to the above:

Come on, in the 2012/20013 assumption this outage is you would test 25% of the CRDM and find no cracks. Then test 25% thereafter. It is the normal condition that a plant finds no cracks on their CRDM throughout the life of the plant. 

So far you found 17 CRDM having cracks …that is 37% of the rods. You usually find lots more cracks after the all the is results come in. You we can’t trust the agency to anticipate this blossoming level of degradation…how can we trust the agency to anticipate a leak. How come the agency didn’t see this coming? You know there is a astonishing number of violations going back years with the CRDMs and quality. The 2012 leak violations was just a repeat of the 2001...and 2001 was a violations repeat of other prior incidences.

Just saying, why wasn’t the state of the art with metallurgy able to predict in 2012 that Palisades would find “at least” 37% of their CRDMs had cracks in them. Believe me, based on all the past reports I read on this, you won’t disclose the full numbers of cracks in the CRDMs (more than one in a CRDM)

Why can’t these  Palisades PhD metallurgist predict future flaws and cracks, instead of justifying past flaws? 

It is illegal to start-up and operate if they had evidence that CRDM unidentified leakage was increasing…they assumed they didn’t have leaking CRDM because they didn’t have full vision of the CRDM. They did not have perfect evidence that the unidentified leakage wasn’t a CRDM leak.  

Lets remember the incomplete information accident in the Davis Besse head event. The licensee and the NRC assumed the CDRM flanges were leaking when it was a crack through the CRDM nozzle and eating the head. Who in a new and different accident are talking about “refusing to communicate uncertainty“? 

For decades there is a widespread mindset in these organizations that piping cracks and flaws don’t lead to leaks. That is what is behind this. 

You get it, these CRDM leaks at Palisades tend to show up within months of a start-up and the leak worsens quickly. I’ll bet you both leaks (2001 and 2012) actually started before start-up. Palisades has a pattern of calling a prohibited CRDM leaks not a leak….cold bodily waiting to till the CRDM leak gets to a .3 GPM unidentified leakage or more according in their procedures. They have a requirement not to operated with pressure boundary leaks and they chose to ignore the rules! 

I am just saying next operating cycle, how can you trust these guys to follow the rules? How can you trust these guys with a pattern of behavior like this...when these guys having abnormal or increasing unidentified leaking, when they don’t have absolute proof a pressure boundary “is not leaking“…how can you trust them to do the right thing with incomplete information.

Honestly, how can you trust these guys to meet the commitment they won’t operate with pressure boundary leakage ever again? 

How can we trust the agency to make sure a plant like Palisades is keying on accurate, up to date and real time information about pressure boundary leaks? When Palisades and the agency are knowingly keying off incomplete information…they should act “super” conservatively.  

Next operating cycle will they immediately shutdown the plant when a CRDM begins to leak like regulation requires? Will it take the weeks and months to shutdown the plant over leaking CRDMs like in the two times in the past? In the leaks in 2001 and 2012 Palisades did that. That is a pattern.

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

NRC Answers My Questions on New Palisades CRDM Cracks
 3 Comments Posted by Moderator on February 6, 2014
Elba Sanchez Santiago

Materials Engineering Inspector

NRC Region III
Elba Sanchez Santiago is a
Materials Engineering Inspector in the
NRC’s Region III.

There has been a lot of interest lately in the flaws that were recently found in the control rod drive mechanism (CRDM) housings at the Palisades nuclear plant, near South Haven, Mich. I want to share my direct experience with the NRC’s thorough and independent evaluation of this issue.
First, some background. The control rod drive mechanism moves control rods inside the reactor to control the level of nuclear chain reaction. The housing is a metal tube around the control rod drive mechanism, which is connected to the control rod and prevents leakage of reactor water into containment.
According to a commitment made in 2012, the plant conducted inspections of 45 CRDM housings in this reactor and found flaws in 17 of them. Palisades committed to these inspections after the discovery of a crack in one of the housings resulted in a plant shutdown in 2012.
Because of my expertise as a materials engineering inspector, I was dispatched to Palisades after it shut down in 2012. I was to evaluate the plant’s response to the discovery of the through-wall crack. As a member of a special inspection team that further evaluated this issue, I reviewed the plant’s testing of eight additional CRDM housings and their corrective actions. Even though no other cracks were found, the plant committed to further evaluate the condition of the housings during the 2014 refueling outage.
I came to Palisades before the current outage started to evaluate the site’s inspection methodology, work procedures, tooling and personnel qualifications. When the examinations started, I observed some of the actual testing and evaluated the results. To date, there is no evidence of leakage resulting from the flaws. I will remain onsite providing oversight over the plant’s actions until the issue is resolved.
Since the issue first came to light in 2012, I have been working with a team of other inspectors and specialists in Region III and the headquarters office in Rockville, Md., to make sure we ask the necessary questions to understand the plant’s methodology and assessments, and independently verify the conclusions.
Our in-depth independent reviews will continue until the plant completes the necessary repairs and takes proper actions to make sure the CRDM housing flaws do not lead to a significant safety concern. The results of our inspections will be documented in a publicly available inspection report.

Mike Mulligan February 6, 2014 at 5:27 pm

So Palisades destroyed their CRDMs through or a result of all the recent startups and shutdown? 

Is the Pressurizer weld flaw today connected to all the CRDM cracks? 

Does the NRC really think those pristine inspected rods without flaw in 2012 really didn’t have flaws…when two of them were discovered with cracks this outage? 

And the industry says the incubation period for developing a crack is over ten years? 

These vulnerable eight CRDMs not replaced this outage…is anyone thinking about the loss of NRC and industry credibility if any of them come up with cracks or leaks within the next operating period…maybe something worst?

ModeratorFebruary 7, 2014 at 4:21 pm

In response to your questions:

Q. So Palisades destroyed their CRDMs through or a result of all the recent startups and shutdown?

A. There are various factors that have been determined to impact the initiation and propagation of flaws in the CRDM Housings: susceptible material, stresses in the weld, and the environment inside the housing. We will be evaluating if the startups and shutdowns could have additional impact on these flaws during the current inspection.

Q. Is the Pressurizer weld flaw today connected the all the CRDM cracks?

A. The pressurizer weld flaw is not related to the flaws identified in the CRDM housings. These components are made of different materials, have different configurations, are exposed to different environments, and the flaws themselves differ as well.

Q. Does the NRC really think those pristine inspected rods without flaw in 2012 really didn’t have flaws…when two of them were discovered with cracks this outage?
And the industry says the incubation period for developing a crack is over ten years?

A. It is possible that the cracks in these housing were present in 2012 but were too small to be identified by the inspection techniques used. However, the NRC and the licensee performed an analysis which concluded that if additional cracks existed at the time but were too small to identify, they would not grow fast enough to cause through- wall leaks prior to the present inspection. However, we are looking at this again during our current inspection.

Q.These vulnerable eight CRDMs not replaced this outage…is anyone thinking about the loss of NRC and industry credibility if any of them come up with cracks or leaks within the next operating period…maybe something worst.

A.The licensee is replacing CRDM housings with a newer design that eliminates the problem weld. If the licensee leaves any of the older style CRDM housings in place, they will need to perform additional testing and analysis to support that decision, and we will inspect those activities to ensure they are performed correctly and the conclusions reached are technically sound and well supported.

Elba Sanchez Santiago