Two Unit Millstone Nuclear Facility Going Crazy On Us.

 

The media really is missing this...this kind of event and resultant shutdown is rather unprecedented.

A turbine drive feed pump is a relativity simple component. They been having unfixable problems for a year or more.

1) So a unprecedented two special inspections over this pump..they they found a piece of metal somewhere in the newest event.

2) A two plant trip over a switchyard bum relay, total loss of off site power. Then component and personall issues during the incident.

3) First the media failed in Fukushima in notifying the extent of the nuclear village …then they had the earthquake.

4) The NRC just doesn't have the education or the skills necessary to keep a facility away from extreme chaos and this unnecessary complexity.
July 30: Sheehan says the turbine-driven auxiliary water pump leading to the shutdown was tested and its flow rate is acceptable. The cause of low flow from the pump was identified as a piece of metal in an opening. The object is being analyzed.

The media doesn't catch what is important here...where did the metal come from.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION REQUIRED SHUTDOWN DUE TO TURBINE DRIVEN AFW PUMP FAILURE

"At 1458 [EDT] on 7/26/14, the [Technical Specification] 72 hour action statement for TDAFWP [Turbine Driven Auxiliary Feedwater Pump] inoperable expires (LCO 3.7.1.1 Action C). Per Technical Specification Action Statement, plant is required to be in HOT STANDBY by 2058 on 7/26/14 (6 hours) and in HOT SHUTDOWN by 0858 on 7/27/14 (additional 12 hours). MPS [Millstone Power Station] Unit 2 shutdown (using normal procedures) has commenced at 1411 when troubleshooting and repairs were unable to determine and correct cause of low pump recirculation flow. Additional activities will continue to correct issue."

Unit 3 is not affected by this event. All safety-related systems and equipment required for safe plant shutdown are available.

The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector, Waterford Dispatch, and State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Originally posted om June 2,2014 

June 3

Hmm, so I called the resident inspectors...they decided to sic the Branch Chief at me (their boss). He basically didn’t know much of the design of the facilities. If I hear one more time,” that is in an investigative process, I can’t discuss that issue with you” I am going to throw up.

Basically, the air compressors are a non-safety system and the cooling water system to the air compressor is non safety system...so they lose the cooling water system to the air compressors during accidents that gets them to the diesel generators.  

They lost the air compressors on no cooling water...

I believe they botched the emergency operator procedures...either they did an improper valve line-up or they just forgot to do the lineup. So they have to manually realigned from one cooling water system into another cooling water...it is like the plant was built in the 1950’s third world of Guatemala. Why wasn’t the realignment automatic like ABS brakes?  The control room operators in this event were grossly and severely overwhelmed with garbage, chaos and complexity.

What would indicate safety for the exacts same parameter readings and switch operations...the simulator playback of the event...a quiet and confident control room staff’s response to these events s or a control room staff in disarrays, disorder and in object panic...

I got the cheap fix to this guy, it will never happen again...mandate that air compressors can never be used for any future shutdown, either normal or transient. Hey, they aren’t safety related. Then they will be properly trained on it. The NRC tells me it’s human performance issues.

The chief doesn’t know if it’s a single air compressors system for the two units or individual air compressors system.  I asked, why didn’t the plants use their onsite diesel air compressors? At this point, I thought the chief was getting irked at me. I said a lot of plants out there have a temporary and prepositioned onsite emergency diesel air compressors with quick disconnects and hookups. He said Millstone are not one of them guys. This will be in the inspection report.

Seems the aux turbine driven feed pump just had flow or pressure perturbations during the LOOP. They caught the problem on recorders way after the shutdown. You can tune these guys for operations at power or operations after a scam...but it is extremely hard to tune them for both kinds of operations. Right, there are different amounts of steam flows, DPs and pressures between them. Bet you they don’t have sufficient time and opportunity to tune them on the way to shut down.

Or these machines are dinosaurs and they don’t have any old women and men around to know how to tune them.  

I predicted a special inspection from the first day the event notification came out...

"I wonder if a special inspection is around the corner with this guys...."

 
June 2:

Why didn't the NRC disclose this many days ago when they decided to perform this special inspection...why wait to disclose this once on site?

I bet you they thought, WTF...Mike Mulligan called the site before we even announced it.

NRC Special Inspection to Review Issues during Unplanned Outage

On May 25th at Millstone Nuclear Power Plant

“Specifically, there was an unexpected loss of “non-safety instrument air” at Unit 3 following the loss of off-site power

In addition to these problems, the NRC team will review the operation of the unit’s turbine-driven auxiliary feedwater pump during the event.”

