Salem 2 Going Wild On Us...

Unbelievable: coolant loop loss of coolant accident isn't safety related.

Although federal officials have said that the problem does not affect key safety systems and is not publicly reportable, they also said it could lead to pump failures and breaks that would contaminate the reactor containment building.

 June 22:

Nuke plant pump repairs sap PSEG earnings

 PSEG’s Salem Unit 2 continued to sit out an ordinarily lucrative run of hot weather last week as the company worked to recover from dozens of critical bolt failures in four key reactor coolant pumps. 

Although PSEG has declined to discuss the problem, federal regulators said bolts holding water-moving impellers were found to have broken or sheared off in all four of the 30-foot high pumps in Unit 2. The pumps return cooling water to the reactor core after the coolant passes through heat transfer units that make steam for turbine generators. 

Company officials broadly confirmed a problem in mid-May when they reported a delay in restarting the plant from a refueling that began in mid-April. 

According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, some of the broken bolts wound up in the bottom of the reactor core itself or in plant piping. Part of one damaged pump just above the impeller was believed to have dropped and slightly touched the spinning impeller which can rotate thousands of times a minute. 

“As we get into a period of higher demand, the potential financial impact increases,” said Paul Patterson, a financial analyst who follows the industry for New York-based Glenrock Associates. “The sooner they get it back, the better.” 

NRC officials said PSEG had to remove all four pumps and send them off-site for work. Although federal officials have said that the problem does not affect key safety systems and is not publicly reportable, they also said it could lead to pump failures and breaks that would contaminate the reactor containment building. 

“At this point, we are not commenting further on the bolting issue until the unit returns” to service, said PSEG Nuclear spokesman Joe Delmar. Interim reports on progress or potential restart schedules, he said, could affect power markets and pricing. 

Patterson said that the relatively low costs for nuclear plant fuel and day-to-day operations gives it an advantage during high-demand periods, when prices are high. A quick comeback is uncertain, however. 

“It’s not just a simple situation where you fix the problem,” Patterson said. “It’s a highly regulated facility, as are all nuclear plant. The NRC is obviously going to want to see that the situation is fixed, and they also want to see what caused it. That takes some time.” 

Unit 2 is one of three reactors at the Salem/Hope Creek nuclear complex in New Jersey, on Artificial Island along the Delaware River southeast of Port Penn.

June 10: Salem 2 PCP potential event

(fixed this up a bit on 6/11)You notice the pump seizure with a bolt is an issue with Salem and threatening fuel damage, while a 5 by 12 inch impeller blade, with the lost blade being an inch thick, is not analysed as pump seizure stoppage accident at Palisades. The disparity between these two plant's accident analysis are shocking.

Fuel assembly:

So a fourth of the water flow in the core quickly stops...hot spot and areas where there is higher local power levers begin to quickly heat up. May be one fuel pin burst open, may be 10 pins burst open, may be a whole fuel assembly's pins burst open... You could consider any fuel pellet coming in contact with coolant water as super moderated and being able to quickly generate a lot more power and heat than normal at normal power operations. If don’t think it would take a lot of fuel pellets to put out so much power and heat only steam and water vapor would remain in the assembly. So that would cause addition pins to pop. Say the majority of pins popped in a assembly, the pins would be scrambled in the assembly, the fuel pellets would congregate at the bottom of the assembly and clog up the flow. Does those broken fuel pellets at the bottom of the assembly end with in a local "steam explosion", then bend and damage the assembly through the tremendous heat and power being produced there? Is there enough energy in the steam and vapor to seriously damage the neighbor assembly? It is the beginning of a cascaded where pins in another neighbor assembly start to pop and damage the assemble, then another, then another. In this process we might not have scrammed yet.

 How the assemblies are nestled together:

May be one, two or three assemblies get destroyed, maybe a rod can’t get all the way in the core...but the nuclear reaction stop. diverse cooling to the core is never threatened. What emergency classification would you be in? It would telegraph to outsider how serous the accident is. There is going to be a tremendous amount of freed radioactivity in the core if just one assemble gets destroy...lots if only one or two pins are destroyed. It is going to be a nasty cleanup of the core and it would be questionable if it is worth the price of a cleanup. But there would be little off plant release of radiation.

How do you think the outsiders would portray this? The antinukes would say there was a core meltdown. The NRC and plant would say they were always safe. This is just normal and expected. The UFSAR and plant licencing allows this. Can you imagine the media and political debate out of this?

Thanks NEI. Fuel pins or rods:

 

See, basically risk perspective only protects us from a severe core melt...this was mostly a small partial core meltdown with diverse core cooling always available. That is what they mean when they say its safe...safe mean less than severe core meltdown and it wouldn’t happen very often. I saying the political and public fallout would be severe, industry threatening...but it is all really a small partial meltdown. See how the nuclear industry doesn’t protect themselves from such a close near death experience and risk traumatizing a significant segment of our population. One, two, or three destroyed assemblies would be defined a safe and acceptable...but the outsiders would think you are bsing them on a meltdown and loss of another plant.

