Junk Entergy Plant Grand Gulf At 17%, And Their Southern Regional Problem

Updated Feb 2

River Bend Just scrammed. The term in my heading "Their Southern Regional Problem" means, I understood Grand Gulf's historic erratic operation is not just a plant centric problem, but a Entergy regional weakness.   


Reposted from 1/17/18

Unbelievable. So this startup the peak power level got to 91%.  

Facility: GRAND GULF Region: 4 State: MS Unit: [1] [ ] [ ] RX Type: [1] GE-6 NRC Notified By: RALPH FLICKINGER HQ OPS Officer: DONG HWA PARK	Notification Date: 01/30/2018 Notification Time: 21:56 [ET] Event Date: 01/30/2018 Event Time: 18:22 [CST] Last Update Date: 01/30/2018
Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR Section: 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) - RPS ACTUATION - CRITICAL 50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A) - VALID SPECIF SYS ACTUATION	Person (Organization): RICK DEESE (R4DO)

Unit	SCRAM Code	RX CRIT	Initial PWR	Initial RX Mode	Current PWR	Current RX Mode
1	M/R	Y	91	Power Operation	0	Hot Shutdown

Event Text

MANUAL REACTOR SCRAM DUE TO MAIN TURBINE LOAD OSCILLATIONS "On 1/30/2018 at 1750 [CST], the Reactor Pressure Control Malfunctions ONEP [Off Normal Event Procedure] was entered due to main turbine load oscillations of approximately 30 MWe peak to peak. At 1822 [CST], a manual reactor scram was inserted by placing the Reactor Mode Switch in Shutdown due to continued main turbine load oscillations. "Reactor SCRAM ONEP, Turbine Trip ONEP, and EP-2 were entered. Reactor water level was stabilized at 36 inches narrow range on startup level and reactor pressure stabilized at 933 psig using main turbine bypass valves. "Reactor Water Level 3 (11.4 inches) was reached which is the setpoint for Group 2 (RHR to Radwaste Isolation) and Group 3 (Shutdown Cooling Isolation). No valve isolated in these systems due to all isolation valves in these groups being in their normally closed position. The lowest Reactor Water level reached was -36 inches wide range. "No other safety system actuations occurred and all systems performed as designed. "That event is being reported under 10CFR 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) as any event or condition that results in actuation of the Reactor Protection System (RPS), when the reactor is critical and also reported under 10CFR 50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A), as any event or condition that results in actuation of RPS." The MSIVs are open with decay heat being removed via steam to the main condenser using the bypass valves. Off site power is stable, and the plant is in a normal shutdown electrical lineup. RCIC (Reactor Core Isolation Cooling) was out of service for maintenance, and the reactor water level did not reach the system activation level. The cause of the main turbine load oscillations being investigated. The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector.

Update Jan 30
80%

I just got done talking with to the senior resident. He emediately recognized my voice. Amazingly it is his last day at the site. He leaving permanently at noon. He got promoted. I have been talking to him on and off for years. He is going to be boss of inspectors at Beaver Valley, TMI and Oyster Creek. He is a good guy.

So basically Grand Gulf is a very troubled plant. Upon the extended shutdown, the resident says Entergy seen the light. They wiped out management and brought in new people. The plant has gotten extremely safety consciences. Every little burp they are investigating intensely and down powers on a whim. They are a regulated plant, so the ratepayers pick up the tab. So that  is the nature of the startup problems. He said recently the plant has a secondary pipe steam leak. This caused one down power. That cut out the pipe and put in new a new piped. They also cut out four other similar pipes and welded in new pipe. The senior said per regulations they could have just ignored  the leak. That is the way they did business in the past.

He also implied the secondary system are a mess. They just didn't spend big money keeping them in good shape beginning in the 1990s. He thought Grand Gulf was going on a massive secondary system refurbishment next outage. I still think the massively expensive uprate somewhere beginning in around 2012 is at the root of their penny pinching leading to their secondary system problems today.

I mean, what is going on in this plant that is causing them to bounce around power so much.

Update Jan 29

Ok, the scram should be coming around any day now. Is it just one 

***(Jan 31) So, about 24 hours they have the scram I predicted the scram and look how close the scram was to my prediction. You got to create a pretty complete model in your head to be able to do what I can do. 

big problem dogging these guys this startup, or a set of problems showing up causing this kind of power history.