Just saying, at 10:30 am this morning I gave the Millstone’s senior resident inspector a call. I inquired if he had time to discuss the LOOP events. He talked about going to a meeting, he asked could I call back tomorrow at about the same time.

Told him, you better bone up on the “air compressors” problem for tomorrow...

Isn’t this another amazing coincidence?

June 1 in Linkedin:

“As far as Dave C, don’t forget about Millstone’s power excursion accident in late 2011 and another special inspection of this year over the repetitive failures of the turbine feed pump. These guys are sicker than the NRC makes them out to be. Overt capture behavior!”

Then the day before at the Vermont Yankee, with me talking to Region I Administrator Bill Dean and speaking about our NE nuclear infrastructure problems. “We are watching you very carefully.”

Feb 3: 

NRC Begins Special Inspection At Millstone Unit 3 Nuclear Power Plant

"Among the areas to be reviewed during the Special Inspection are Dominion’s responses to the issues, including the adequacy and completeness of testing on the pump and root-cause evaluations of the problems. It will expand on earlier assessments performed by the NRC Resident Inspectors assigned to Millstone on a full-time basis and by NRC specialist inspectors.

“We have witnessed problems involving this safety-related component stretching back to last May,”NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean said. “The fact that these issues occurred on multiple occasions despite repeated efforts to repair this component has prompted us to take a closer look at the situation.”

On May 15, 2013, at the end of a refueling and maintenance outage, plant personnel observed that the turbine-driven auxiliary feedwater pump was experiencing speed oscillations, or unexpected fluctuations, during testing. There were also problems involving the pump on several other dates, most recently on Jan. 23, 2014. The issues included oscillations and overspeeding.”

 

I am just saying having multiple degradations and failures like these over a short period of time, having the regulator throw two rare special inspection at a plant for the same troubles...indicates the agency is captured and they don’t have enough fear or horsepower to turn the hearts of a bad actor plant. This is a failure of the NRC. Throwing more paperwork at a plant doesn’t change their hearts or knowledge in itself isn’t sufficient to make a plant operate in the straight and narrow.

The NRC must be into the closing process of the first special inspection. I going to asked the NRC to finish up writing it without seeing anything in this recent aux turbine pump troubles and then include it in Adams...  

You catch it, the troubles seem to be escalating...

June 1

Madalina,

That is just great. Now i am going to have to look up another difficult word in a dictionary (divagate). I spend half my time here looking up new words. Just because I am stupider than you, it shouldn’t give you the right to hold me up to higher standards than all the rest of you smarter people. This is the bane of existence to the poor and disenfranchised all over the world.

I never really you understood why educated people have a penchant to put issues in any old artificial category or order. I am sorry I just don’t get it. You’d rather debate what category to put an issue in, than fix it or acknowledge it is a problem.

A person here brought up environmental issues with coal and many and many other issues unrelated to the category at hand. Some even admitted than their entries really aren’t related to the title. We all draw outside the lines here at one time or another. I do respect your enforcement of order on this discussion site and have great respect, more than you than you realize with a central authority or even in government. Certainly I don’t think many people respect their government here, and the antis are worse than you!

Yes, I do have less education than you and have difficulty with writing...why do you openly have to humiliate me over it.

In the whistleblower businesses we call this rules-ies. It when a person has a disagreement over a safety or corruption issue...then management holds the troublemaker to a different set of standard or rules enforcement then their friends. If you aren’t in my group, then we will hold accountable to a different set of rules. If I am a national regulator and worst my vaulted rules and policies... but I can subvert the reputation of a regulator...undermine government itself... by protecting the agency and a troubled plant through the selective releasing of information at a public annual public meeting. Many times the game of rule-sies leads to both sides tattling to higher manager or the regulator over any perception of rules violations. It is a war of the rules. ..the first causality in war is truth.

What I find so despicable here is the anonymous managers assuming they understand what my comment meant (in my head) without a chance to explain. This is so very cowardly. So you have anonymous managers and unknown infractions...or secret infractions. These are all ingredients of the McCarthy era, Guantanamo Bay or the Ceausescu era. It is a rule or law is applied one way for your friends, then another way for someone who sees the world differently than you.