This just gets worst and worst...I bet the NRC is getting nervous why I called them.

Broken bolts found in all of PSEG Nuclear's Salem 2 reactor cooling pumps

LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK TWP. — PSEG Nuclear has now found broken-off bolt pieces inside all four of the huge pumps which help cool the nuclear reactor at its Salem 2 plant, officials said.

Nonsense ...The NRC says broken off bolts and nuts in all pumps are completely safe and the inspection was completely unnecessary, as the 50 or whatever bolts and nuts rattling around in the coolant and core was always safe. Idiots, what why did you even look...

Errant bolt heads have been found in the bottom of the reactor coolant pumps and even at the bottom of the reactor core itself, settled under the nuclear fuel rods. 

And some of the bolt heads that have broken off have not yet been accounted for, federal regulators confirmed Tuesday.

Dummies, what did you even count the discovered bolts...the NRC per Palisades precedence says missing and broken parts in the core and coolant are and will be completely safe.

The bolts secure parts known as turning vanes on the inside of the pump. The vanes direct water out of the pump into the reactor where it circulates to cool the core.
Salem 2 has been shut down since April 12 when a rescheduled refueling outage began. During routine inspections, workers found all 20 of the bolts that hold turning vanes in place inside one of the four pumps had failed.
This discovery prompted plant officials to then inspect the three other pumps used to cool the reactor.
In two of the other pumps all of the bolts were found to have failed and broken off. In the fourth pump, nine of the bolts had severed heads, six were intact and the others showed signs of decay, according to Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"We now have a comprehensive picture what is going on inside of all of the pumps," Sheehan said Tuesday.
Some of the new information came to light in a "Voluntary Notification For An Item of Regulatory Interest" the utility filed with the NRC this week.
In that notice, the utility said in at least one instance the failure of the bolts allowed the turning vane assembly to drop inside the pump. Inspections showed there was "evidence of slight contact" between the turning vane and the impeller — which pulls in and pushes out water — at the bottom of the pump.
But the utility said in the notice there was no danger.
"Salem Unit 2 has had no indications to date of adverse operating conditions of any RCPs (reactor coolant pumps) due to turning vane assembly detachment which would compromise plant safety."
The reactor coolant pumps, which stand about 30 feet tall, were removed from the plant site at Artificial Island, to be taken apart and inspected.
The stainless steel bolts holding the turning vane assemblies in place are about four inches long and an inch wide.
The broken bolts are being blamed on the stress-corrrosion-cracking process, a phenomenon seen in both nuclear power plants and in other industrial plants, Sheehan

Stress-corrrosion-cracking process is a cover-up...the happy ever after story. Use you dam brain, why didn't they have this problem 20 years ago with the same chemical environment. What didn't they have bolts falling out and cracking 20 years ISCC. It is preposterous they would all crack simultaneously. A few will crack, then sear...then fall out. That is how you would see it.

said.
The pumps are designed by Westinghouse and there are only 10 of this specific model in question in the world — four at the Salem 2 reactor and six at the Surry Power Station in Surry, Va., which has two nuclear reactors, Sheehan said. While the neighboring Salem 1 reactor is often referred to as Salem 2's twin, Salem 1 pumps have a different bolting configuration.
PSEG Nuclear officials had little further additional comment on the new findings.
"We are proceeding with the removal and repairs as needed for the reactor coolant pumps," said Joe Delmar, a utility spokesman, Tuesday.
Sheehan says agency personnel are closely watching the inspection findings.
"NRC experts are continuing to review this issue, with a focus on PSEG's work to fully understand the extent of the condition and any plans for repairing the pumps prior to the plant being restored to service," Sheehan said.
Sheehan said one of the main concerns was having the loose bolt heads damage or stop the impellers.

I warned the NRC about this, stopping the flow question fuel integrity...

Also, Sheehan said, there could be the possibility of the impeller, moving at such a high rate of speed, striking and disintegrating part of a loose turning vane and sending tiny pieces of metal circulating throughout the reactor cooling system.
Delmar said there is no estimate of when Salem 2 might be ready to go back into service.
Salem 2 is one of three nuclear reactors operated by PSEG Nuclear at its Artificial Island generating site.
The other two — Salem 1 and Hope Creek — remained operating at full power on Tuesday, Delmar said. 

Or it will turn into the convenience of the NRC...they don't have enough resources to do two special inspections in region 1 simultaneously.