Jan 27 61%

Jan 28 81%

Jan 29 87%

Update June 26

80%

Jun 25
78%

Jan 24
Back to 63% power today.

Update Jan 23
They will run out of fuel before they can get it up to 100%. At 70% today.

Update Jan 22
Highly erratic and extremely slow startup post shutdown.
Fri 40% power
Sat 61%
Sun 66%
Mon 54%
River Bend is still shutdown and ANO up to 100%. Good boy ANO.

Update Jan 19
Traveling at the speed of light. Up to 40% today. That is a whopping 13% power in 24 hours. It will be refueling time by the time they get to 100% power. Talking about wasteful operations. Say a normal nuclear plant has a capacity of 95% power and a bad plant has 50% capacity factor. So what happens to the bad plant's U235 with 45% capacity factor? It is not like a car who has been idle for a month. What happens to the gas you didn't use in the idle month? It is just money you didn't spend, you could divert it to other uses. But it doesn't work that way for the nukes. That 45% average capacity factor, an enormous amount of U235 and electricity they didn't use with poorly operating nuclear plants...that good U235 they just throw in the nuclear plant. A plant plans for how much U235 and particular pin concentration  they will use for a  particular estimated capacity over the operating period. It is a extremely complicated process refueling the total cycle's U235 fuel load and their particular pin concentration. We just don't have the ability yet to use all the estimated cycle fuel load that ends up not used because of a poor capacity. That 45% average capacity factor (the equivalent U2350) not used in the bad plant, it gets thrown in the toilet. The safety rules says, that gas you didn't use in the idle car for a month, it can't be deferred for later use. Nobody can use it. The U235 has to be thrown away.

Just saying, that U235 Grand Gulf didn't use in their historically atrocious capacity factor over many years, it is just a waste and thrown away. They are effectively using some twice the U235 fuel than a good plant.

Update Jan 18

Grand Gulf is up to a whopping 27% power in 24 hours.  Remember recently, the troubled Pilgrim plant shutdown? In 24 hours of startup they were at 50% power . In another 24 hours, damn close to 100%.

Hmm, ANO 2 is at 95% power.

***So Grand Gulf just started up. They been having a lot of staying at power problems lately. 

ANO 2 is still at 81%.

River Bend is still shutdown. 

Junk Plant Grand Gulf: Extraordinary Erratic Startup From Last Refueling Outage

Reposted again from 1/9

Update Jan 12

So River Bend and Grand Gulf are still shutdown..

Pilgrim below is a example of a normal good startup. Remember the full force of the designed systems core protection is high in the power level. At 100% your are protected most(negative temperature or void coefficient).

Pilgrim's recent startup.

Jan 10 10%

Jan 11 50%

Jan 12 98%

Originally posted on 12/27. Reposted on 1/9 

Update Jan 9

I'll make the case this kind of "outside the box" operational behavior is setting up the probability of having a nuclear accident we never seen before.   

They shutdown last night. It wasn't a scram but a controlled shutdown. They weaselled out of a report on this and more inspections.

Just saying, River Bend, Pilgrim and Grand Gulf have had recent abnormal shutdowns. Only Pilgrim had a really abnormal and dangerous scram in poor weather. What does this say about Entergy?  

(Jan 31: Plant scram on Jan 30. Man am good.) My prediction on Jan 2. A week later, it comes true.

"I have made these prediction so many times, and they always come true. I have got to be wrong eventually. I give them a month before they have a big down power or scram???"

Update Jan 8

Not a good weekend. The length of these constant power changes is unprecedented and a risk to safety.   

Jan 8 86%

Jan 7 97%

Jan 6 66%

I would count all these power garbage as constituting a big down power event.  

Update Jan 5

oops, back tracked to 92%, Isn't it fun watching these guys? 

Update Jan 4

Stuck at 93%

Update Jan 3

stuck at 93%

Jan 2 2018

Happy New Years

Grand Gulf at 93%

I have made these prediction so many times, and they always come true. I have got to be wrong eventually. I give them a month before they have a big down power or scram???
update Dec 26

55%  50% power

The rube here is, these erratic power operations have been going on for years now.