I won’t even go there in you game of painting me as a fallacy maker...you haven’t even had the courage to identify my fallacy making. I think it was unprofessional to paint me with the word rant. If I called you or one of your managers as ranting, I’d be banned for life. I wonder what kind of environment it be if you had anti-nuclear managers...how many of you pro nuke guys would be moderated.

http://steamshovel2002.blogspot.com/2014/05/banned-by-linkedin-nuclear-safety-group.html

Continued

I was at the last Vermont Yankee annual ( 2013) conduct of plant operations meeting with the NRC last week. We put on a pretty sophisticated presentation to the NRC. They wanted public feedback and we gave it to them. My job was to talk about the problems with their new diesel generator...it is the last ditch power source to the plant. Course it is my diesel generator...I forced them to get it. I talked about regional infrastructure problems to the top NRC’s regional administrator. The Millstone recent LOOP, Pilgrims issue with their switchyards and their repetitive LOOPs, and the whole thing not designed for the climate. As far as Dave C, don’t forget about Millstone’s power excursion accident in late 2011 and another special inspection of this year over the repetitive failures of the turbine feed pump. These guys are sicker than the NRC makes them out to be. Overt capture behavior!

So the NRC is playing rules-ies here in the annual meeting. It is the selective release of information saying its one kind of meeting and then doing another kind of meeting...they didn’t want to get the violations into the newspaper. Basically, everyone is given 3 minutes to speak or ask questions...hardly enough to even get a response. It is common knowledge the NRC security guy with the microphone gives 2 minutes to some people and 6 minutes or more to other people. If we can’t trust the NRC not to play rules-ies, the selective release of information to make a plant look better than they are...to be ethical and moral...why would you expect the owners on managers on linkedin to play fair and be moral? Our whole political system was invented to prevent the tyranny of the majority over the minority. This is a huge symptom of the NRC being captured. This below story was carried all over the state.

http://www.reformer.com/state/ci_25870194/critics-see-lack-info-at-vermont-yankee-meeting

“We feel the public was shortchanged by NRC's shifting the emphasis of the meeting to general information on decommissioning at the expense of focused discussion about significant deficiencies in management and operations at Entergy Vermont Yankee," said Clay Turnbull, a trustee and spokesman with the nuclear watchdog group New England Coalition.

Turnbull, who attended the meeting, said in an email, "Nowhere in print, on a screen or verbally did NRC present the ten violations of 2013 to the public. The violations repeatedly point to management making poor decisions, poor project planning, and cutting costs at the expense of safety."

I afraid my reputation will be sullied if I continue to participating in such an unfair and unjust site. If the moderation ever clears, I’ll still have the sword of Damocleshanging over my head within a secretive Ceausescu era star camber. I will never be completely free to express my thoughts and concerns. I do think the atmosphere has been permanently changed over these events. I am going to miss this place and the awfully smart people I’d seen here. I honestly don’t know what you could say to make me stay and you never rescinded the moderation.

I had 759 visits to my Palisades RCP problem.

Come over and get the real story about the issues of day...instead of that Pablum from linked in. Some pretty big investigations going in Millstone of recent.

NRC CITES MILLSTONE UNIT 2 NUCLEAR PLANT

(The following is a reformatted version of a press release issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and received via electronic mail. The release was confirmed by the sender.)
NRC CITES MILLSTONE UNIT 2 NUCLEAR PLANT FOR INSPECTION FINDING OF LOW TO MODERATE SAFETY SIGNIFICANCE
   
The Millstone Unit 2 nuclear power plant will receive additional oversight from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a result of a “White” (low to moderate safety significance) inspection finding that has now been finalized.
   
The inspection finding involves the failure of Millstone Unit 2 personnel to carry out their assigned roles and responsibilities and inadequate reactor power-level management during main turbine control valve testing. This contributed to an unanticipated reactor power increase, from 88 to 96 percent of rated thermal power, on Feb. 12, 2011.
   
An NRC team identified the finding during a Special Inspection conducted from Feb. 22 through April 14, 2011, at Millstone Unit 2, which is located in Waterford, Conn., and operated by Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. The Special Inspection was initiated in response to the unintended reactor power change.“While the NRC did not identify any impacts on plant safety due to the Feb. 12th event, the agency holds control room operators to the highest standards,” NRC Region I Administrator Bill Dean said. “This inspection finding signals the need for plant personnel to step back and learn from this event in order to prevent it from occurring again.”

US NRC launches special inspection at Dominion's Millstone-3

Washington (Platts)--3Feb2014/606 pm EST/2306 GMT

A five-member team from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a special inspection at Dominion's Millstone-3 nuclear power unit in Waterford, Connecticut, to investigate "repetitive problems" with a pump in the reactor's safety system, the agency said Monday.

NRC said in a statement that the inspection at the 1,276-MW unit "will focus on a turbine-driven auxiliary feedwater pump" that is part of one of several systems that can provide cooling water to the reactor's steam generators.