Bolt failure found in 3 Salem reactor pumps

Submitted by NUCBIZ on June 10, 2014 - 13:46

PSEG Nuclear workers have found there is a complete failure of all bolts securing water-pushing impellers in three of four Salem Unit 2 reactor coolant pumps, with investigations continuing inside the last unit.
The findings, released Monday, emerged after the discovery of broken parts in one of the big, water-moving units forced the company to delay a post-refueling restart last month.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said Monday all retaining bolts were found to be "sheared or failed" in three of four 30-foot-tall reactor coolant pumps in Salem 2 in New Jersey. The pumps force water back into the reactor core after it circulates through systems that make non-radioactive, pressurized steam used to turn generators.
The 1,158-megawatt Unit 2 went offline and began a refueling outage April 13, with the shutdown extended when broken bolt-heads were found on eight of 20 fasteners that secure a bladed "turning vane" part inside one of the pumps. Subsequent examinations found all 20 bolts to be "sheared or failed" in three of the four pumps, which had to be shipped off-site for examination.
"Because the pumps are part of the reactor coolant system, they are part of a barrier against release of radioactive water, though that water would be captured inside the reactor containment building during an accident," said Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the NRC's regional office in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.
In a limited report on the investigation, PSEG disclosed that investigators found a "detachment and dropping" of a part in a coolant pump, with "slight contact" between the impeller, or blade-like unit that pushes cooling water, and another part that diffuses the pressurized flow.
Joe Delmar, PSEG Nuclear spokesman, said Monday the company is not going to comment any further than what was mentioned in what the company labeled as a "Voluntary Notification for an Item of Regulatory Interest."
"We continue with the repair plan of the reactor coolant pumps," Delmar said in a written statement.
Salem Unit 2 is one of three reactors at PSEG Nuclear's Artificial Island, New Jersey, complex, along the Delaware River southeast of Port Penn and east of Odessa.
Company officials reported that Salem 2 has had "no indications to date of adverse operating conditions" due to detachment of the turning vanes. Salem Unit 1, a near-twin to Unit 2, has the same model pumps with a different bolting scheme.
PSEG and NRC officials have said that stress corrosion – a kind of failure that occurs in some types of metals exposed to particular types of stress, temperature and corrosive conditions – appears to be a likely cause for the bolt failures.
"NRC experts are continuing to review the issue, with a focus on PSEG's work to fully understand the extent of the condition and any plans for repairing the pumps prior to the plant being restored to service," Sheehan said.
Sheehan said later that: "We do not have a hold on at this time that would prevent the unit from being returned to service. However, we would expect that the company would fully understand the issue and effectively repair all of the pumps prior to restart."

I am on the other side of the table than Dave on this. Does't seem much bothers Dave these days? (June 11: Is Dave playing cool because he is in the running for being nomimated for a NRC commisioner position.)

David Lochbaum, a nuclear power engineer and specialist for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said Monday that the pumps play a part in plant cooling but are not considered part of the plant's safety system. Loss of bolts could become a safety problem if turbine blades, which spin at thousands of revolutions per minute, or other parts broke loose and penetrated the pump housing or moved into other parts of the cooling system.

 Drives me crazy:  "said Monday that the pumps play a part in plant cooling but are not considered part of the plant's safety system".

"It sounds like they caught it early enough," Lochbaum said, noting that severe problems would likely have created vibrations or wobbling that would have been detected by plant sensors.

Me
Mr Hughey,
 

To RidsNrrPMSalem.Resource@nrc.gov

Today at 7:36 PM

Mr Hughey,

I talked to your nice senior resident inspector today about the unit 2 PCP troubles.I believe it is the second time since extending the shutdown. I noted to him about Palisades PCP troubles...cavitation, impeller circulation damage, inadequate NPSH and high pump flow outside plant licensing. I forgot to ask these to him. Are Salem's PCP parameters allowed to operate outside their UFSAR (during su). See Palisades most recent IR.
 

Did any Salem plant PCP impeller blades or anywhere in the pump casing ever have cavitation, pressure pulsing or recirculation (pitting) damage or problems? So that would be impeller blade cracking, lost or detached impeller blades or any kind of cavitation damage. That would be a great question nationwide...certainly the other Salem plant also.
 

I asked him to pass this up to his management.
 

1) I request a special inspection on Unit two and one...

2) Immediately on a emergency bases, shutdown plants with identical or similar pumps, inspect all PCP impellers. Generic implication!

sincerely,
 

Mike Mulligan

Hinsdale, NH

16033368320

Republished from 5/12

Absolute failure of the NRC to make a licensee control quality in a nuclear reactor with Palisades and Salem PCP. So I was bum doped by nuclear employees...it wasn't the diffuser, it was the bolts holding the RCP impeller to the shaft.

Bolt failure found in three SalemUnit 2 reactor coolant pumps 

PSEG Nuclear workers have found complete failure of all bolts securing water-pushing impellers in three of four Salem Unit 2 reactor coolant pumps, with investigations continuing inside the last.

The findings emerged after a discovery of broken parts in one of the big water-moving units forced the company to delay a post-refueling restart last month.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said Monday that all retaining bolts were found to be “sheared or failed” in three of four 30-foot-tall reactor coolant pumps in Salem 2. The pumps force water back into the reactor core after it circulates through systems used to transfer heat and create non-radioactive, pressurized steam to turn generators.

The 1,158-megawatt Unit 2 was taken off line for a refueling April 14, with the shutdown extended when broken bolt-heads were found from eight of 20 fasteners that secure a bladed “turning vane” part inside one of the pumps. Subsequent examinations found all of the 20 bolts to be “sheared or failed” in three of the four pumps, which had to be shipped off-site for examination.