Dec 24 45%

Dec 25 65%

Dec 26 50%

Dec 27 69%

Dec 28 55%

Dec 29 79%

Why Can't Our Technically Advanced Plants Follow The Load

In the early days our fuel rods where designed as fragile. They chose the cheapest form of fuel system available. As the industry matured, we just don't put big money in fuel research. By the way, the US Navy has been using metallic fuel before you were even born. It is unbelievable how fast they can do a startup and follow gigantic steam demand changes without any leaking fuel.   

I wonder if the new designed Lightbridge metallic fuel will do the trick. It is a bad time for a new fuel. It really hasn't fully been tested yet. Crazy deregulation within the NRC is going on, It ups the chance big problems get inserted into the core.  

Can France Mix Nuclear and Renewable Power?

France’s nuclear giant has a plan to survive the wave of renewable energy that’s sweeping aside old-fashioned utilities across Europe. First it needs to disprove the conventional wisdom about how reactors work.

Electricite de France SA says its fleet of nuclear reactors aren’t just able to provide a steady stream of power, they’re flexible enough to complement a large fluctuating supply of renewable energy. Combined with a 25 billion-euro ($31 billion) solar plan and potential investments in huge batteries, the utility says it can ride out the energy upheaval, while also helping the French government fulfill its goal of cutting reliance on nuclear power.

“Our nuclear is flexible, it’s variable,” said EDF Chief Executive Officer Jean-Bernard Levy. “Renewable energies are totally complementary.”…

98% of our Nuclear Plant Electricty Comes from Kazakhstan, Niger, Russia

Update Feb 1

The NRC Import/Export guy gave me a call. We talked for about one hour. He was a very nice guy. Basically he said the NRC is set up for safety of nuclear plants and others. He basically said no one in the NRC has any idea how much foreign uranium or special nuclear materials are used in the USA. Special nuclear material is basically yellow cake and any increase concentration of U235.

Michael Mulligan <steamshovel2002@yahoo.com>

To:OPA.Resource@nrc.gov

‎Feb‎ ‎1 at ‎7‎:‎58‎ ‎PM

Christopher Douglas

They think I might get the NYT's to help me. I talked to the NRC import/ export branch chief today. Everything is obscured surround this. I can't wait for, Mike you are going to throw in FOIA talk.

Mike

The setup of laws and the assortment of US agencies is to obscure the true extent of foreign uranium, at the behest of the utilities, in domestic nuclear reactor. Our main sources of uranium comes from extremely unstable countries and this is making the US nuclear increasing unstable. I contend our US monies are increasing going to nefarious purposes. I also contend the US utilities money can be used against US for bad purposes in these shaky countries.             

Updated Jan 31

I talked to lots of NRC officials. Hmm, the import/export arm of the NRC and a local and Washington Public Affair guys. Sent a memo to the Washington guy.

The local PA guy posed a interesting question. He doesn't believe the numbers. He posed, we have a lot of nuclear fuel facilities in the USA. Maybe(me) its for our Navy. I know they recycle their fuel though.

I wonder what percentage of the Navy's fuel comes from foreign sources? 

In the Megaton to Megawatts day, I thought the system was riddle with fraud. Uranium not associated with nuclear weapons was leaking into the program. In my days interested in this, I found some 90% of our nuclear fuel was coming from unstable and poorly governed areas. The vast amount of fuel came from Russia. Where did our millions of dollars go? To help  the Russians become a better country or go to the Russian mafia or dispersed as worldwide terrorism and national destabilization programs. The Russian get our hard currency, the Americans get cheap uranium with little employee safety oversight by government authorities and zero environmental care. It severely undermine are US uranium markets too.  The foreign employees are basically poor slaves in this condition...we get cheap uranium to power our nuclear plants to keep them viable and healthy profits to the struggling industry.

If I was head of some anti nuke group, I'd be making at lot of hay about how our nuclear industry is so severely dependent on Russian uranium and others. In my days, I was told 90% of our nuclear plants were power up by the Russians. It must be over 95% today. How much would it hurt the Russians if we prohibited Russian uranium into the USA, also refining to yellow cake and centrifuging services? How much could the Russians damage us if they prohibited selling uranium services to us?  

I think the uranium one adventure was basically a market blocking thing. Russia and others was making so much money over us, this was their attempt to capture the US Uranium market. They were trying to block US new Uranium from enter the US market. 

The utility industry holds tremendous sway over our politicians. This is just a example with how they hold vice gripe powers over our lives. Whether is our Nuclear One scandal Republicans or the greedy money grubbing Democrats, everyone is terrified by the powerful electric utilities. Nobody wants to damage the electric utilities by talking about our extraordinary dependence on foreign uranium coming from very shaky countries. 