"We have witnessed problems involving this safety-related component stretching back to last May," NRC Region I Administrator William Dean said in the statement. "The fact that these issues have occurred on multiple occasions despite repeated efforts to repair this component has prompted us to take a closer look at the situation."

Note: It sure looks like Madalina has shifted me to a approving comment mode or worst. Or it could be issues with my computer or with Linkedin itself slowing down. But this has been going on for days so I find that unlikely.

Your group posting status

Your posts across groups are being moderated temporarily because one of your recent contributions was marked as spam or flagged for not being relevant. Learn more.

May 29: Waterford — About 420 of the 1,080 workers at the Millstone Power Station will decide in a two-day election next week whether to unionize.
 
John Fernandes, business manager for Local 457 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said today that the vote will take place at the power station on Tuesday and Wednesday. Operators, electricians, plant equipment operators and instrument and controls technicians are among the categories of plant workers deemed eligible to vote by the National Labor Relations Board.
Fernandes said workers need the protection of a contract that union representation would provide. IBEW represents workers at Connecticut Light & Power and Yankee Gas as well as at Norwich Public Utilties and the NRG Energy plant in Montville. A previous effort by IBEW to unionize Millstone workers in 2002, a year after Dominion became the owner of the plant, failed to win enough votes.
 
“Since Dominion’s taken over, a host of benefits have been taken away,” Fernandes said.
There have been changes in how pensions are calculated, pay differentials for various shifts, vacation allocations, retiree health benefits and overtime, among other areas, he said.
 
Ken Holt, spokesman for Millstone, said Dominion maintains that a union is not needed.
“Dominion respects the rights of its employees to organize,” he said, “but we think the best way to move forward at Millstone is in a non-union environment where we work together on an individual and personal basis.”
 
Workers at Dominion’s two nuclear power plants in Virginia are unionized.　

Played them like a fiddle. Got the Millstone Coalition to e-mail Dave before the end of discussion…they were utterly asleep. But not Dave. I wanted her to call around to the local media to get them interested. We talked before and she remembered who I was. Radiation leak and whistleblower gets them all the time…but you have to stay within the facts…

This is an example how the greatest democracy on the planet works….

Both reactors go down together for first time  

Waterford — Millstone Power Station remained off-line Tuesday as operators worked to complete cleanup and repairs of two pressurized tanks for cooling water that ruptured after the unexpected shutdown of both reactors Sunday due to a power failure. 

Millstone spokesman Ken Holt said this is the first time both reactors have had to shut down simultaneously. The outage occurred about 7 a.m. Sunday after a short in the transmission lines that supply power to operate plant systems even as the reactors produce power and send it out onto the grid.

Holt said that the problem originated in a relay switch on the Connecticut Light & Power transmission lines and that power was restored by noon Sunday. But Millstone 2 and 3 remain offline as crews repair damage that occurred in the aftermath of the outage and analyze exactly what happened and any lessons that can be learned, he said. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission was notified of an unusual event, the lowest of four levels of emergency classification.

"We want to understand why we lost offsite power," Holt said. "We called in people over the holiday weekend to come in. Our equipment and operators responded as they were trained to."

During the shutdown, emergency diesel generators automatically supplied power to keep reactor safety systems operating.

Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said Millstone crews will have to clean up contaminated water that leaked from the ruptured tanks, as well as repair the pressurized tanks.

"We are continuing to review the company's actions and are considering whether the event warrants a more detailed inspection," he said.

In a Preliminary Notification issued Tuesday on the shutdown, the NRC said the loss of offsite power caused an "extended loss of instrument air" and "complicated the recovery actions." Monitors at the plant indicate normal levels of radiation at the site of the leaks, the notification said.

David Lochbaum, director of the Nuclear Safety Project for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the water that leaked had low levels of radioactivity and is "not much danger to workers or the public." Still, he said, the fact that two leaks occurred in two different buildings in Unit 3 during the shutdown is cause for concern.

"A relatively uncomplicated event became relatively complicated," Lochbaum said. "There were things that occurred that shouldn't have happened."

He said it is not yet clear whether the problems were the result of equipment failures, design flaws, gaps in operator training or from operators not following proper procedures. While this is the first time both reactors have had to shut down at the same time at Millstone, multiple shutdowns have occurred four or five times this year at other nuclear power stations across the country, he said.

Essentially, he said, the incident revealed that there are "holes" in Millstone's safety net systems. 

Dominion has a reputation for doing thorough analysis of shutdown and safety incidents and learning from any mistakes that are uncovered, Lochbaum said.