“Because the pumps are part of the reactor coolant system, they are part of a barrier against release of radioactive water, though that water would be captured inside the reactor containment building during an accident,” Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the NRC’s regional office in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, said.

In a limited report on the progress of the investigation, PSEG disclosed that investigators found a “detachment and dropping” of a part in a coolant pump, with “slight contact” between the impeller, or blade-like unit that pushes cooling water, and another part that diffuses the pressurized flow.

Joe Delmar, PSEG Nuclear spokesman, said Monday that the company is “not going to comment any further than what was mentioned in what the company labeled as a “Voluntary Notification for an Item of Regulatory Interest.”

“We continue with the repair plan of the reactor coolant pumps,” Delmar said in a written statement.

Salem Unit 2 is one of three reactors at PSEG Nuclear’s Artificial Island, New Jersey, complex, along the Delaware River southeast of Port Penn and east of Odessa.

Company officials reported that Salem 2 has had “no indications to date of adverse operating conditions” due to detachment of the turning vanes. Salem Unit 1, a near-twin to Unit 2, has the same model pumps with a different bolting scheme.

PSEG and NRC officials have said that stress corrosion, a kind of failure that occurs in some types of metals exposed to particular types of stress, temperature and corrosive conditions – appears to be a likely cause for the bolt failures.

“NRC experts are continuing to review the issue, with a focus on PSEG’s work to fully understand the extent of the condition and any plans for repairing the pumps prior to the plant being restored to service,” Sheehan said.

Sheehan said later that: “We do not have a hold on at this time that would prevent the unit from being returned to service. However, we would expect that the company would fully understand the issue and effectively repair all of the pumps prior to restart.”

May 28

May 28 (Reuters) - PPL Corp said Wednesday it completed refueling and maintenance work on its 1,260-megawatt (MW) Unit 1 at the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania but decided to keep the reactor shut for turbine work.

PPL decided to work on the turbine so the company can complete a root cause analysis of the plant's turbine issues later this year, company spokesman Joe Scopelliti said in an email.

He did not say when the unit would likely return to service.
PPL has worked on or inspected the turbines at both Susquehanna units several times over the past few years. In some cases, the company has shut the unit specifically to look at the turbines, while in other cases PPL used a shutdown for other reasons such as refueling or an unplanned outage to inspect the turbines.
Since 2011, the company has inspected the turbines in Unit 1 at least five times and Unit 2 at least six times. Unit 2 most recently shut for a couple weeks in March for turbine work.
Scopelliti has said in the past the problem is with the low-pressure turbines. He said each unit has three low-pressure turbines and one high-pressure turbine. The low-pressure turbines were replaced in 2003 and 2004.
German engineering company Siemens AG manufactured the low-pressure turbines and is working with PPL to resolve the issue.
The high-pressure turbines, meanwhile, were replaced between 2008 and 2011 as part of an uprate or power increase for the reactors.
Meanwhile, the 1,260-MW Susquehanna 2 was operating at full power early Wednesday, according to a report by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

May 15:

(It was shortly after the latest turbine trip w/i a day. I don’t know why I can’t come up with the right date. I have talked to numerous inspectors in the last month)

So around my May 8 I called up the Salem senior inspector and left a message. He shortly called me back. We talked about the problems with the recent plant trips. He reminded me he knew me from the Vermont Yankee issues. It was like we was old buddies. He was a NRC facilitator at a few of VY of the contentious meeting. It was few meetings past, when the antis threw cow manure at the inspectors. The NRC had a army of Brattleboro police officers in the meetings and surrounding the high school. There was talk about bringing tanks! I talked to the senior resident about Palisades problems; spoke at length about the meaning of defective PCP impellers. Asked him can you believe the inspectors, said it was safe with the throwing impeller blades all over the place. He didn’t respond. We talked about their brackish service water piping problems...he reminded me they did a rather big piping replacement project.

I just wanted you to know we spent a lot of time talking about Palisades PCP pump problems and I am certain he memorialized the discussion to higher ups.  

May 14

Poor maintenance and confidence men...

PSEG Nuclear has extended a refueling shutdown of its Salem Unit 2 reactor after discovery of unexplained broken bolt heads in part of the coolant system.
Company spokesman Joe Delmar said Wednesday afternoon that "a conservative decision was made to extend the refueling outage to conduct additional internal inspections of the reactor coolant pumps and make any repairs as needed."
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said the bolt tops are likely from a part of the coolant pump system.
"The concern is that if bolts holding the turning vane failed, the vane could drop and impact the rotating pump internals," Sheehan said.
PSEG operates three reactors at its Artificial Island site along the Delaware River in New Jersey southeast of Port Penn. The company's Salem Unit 1 plant has reported three unplanned shutdowns this year, potentially subjecting the operation to increased oversight.

Is the Salem nuclear facility in trouble? This is the newest inspection...I'll get the link when it comes up.