So we are becoming a mega petroleum and natural gas producer country. Why can't we do that with uranium? 

The antinukes, I think they are in bed with the nuclear industry...

“Is the U.S. Too Relianton Foreign Uranium for Nuclear Power Plant Fuel?”

Amir Adnani, founder, president, and CEO of Uranium Energy Corp., spoke to POWER about the state of the nuclear industry. He suggested a national security crisis is looming in the U.S. The reason is that the nuclear reactor fleet requires about 50 million pounds of uranium per year to opethe other rate. However, U.S. mines are currently on pace to produce less than 1 million pounds of uranium this year. That means roughly 98% of the fuel must be imported. Much of the uranium available in the market comes from nations such as Kazakhstan, Niger, Russia, and Uzbekistan—not exactly countries the U.S. should feel comfortable relying on.

Gigantic Economic Boom Approaching???

Update Jan 30

CNBC:The Dow Jones industrial average fell 177 points on Monday, on the back of a rise in the 10-year treasury yield, raising concerns that higher interest rates could douse the bull market. The Dow, along with the S&P 500, posted its worst decline of the year on Monday.

Long-dated Treasury yields climbed further on Tuesday, with the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield trading near levels not seen since 2014, amid fears of higher inflation. The benchmark yield started the year trading around 2.4 percent.

***Honestly, Trump looks crazy to me. But maybe he knows the system better than anyone else. Who could even predicted he could win the presidency.

Somebody needs to ask how deep and long lasting will the Boom become. You know, unfair trade packs, America First, big tax reduction, a falling dollar and more manufacturing in the USA. A gigantic defense buildup and a pretty big infrastructure. We really need a infrastructure 10 times size of the proposed one trillion dollar current one. How much new electricity and power plants will we need for the Boom???

Remember the utilities didn't get the size of the natural gas miracle for about a decade. They still don't want to know how much bigger there potential with NG growth will get. The utilities have a horrible time predicting future demand of electricity and the end of technological innovation.  

In  many economic booms the utilities never built out their system to keep up with demand. Will soon we get a historic spike in the demand of electricity?

This is in the shadow of the Summer nuclear plant. I am only positive with the nuclear plants if we meet demand with new plants. It is a waste of money spending money keeping the old dogs alive.     

Officially Submitted To The NHDOT: The Mike Mulligan Memorial Bridge

Update Jan 23

Oh, so what did you get arrested for? I was riding over that bridge walkway on for years on my bike. Riding over the boards sounded abnormally rickety. They sounded loose. Then much later, I am walking on the bridge when I scuffed my shoe across the a board. The board was moving in its place. I am able to pull the board up with just my hands. The screws holding boards to the bridge had completely rusted away. Then to my shock, the one next to it was loose too. I discovered the vast majority of the boards not attached to the bridge. All the screws had rusted away. I thought it was a danger to anyone walking on the bridge. I knew the NHDOT was indifferent to keeping the bridge in a repaired state. So I came up with plan with getting it emediately repaired. Life or limb was at stake. I removed about ten boards on both sides of the bridge and hocked the loose boards from the bridge. I emediately called 911 to tell them what I did. I further pictured up all my work and put up the substantial safety barriers to prevent people from falling in the holes.

I love it when a plan works. Within 12 hours, the NHDOT had employees nailing down all the rest of the planks. I had pictured up the beginning of "my" repair work and sent my blog links to the all the local media. I had intentionally provided the police the pictures to convict me. There was much more damage to walkway than even I could see. Two hundred and sixty one days later, the NHDOT completely rehabbed the walkway with a $30,000 project. The courts charged me about %1500 and the Bridge replace the wooden planks project cost about $30,000...what is wrong with this. All the boards were completely replaced. My court pleading date had came and went before the rehab job...We came up with a agreement. It was pretty damn stanky from my lawyer's side of it and NHDOT. They didn't discover or notify me a big rehab was being planned. If I would have known the complete rehab was going to be done, I would have gone to a jury trial. I would have gone to trail at the district and then superior courts without doubt. But they were keeping the true safety and dangerousness of the bridge from me. They wanted to make me a nut job...   