 May 9, 2014

SUBJECT: SALEM NUCLEAR GENERATING STATION, UNIT NOS. 1 AND 2 –

NRCINTEGRATED INSPECTION REPORT 05000272/2014002 AND 05000311/2014002

This report covered a three-month period of inspection by resident inspectors and announced inspections performed by regional inspectors. Inspectors identified five non-cited violations (NCVs) and two findings (FINs) of very low safety significance (Green). The significance of most findings is indicated by their color (i.e., greater than Green, or Green, White, Yellow, Red) and determined using Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 0609, “Significance Determination Process (SDP),” dated June 2, 2011. Cross-cutting aspects are determined using IMC 0310, “Aspects Within the Cross-Cutting Areas,” dated December 19, 2013. All violations of NRC requirements are dispositioned in accordance with the NRC’s Enforcement Policy, dated July 9, 2013. The NRC’s program for overseeing the safe operation of commercial nuclear power reactors is described in NUREG-1649, “Reactor Oversight Process,” Revision 5, dated February 2014

272/ 311

 

PSEG Nuclear operates three nuclear reactors at two facilities in Lower Alloways Creek Township. PSEG owns one reactor at Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station and operates two reactors at Salem Nuclear Power Plant where PSEG Nuclear holds a 57 percent stake (in partnership with Exelon Corporation). Exelon also operates two reactors at Peach Bottom Nuclear Generating Station in a 50/50 joint venture with PSEG.^[16]

Calvert Cliff: Exelon 

Salem

Owner(s)

	Exelon (43%) PSE&G (57%)

Calvert Cliffs Going Wild On Us: An Indication of Severe Economic Stress on Electric System   

Right, shutdowns damages the nuclear safety equipment along with all the other equipment.

 

Here is the April 14 scram:

"This 4 and 8 hour notification is being made to report that Salem Unit 1 experienced an unplanned automatic reactor trip and subsequent Auxiliary Feedwater system actuation. The automatic trip was initiated from a generator protection relay. A walkdown of the main generator and all protection circuitry has been completed with no visible problems identified. A troubleshooting team is being assembled to determine the exact cause for the generator protection actuation. 11, 12, and 13 Aux Feedwater Pumps automatically started as expected on low Steam Generator water level following the reactor trip. All control rods inserted on the reactor trip. All ECCS and ESF systems functioned as expected.    

 

Their generator protection circuits most suck... 

Salem reactor shutdown reported

Jeff Montgomery, The News Journal

An apparent turbine-generator problem triggered an automatic shutdown of PSEG Nuclear's Salem Unit 1 along the Delaware River southeast of Port Penn Wednesday morning, the third unplanned shutdown at the operation in a month.

Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said that the utility and federal regulators will investigate the 5 a.m. incident, but have already confirmed that the plant is "in a safe condition."

Workers shut down the same plant April 8 after a breakdown in a pump that sends condensed cooling water and steam from generating turbines back to steam-producing equipment.

Unit 1 also tripped off briefly April 13.

STORY: Salem reactor shuts down for second time in a week

STORY: Salem nuclear reactor shut down

NRC rules require stepped-up oversight for reactors that report three unplanned shutdowns within any 7,000 hour, or roughly nine-month, period of consecutive operations.
Salem 1 is the oldest of three reactors at PSEG's Salem/Hope Creek nuclear complex in Lower Alloways Creek, N.J., and was first licensed for operation in 1976. The Salem units can generate about 1,175 megawatts each, with the newer Hope Creek plant rated at 1,219 megawatts.

Salem Unit 2 is presently offline for refueling.

Clear Green Washing Fraud by the NYT: CO2 Emissions in NE

June 8

So these guys just to want to construct high voltage transmission line for foreign juice.

Vermont and most of these northern states have historically one of the most corrupt people associated with managing the high voltage transmission system.

But you get it, foreign energy and foreign power plants… where we should be using American produced energy and American plant power plants run by good Americans.

Special Report: Vermont smack in the middle of crucial electricity supply and demand
 
Essentially, is the president's CO2 initiative all foreign based...well, for NE.
 John Herrick Jun. 8 2014, 8:13 pm

Last I knew, Vermont is the eighth most expensive electricity in the states. I see no plan giving Vermont a special price on electricity for economic development and jobs. 

Yet we have power shortages and astronomical price increases in NE since 2012...warnings of future grid failures and increasing prices for decades to come. It is basically massive corruption with obstructing natural gas capacity into New England...

Ultimately, have they been crashing in their cap and trade chits for short term profits...consuming invaluable excess or standby grid capacity in the process.

I get it, if you hollow out the businesses who use large amount of electricity and then kill off the power plants in New England...you be are green as hell.

And nobody ever is worried about becoming too dependant on Canada for massive amounts of green electricity...nobody gives a shit about making American jobs for the poor and middle class. 

I see marginal reduction in CO2 in coming years, offset by selling coal overseas, among others, development of the poor countries...I see the green and CO2 reduction initiative as the means to inject massive levels of fraud and institutional inaccuracies in our nation culture. The fraud and political corruption coming from the green initiative will destroy our nation and kill us before global warming does. 

I do believe global warming is coming and it will be big...
 