I got a court appointed lawyer...he just didn't get it. He poorly communicated with me. I told him we got to put the NHDOT on trail. He told me he was OK to put on solely a "political trial". I sized his skills up...I thought he was only qualitied to be a perfunctory. I wasn't guilty of anything. I was a hero. The state of NH and their Dot was so dysfunctional over funding and keeping up with their bridges...I had to emediately get the state to bring back the Brattleboro-Hinsdale bridge walkway to a safe condition. I just thought the district court was so dysfunctional and poorly funded itself, there was no way I could get justice.  

I walked into court on the pleading date. The court is full of hung-over college kids. At least a hundred kids. They had a riot in the proceeding weeks and they was their first court proceeding. There was some confusion over whether the courts wanted everyone else or the college kids to come back at a later date. So, I walked out of court without making a pleading. For all the court knew, I just didn't show up. I had been sitting there from opening till about noon when I left. The court entered a bench warrant on me on a no show. I was nervous leaving the court. It was a Monday. On Tuesday, I called the prosecutor wanting to ask how to get all the evidence from them. So told me it was way too premature for that at this stage, but do you know, I got a bench warrant for your arrest out there. I explained the mix up. She told me, if you promise to go to court next Monday, I’ll pull the bench warrant. I profusely agreed.

So the next Friday comes up, (after Wednesday, Thursday), its 6pm with a knock on the door. It’s a policeman coming to arrest me on a bench warrant (Bumba). I tell him your warrant is no good with a smile. He laughs heartily at me saying, “you know how many times that has been pulled on me. I talked him into calling the district court, where he discovers indeed the warrant was no good. The police officer then just about has a "cow shit" on my kitchen saying over and over again “I was just about going to a arrest a guy with no warrant”. He tells me that is a first for me in my career.

By the way, lets say I could have a do-over over with the attempted arrest and bum warrant. If I had my wits on. In the aims of furthering my bridge building "attention gathering" tactics. I should have kept my mouth shut. I should have aimed for going to jail and over the weekend. I could have made a lot of hay with improperly getting arrested and going to jail.  

I embarrassed the hell over everyone here. I think the crusty old police Chief strategized about how he could hurt me the most. He maliciously planned to arrest me on Friday hoping I’d have to spend the weekend in jail. Bumba told the warrant was "hanging around" the police station since Tues or Wednesday.

I explained this to my lawyer. I wanted him to use this in my case or make a complaint about the police chief. He politely went onto a new subject like I was just a little boy. This was involved in my decision to plead.
     

Updated Jan 22

If you want to see everything: Just google on "Mike Mulligan, Hinsdale NH".

Example of my disgusting bridge March 2013 pictures.   

***Keene Sentinel: "One attendee had a suggestion for naming the new bridge. Michael J. Mulligan of Hinsdale, who refers to himself as a “bridge angel,” proposed that the new bridge be named the Mike Mulligan Memorial Bridge.

Mulligan has been known in recent years for his demonstrations and protests on the bridge, where he posted warnings to drivers that they were traveling over what he claimed were unsafe structures."   

Honestly, $1500 in a plea deal to the courts turned into a $45 million dollar bridge? Think of the return on my investment. The back story: a dirt poor loser decided he had a lot of extra time on his hands. Thought about how the Brattleboro-Hinsdale bridge desperately needed a replacement. Came up with the stupidest plan imaginable to picture up the disgraceful bridge and engage all the local officials, police, politicians, the surrounding communities and the disgraceful and extremely underfunded NHDOT. I comprehensively documented my adventures on my blog and the Brattleboro Topix. 

As I told the NHDOT, local and regional politicians and community at the Hinsdale NH meeting last night...we had a hapless bridge committee who couldn't accomplish a damn thing in thirty years. I had the stupidest thought come into my head, acted on it...got the bridge planed and funded (well, almost funded)and built in just a few years considering the span of history. I created that bridge out of nothing... 

President Trump all campaign was saying we need a big infrastructure project nationwide. He recently proposed a $300 billion dollar infrastructure program. He is throwing mere pennies at the scale of our infrastructure problems. He is getting just like the democrats. We need a infrastructure program to the tune in excess $10 trillion dollars to even begin to the turn the corner on our problems.

I loved doing a host of skits at the dilapidated bridge. I had a blast out there until the police came to my house to arrest me.  Something had to entertain me during mostly boring times in protest. So I dress up as a construction worker. I had a safety helmet on and a dirt shovel in my hands. I was simulating lets start digging dirt soon for the new bride I had a big sign next to me saying lets begin digging dirt next year for the new. At times, I held the shovel way over my head, and just a little pumping action, in anticipation of my triumph over these large organizations. Then a cop pulled up to saying some person saw you assaulting another person with your shovel. I asked the cop, did you get the name of my accuser and did he file a report. I thought the police just made this up to get me to stop protesting at the bridge. 

What I liked the most, was throwing kisses at pretty women in speeding cars. I utterly love it when pretty girls just smiled at me. I also got a lot to scowls.   What I like most, was when the women threw kisses at me before I could get my kissing hand up to my mouth. It happened a lot. Then I began throwing kisses at men in moving cars for the first time in my life. I swear, some men even threw kisses at me. I thought I was going to the emergency room when a angry husband showed up. He took severe umbrage with me for throwing kisses at his wife. I never stopped throwing free kisses ever!!!

A interesting adventure with my wife occurred during at this time. My first rendition of a bridge angel consisted of summer shorts, a homemade halo and a white sheet simulating the shimmering body of a angel. I cut a big hole in the middle of a white sheet and put it over my head. The sheet was my shimmering body. Then one day my wife and daughter passed my station. Their mouths were wide open in shock... My wife didn't approve of this actions. I though I was going to get one of those screaming, "I am divorcing" things again. "This time I mean it"! I caught her later in the kitchen, she had a ugly and mean face on. It was really a scary situation. (I am still married to her.) I knew she would say anything to try to stop me from embarrassing her and the family. My shimmering white sheet came down to just above my knees with shorts on. It looked like a dress, I am told by other humans. It was hot as hell with my getup on. With her really ugly face on and bellowing authoritarian voice, she blurts out, "I KNOW WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU". "You are a latent homosexual". I never put back on my shimmering body sheet again. The halo stayed. I always have a halo on my head. Just sometimes you are allowed to see it.       

Questions raised about old bridges at hearing for new Hinsdale-Brattleboro span

HINSDALE — As state highway officials move forward with plans for a new bridge connecting the town to Brattleboro, members of the public have raised concerns about what will happen to the current bridges spanning the Connecticut River.

Several people asked about the future of those structures, and access to Hinsdale Island, at a public hearing Thursday night about the estimated $46 million project.

The bridges, named after Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh, are Pennsylvania truss-style spans built in 1920 and rehabilitated in 1988. N.H. Department of Transportation officials classify the narrow bridges as functionally obsolete, which means they’re outdated, don’t meet current design standards and have height and weight restrictions.

In addition to building a new bridge, the transportation department plans to convert the old bridges for use by bicycles and pedestrians. The department has also applied for a TIGER grant to provide additional funds for the old bridges’ refurbishment.

The rest of the money for the bridge replacement project will come from federal highway funds, New Hampshire funds and Vermont funds, officials said Thursday.

Steve Lindsey, a former state representative from Keene, spoke in favor of maintaining the bridges so that people still have access to Hinsdale Island.

“It’s a wonderful public space. It’s a place for the public to go in nature, and it’s access to the river,” he said. “ ... We should maintain the old bridges as heritage structures, as access to a wonderful public resource for everyone to gain access to the island.”

Lindsey also noted that he had originally submitted the bill to name the bridges after Charles Dana and Anna Hunt Marsh, and that this style of bridge is no longer common.

However, Joseph Conroy, a Hinsdale resident who serves on the town’s budget committee, opposed maintaining the existing bridges and advocated for tearing them down sooner rather than later, which he said would be more inexpensive in the long-run.

“What are we going to do with them? Will they rot and fall into the river?” Conroy said. “ ... If we keep those bridges, 10 years from now, what’s it going to cost to take those bridges down? $10 million? $8 million? Taxpayers gotta pay for that.”

Hinsdale resident Edwin O. “Smokey” Smith, a former state representative, emphasized that if the bridges are maintained, the island should be cleaned up and turned into a “usable space” for the public.

A project to replace the bridges has been included in the state’s 10-year transportation improvement plan since fiscal year 1994, with its start date being delayed several times. It was bumped completely from the 2013-22 plan because of a lack of funding before being put back in the 2015-24 plan.