So what caused economic growth in NE from 2000?

Basically we are shifting to enormously spending money and treasure on ineffective and expensive trading bureaucracies...we will be increasingly spending money on trading electronic debits instead of producing electricity.  We are massively increasing the opportunity for fraud and corruption.

It is selective use of data for a agenda...green washing in a gigantic scale.

We are going to be a nation who trades worthless electronic garbage...feeding the ultra wealthy...instead of a nation of producing better lives for its people.

This is what you get stuck with when you are required to stick to the published facts.

In Some States, Emissions Cuts Defy Skeptics

That does not mean these states are off the hook under the Obama plan unveiled this week —they will probably be expected to cut more to help achieve the overall national goal — but their strides so far have not brought economic ruin. In New England, a region that has made some of the biggest cuts in emissions, residential electricity bills fell 7 percent from 2005 to 2012, adjusted for inflation. And economic growth in the region ran slightly ahead of the national average.

Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York cut their power-sector emissions more than 40 percent from 2005 to 2012, according to the Georgetown Climate Center, with Maryland close behind at 39 percent. The states are part of a nine-state project called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and, like much of the country, have benefited from the recent abundance of cheap natural gas.

Oh, I get it, it is Greener entertainment to drive circulation...



Mass. pipeline plan stirs hope and alarm

Natural gas flow would cross state; Clash on energy, environment

RICHMOND — A Houston energy company has proposed building a multibillion dollar pipeline that would connect Massachusetts to abundant natural gas from Eastern shale fields, entering the state through this small town on the New York border and stretching across dozens of municipalities into the Boston metropolitan area.

The proposal, by Kinder Morgan, has the potential to lower — or at least stabilize — what are some of the highest energy costs in the nation by opening up new supplies of cheap, domestic natural gas and expanding a pipeline system that is becoming inadequate to meet the region’s hunger for energy, analysts say.

But the plan, which has yet to be filed with federal authorities, has sparked fierce opposition in many of the roughly 45 Massachusetts municipalities through which the pipeline would pass.

“This would be a gas super- highway across the most pristine lands in the state, family farms, old New England towns,” said Richard Hewitt of Groton, which is on the proposed route.

While the pipeline has received great attention in communities it would cross, it has gained little notice in the rest of the state. The proposal, which Kinder Morgan has shopped to local officials and residents in recent months, renews the long-running conflict between economic development and environmental protection, setting the need to bring energy to population centers against concerns of rural communities through which pipelines and transmission lines run.

In Richmond, a place with a population of less than 1,500 south of Pittsfield, residents noted that five pipelines already run through town. At a Wednesday meeting with Kinder Morgan, many raised concerns about declining property values, the potential for explosions, and damage to forests, wetlands, and watersheds.

“I think we lead the county in pipelines. It really wouldn’t surprise me if we lead the state,” said Neal Pilson, a member of Richmond’s zoning board of appeals. “I think I speak for any people here: We’re not really interested.”
 

More than a dozen municipalities have passed nonbinding resolutions against the project.

The proposed pipeline would branch off the company’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline, which runs from Texas to the Northeast. The branch would stretch 418 miles from Troy, Pa., in the heart of Pennsylvania’s gas country, to Wright, N.Y., and then into Richmond, eventually sliding across Massachusetts’ northern spine to Dracut.

Kinder Morgan said it plans to file its proposal with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees interstate transportation of gas, and begin seeking federal permits by October. State and local governments don’t have much jurisdiction over such projects.

The company estimates the pipeline, which it hopes to begin using by November 2018, would create about 3,000 construction-related jobs and generate $25 million a year in tax revenue in Massachusetts. The pipeline would carry enough gas for 1.5 million homes.

Regional energy officials say additional pipeline capacity is sorely needed in New England, which has become increasingly reliant on natural gas.

In Massachusetts, about half of the state’s homes heat with natural gas, while about two-thirds of the electricity consumed in the state is generated in gas-fired plants.

That share is expected to rise as aging coal and nuclear plants shut down. Two of Massachusetts’ three remaining coal plants stopped operating last week; the third is set to close by 2017. In addition, Vermont Yankee, a nuclear power plant in Vernon, Vt., is to shut down by the end of the year.

As a result, said Gordon van Welie, head of ISO New England, the region’s power grid operator, the state and region are quickly running out of pipeline capacity to provide sufficient, affordable supplies during periods of peak demand, such as winter cold snaps. That has led to temporary shortages and spiking wholesale natural gas prices, which can get passed on to customers. “If anything,” van Welie said, “our situation is becoming more dire.”

Northeast Utilities and National Grid, the state’s largest utilities, have expressed interest in buying space to transport gas on a different pipeline expansion project now under federal review.

New England governors, meanwhile, are collaborating to increase the number of energy sources, considering options such as importing more hydroelectricity from Canada, developing wind projects, and building new gas pipelines. Massachusetts officials are quick to point out that more pipeline projects are not a done deal.

“We know that we have a problem that needs to be addressed,” said Barbara Kates-Garnick, undersecretary of energy in Massachusetts. “While we might need more capacity in pipelines, the size and amount is not totally clear at this point.”