The new steel girder bridge, to be built several hundred feet downstream of the existing bridges, will stretch 1,782 feet across the Connecticut River. It will vary in width between 49 feet along the majority of the roadway and 53 feet at the Vermont-side intersection, which will be slightly wider to accommodate a turning lane where Route 119 intersects Route 142. That intersection will be controlled with a traffic signal. The plans also call for a 6-foot-wide sidewalk on the bridge’s north side, with a few viewing platforms for pedestrians to enjoy views of the river.

The state will begin accepting construction bids in late 2019, with work likely to begin in spring 2020 and continue into 2023, state officials said Thursday night.

The public hearing, which was moderated by a governor-appointed commission, drew about 50 people to Hinsdale Town Hall, including several state and town officials. The commission is chaired by Terry M. Clark, and area residents Christopher C. Coates and James M. Tetreault also serve on it.

State Sen. Jay V. Kahn, D-Keene, spoke in favor of the project, along with state Rep. Michael D. Abbott, D-Hinsdale.

“This project has been going on or in the works since basically 1973. It has been on and off the 10-year plan from that time forward ... I think that it’s been thoroughly vetted and explored and its time has come,” Abbott said. “I think that any delay in its implementation would have a very detrimental effect on the economic, social and basically the safety concerns of the Hinsdale community and all the other communities along Route 119.”

One attendee had a suggestion for naming the new bridge. Michael J. Mulligan of Hinsdale, who refers to himself as a “bridge angel,” proposed that the new bridge be named the Mike Mulligan Memorial Bridge.

Mulligan has been known in recent years for his demonstrations and protests on the bridge, where he posted warnings to drivers that they were traveling over what he claimed were unsafe structures.

A few hearing attendees asked about the process the project needed to go through on the Vermont side of the river.

They included Daniel Cotter, the director of plant and operations maintenance at Marlboro College, who expressed concern about the number of parking spaces the college’s Brattleboro location would lose because of the new construction.

Officials referred his concern and other questions to the Vermont Agency of Transportation.

The official record of the public hearing will remain open for 10 days. Members of the public can submit information or testimony for the record by mail to Peter E. Stamnas, director of project development at the N.H. Department of Transportation, at P.O. Box 483, Concord, 03302.

Entergy and NextEra Has Fired the Nuclear Entergy Institute

Hmm, that 13% of all nuclear plants in the USA. 

The NEI historically has put their need above their clients. The services were too inflated.

The industry is crumbling and disorganizing right before our eyes...

Two utilities withdraw from leading nuclear energy trade group

Written By Jim Pierobon

The parent companies of two major Southeast utilities have pulled out of the leading trade group that advocates for grants and tax breaks for nuclear power plants.

A spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute confirmed that Entergy and NextEra Energy have decided not to renew their memberships with the trade group.

The withdrawals are the latest sign of nuclear energy’s murky future as costs to safely operate reactors continue to rise and new types of reactors are met with growing skepticism about their ability to compete with natural gas, solar and wind.

“We are disappointed by the decision but remain committed to our role as the voice for the nuclear industry,” spokesman John Keeley said.

The withdrawals come on the heels of the failed construction of two heavily subsidized reactors in South Carolina managed by South Carolina Electric & Gas, a unit of SCANA Corp. A similar construction effort, by Southern Company’s Georgia Power unit, faces similar hurdles that complicate the completion of two reactors at Plant Vogtle even after deadlines have been extended to preserve taxpayer subsidies.

Entergy operates 12 nuclear reactors throughout the eastern United States, including five in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. NextEra Energy, a leader in utility-scale solar and wind energy, operates three reactors, one each in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin.

Neither utility would provide details about their decisions to exit the trade group.

Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, which tracks the industry safety record, said several factors could be at play. The group recently underwent a leadership change and significant staff cuts. It’s also had little success in engaging the Trump administration on reducing the industry’s regulatory burden and had a questionable public relations strategy.

“NEI has not been able to stop the bleeding,” Lyman said, despite the group’s initiative to slash plant operating costs by 30 percent by lobbying the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for changes to inspection and enforcement of safety and security regulations. “Trying to cut costs by reducing safety and security is penny-wise and pound foolish, and it apparently isn’t having the economic impact that NEI hope to achieve.”

Entergy spokesman Michael Bowling said the company will continue to engage with the industry. “We strongly believe that nuclear power remains an important part of our company’s and country’s diverse resource mix, and we will continue to work to deliver power to our customers in a safe, reliable, and affordable manner.”