Some residents and environmentalists question the need for new pipelines. A study conducted for the New England governors by the consulting firm Black & Veatch found that yet another pipeline would be unnecessary if — after an already-filed expansion of the Algonquin Gas Transmission line — renewable power and energy efficiency can keep demand for natural gas flat.

Shanna Cleveland, an attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, a Boston-based environmental advocacy group, said that rather than build more pipelines, the region should aggressively pursue energy efficiency and other power sources, such as wind and solar.

But Kinder Morgan is moving forward. “The reason we’re looking at the project in this region is because of what policy makers are telling us is necessary,” spokesman Allen Fore told about 300 in Pepperell.

Fore said Kinder Morgan’s proposal is still in the early stages, and the public would have time to weigh in. Opposition is growing, much of it organized by a grass-roots effort called No Fracked Gas in Mass. The name refers to controversial drilling technique known as fracking that has opened vast reserves in shale deposits in Pennsylvania and other states.

“This is my life we’re talking about here,” said Melanie Masdea, who has lived in Richmond since she was 4. “I don’t want a fourth pipeline in my backyard.”

Cooper Nuclear Plant's Secret Safety Related Shutdown

So the other day I noticed in the “Power Reactor Status Report” the Cooper plant's power level was at 1% power. Hmm I thought, must be coming up in power. Thought, bet you they are coming out of an outage. Did a wide ranging search on the internet and then the NRC's "event notification report", nothing. That is really strange.

They had a degraded recirculation pump seals. The seals failed and then leaked into the primary containment. We don’t know if they exceeded the leak rate? It was a unexpected failure and the Entergy is undergoing a investigation over it. So they shutdown (May 29/30) and replaced the seals. This was primary system water leakage as I was told. 

 How often does this happen? How many stealth nuclear plant safety shutdowns do we have in the USA?  

The only way I was cued into this was from the arcain "power reactor status report" that almost no else looks at.

NRC Employees Being Intimidated By Managers

2014 Non-Concurrence Process Assessment

Video of proceeding

Staffers at Nuclear Regulatory Commission Report Backlash After Dissent

Seventy-five percent of Nuclear Regulatory Commission employees who participated in an internal survey said they received poor performance reviews after registering formal objections to agency decisions, a report made public Wednesday says.

For employees that object to policy, technical or administrative statements contained in agency documents working their way up the NRC management chain for approval, the agency has a formal "non-concurrence" process meant to ensure that the concerns of those staffers are heard.

According to the survey, which was conducted last year by the NRC Office of Enforcement, many of those surveyed about their own experience submitting formal objections through the program believed there had been negative consequences to doing so.

In addition to the three quarters of survey participants who reported poor performance reviews after raising objections, 63 percent felt they were excluded from work activities and 25 percent thought they were passed over for promotions.

Meanwhile, 25 percent said they were verbally abused by their supervisors or colleagues after submitting a formal objection, and only 32 percent said their views were fully considered before a decision was made.

The enforcement office report says the NRC inspector general's office was able to substantiate several of the claims of poor performance reviews after raising objections. "Regardless of whether negative consequences actually occurred, staff recognizes that the perception of negative consequences can have a chilling effect on employees and can potentially inhibit them from raising concerns," the report adds.

Speaking at a congressional hearing Wednesday, Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) said he was concerned that safety and security issues raised by NRC employees are not being adequately considered as the agency grapples with how to revise its regulations following the onset of the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

"Especially post-Fukushima, it's very important that we get this culture to change," Markey said.

In addition to the survey results, Markey said that, during the past year, his staff "has heard from an increasing number of whistleblowers from many different offices at NRC. … They feel that when they step forward to report safety, security or other problems, they are systematically retaliated against."

The commission made the 2014 report public Wednesday evening after Markey cited it during the morning hearing.

NRC spokesman David McIntyre suggested that not all formal staff objections end badly. He noted that Joseph Giiter, chief of the agency's risk analysis division, filed such an objection to a January NRC staff paper regarding how the agency would handle requests from nuclear power plants looking to have their licenses renewed for a second time.

Giiter still holds his management job after objecting to the official staff position that such aging reactors should not have to conduct new assessments of potential risks associated with their continued operation, McIntyre said.

The commission faced fierce questioning on a number of safety and security issues Wednesday, including on whether it would stop exempting shuttered nuclear power plants from certain emergency-planning and security regulations.

In a letter to commission Chairwoman Allison Macfarlane last month, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Markey and three other senators noted that retired U.S. atomic power plants still have significant amounts of nuclear waste at their sites, and likely will for the foreseeable future.

The senators raised concerns that the commission has already exempted 10 such plants from certain emergency rules and questioned whether it was wise to do so in light of the Fukushima disaster and the threat of terrorism. They noted that the commission is expected in the near future to consider applications for similar exemptions from four additional sites.

One of those sites is the San Onofre nuclear power plant near San Diego, which shut down last year amid concerns that it had been operating with defective parts. During Wednesday's hearing, Boxer read from the facility's exemption request, which she said is seeking to "discontinue off-site emergency planning activities" for the surrounding community and "reduce the scope of onsite emergency planning" at the site itself.

According to Boxer, part of the request is to discontinue evacuation planning for the area. "They're basically asking to be let off the hook," she said.

Boxer's staff held up an aerial photo that showed a recent wildfire coming within a half-mile of the San Onofre site, and the senator raised concerns that future blazes could have catastrophic consequences if they reached the facility.

Reading from a 2003 paper co-authored by Macfarlane and two activists, Boxer said land contamination caused by a fire in a plant's spent fuel pool "could be significantly worse than Chernobyl."

Senator David Vitter (R-La.) sought to put the request in a different light, saying that an operational power plant is a "different animal" than one that has shut down.

For her part, Macfarlane said the commission would not exempt the defunct plant from all emergency planning requirements. But she and the other four presidentially appointed commissioners declined to go any further, saying NRC staff was still studying the request.

During the hearing, Boxer also hammered the commissioners over other recent safety and security decisions. Those included one in which they had elected not to require plant operators to speed up the transfer of nuclear waste from the spent-fuel pools and into dry-cask storage containers, which some experts argue are more secure and less vulnerable to fire. The commission voted 4-1 on the issue, with MacFarlane, a Democrat, casting the lone opposition vote.

The senator also released a legal analysis that she said showed the commission was improperly withholding documents pertaining to the San Onofre plant. The analysis, written by a legal expert formally employed by the Congressional Research Service, seeks to rebut legal arguments made by the agency.

MacFarlane "demonstrates a profound misunderstanding of … Congress’s investigatory power in the … matter; misstates the authority of three cited cases dealing with the law on congressional intercession in agency decision making; ignores the overwhelming contrary case law … that is applicable in this situation; and shows a lack of awareness of over 90 years of congressional investigations in which agencies have been consistently obliged to provide documents and testimony," the report by Morton Rosenberg said.

The analysis also argues that Boxer's Environment & Public Works Committee has authority to obtain the documents through "compulsory process."

According to Boxer, the panel will get the material "one way or another."

The Palisades Saga

My Palisades to Salem pump impeller addendum to my 2.206 just came up on the NRC web site.

June 6:

Chairman at Cook and Palisades...Palisades is the the 4th worst plant in the USA. I believe this worsened in the last few months.

Despite the stances by Upton and Macfarlane, Kevin Kamps, of Beyond Nuclear, argued Macfarlane’s stop at Palisades marked the fourth visit to the plant by an NRC commissioner in two years, the most for any U.S. reactor. One of several watchdog group representatives who met with Macfarlane Thursday in Benton Harbor, he issued a statement afterward in which he called for the NRC to address “the potentially catastrophic risks’’ of spent fuel rods stored in “faulty dry casks’’ on the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Ok, let say the chairman target plant to visit was the cook plant. She would just say she is visiting Cook, and that be the end of it. If the target was Palisades...the NRC would know the outsiders would think the problems are Palisades are worsening because of the visit. So they thought up deluding the effect by her visiting both plants.

This is just like the NRC, who goes out of the way to protect the bad actors...like they got into all this trouble through no fault of their own and they are victims of the community.

My 2.206

Critique of inspection

Nuclear Regulatory Chair Hears Concerns About Plants in West Michigan

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. (June 5, 2014) – A group of concerned citizens and environmental groups met today with the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to discuss two plants in west Michigan.

The closed-door meeting was held at the Courtyard Marriott in Benton Harbor with Chairman Allison MacFarlane.

The conversation focused on the Donald C. Cook site in Bridgman and the Palisades Plant in Covert Twp.

Palisades has been in the spotlight since its 2007 purchase by Entergy because of several problems.

Bette Pierman, a Democratic candidate for Michigan’s 21st District Senate seat, told FOX 17 she had concerns about the Palisades facility.

“There are failing infrastructure problems right now,” said Pierman. “There’s leaks that have been going on. Some of them since 2007 – recorded and reported.”

The most recent reported leak at the plant involved 70 gallons of oil, which officials said did not pose a threat to any bodies of water.

During a planned refueling outage between January and March of 2014, workers discovered a piece of metal – an impeller blade – lodged in a reactor vessel. It was determined the object wasn’t a hazard.

“That’s not the issue,” Pierman said. “The issue is that they’ve got failing equipment that continues to fail and they’re not taking care of the problem.”

Nuclear power is considered a clean energy, with greenhouse gas emissions on par with energies like solar, hydroelectric and wind.

With more than half a dozen leaks at the Palisades plant since 2012, people like Kraig Schultz, with Michigan Safe Energy Future, are raising concerns about safety and what would happen in an emergency.

“It’s not an option for any of our nuclear power plants to fail,” Schultz said. “The consequences of a disaster on U.S. soil is something we cannot allow to happen.”

While the NRC declined an on-camera interview on Thursday, Rep. Fred Upton and MacFarlane will be touring the Palisades plant before answering questions from the media on Friday.