"That's something Dominion does well," he said.
 j.benson@theday.com

 
Off the grid for 6 hours! 

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A malfunctioning relay has been identified as the cause of a weekend power outage at Connecticut’s nuclear plant, which supplies half of all power in the state and 12 percent throughout New England, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The Millstone Power Station is still not operating though power has been restored. Officials don’t know yet when operations will resume and it will have to go through many steps before it does.Ken Holt, a spokesman for the Millstone plant in Waterford, said the culprit was a relay on a transmission line that carries power to and from the Waterford plant.

“It didn’t do what it’s supposed to do,” he said.

An “unusual event,” the lowest of four levels of emergency classification used by the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was declared at 7:15 a.m. Sunday.

The plant’s emergency diesel generators activated and powered safety systems. Electrical power was restored several hours after it failed at the plant, owned by Dominion Resources Inc.

The outage, which affected both units at the plant, was Millstone’s first, Holt said.

ISO-New England, which runs the region’s grid, operates with a daily margin of reserve of about 2,200 to 2,600 megawatts for the possibility that plants could lose power, spokeswoman Marcia Blomberg said.

“We could lose resources and we routinely manage through unexpected and unplanned resource outages,” she said.

One megawatt powers about 1,000 homes.

No emergency actions were needed and the reliability of the region’s high-voltage power grid was maintained, Blomberg said.

Frank Poirot, a spokesman for Connecticut Light & Power, said the relay problem was tracked to equipment at an electrical substation and the results of a detailed investigation are not expected for a month.

Dominion, ISO-New England and CL&P; are looking at what caused the equipment to fail and the broader impact on the system at Millstone, he said. 

 

Think of what a dinosaur....obsolete... that switchyard panel (all the relays and detectors are) is, as it took them 6 hours or more to discover it was a relay...it wasn’t immediately self-identifying.

WATERFORD, Connecticut — A spokesman for the Millstone Power Station nuclear plant says a malfunctioning relay caused the loss of power over the weekend.

UNUSUAL EVENT DUE TO LOSS OF OFFSITE POWER

At 0702 EDT on 5/25/14, Millstone Units 2 and 3 experienced a loss of offsite power and subsequent trip of both units. An Unusual Event was declared by Millstone Units 2 and 3 at 0715 EDT.

Power is currently being supplied to all emergency busses by the emergency diesel generators. Offsite power is not available.

At this time, it appears that the loss of offsite power is due to a localized issue in the Millstone switchyard. The surrounding areas were not affected.

A decision was made to take the NRC to monitoring mode at 0749 EDT with Region 1 in the lead.

Notified DHS SWO, FEMA Ops Center, NICC Watch Officer, DOE Ops Center, USDA Ops Center, HHS Ops Center, and Nuclear SSA via email.

* * * UPDATE FROM MICHAEL CICCONE TO CHARLES TEAL AT 1330 EDT ON 5/25/14 * * *

All EDGs have been secured and offsite power has been restored.

The licensee is reporting the loss of two stack radiation monitors - 8168 and 8169. This is reportable under 10CFR50.72(b)(3)(xiii).

Notified R1DO (Gray), R1DRA (Lew), NRR EO (Kokajko), IRD MOC (Grant).

* * * UPDATE FROM MICHAEL CICCONE TO DANIEL MILLS AT 1548 EDT * *

At 1414 EDT the licensee terminated the Unusual Event.

The complicated shutdown with the loss of the instrument air...the media never caught that. It is like bringing home groceries by riding a bicycle with one leg.
 

Instrument air should be considered a primary safety system. It usually is not considered a safety system to save pennies... It is the motive force to a lot of important valves.

I wonder if a special inspection is around the corner with this guys....

So they had a radiation leak...

UNUSUAL EVENT DUE TO LOSS OF OFFSITE POWER

At 0702 EDT on 5/25/14, Millstone Units 2 and 3 experienced a loss of offsite power and subsequent trip of both units. An Unusual Event was declared by Millstone Units 2 and 3 at 0715 EDT.

Power is currently being supplied to all emergency busses by the emergency diesel generators. Offsite power is not available.

At this time, it appears that the loss of offsite power is due to a localized issue in the Millstone switchyard. The surrounding areas were not affected.

A decision was made to take the NRC to monitoring mode at 0749 EDT with Region 1 in the lead.

Notified DHS SWO, FEMA Ops Center, NICC Watch Officer, DOE Ops Center, USDA Ops Center, HHS Ops Center, and Nuclear SSA via email.

* * * UPDATE FROM MICHAEL CICCONE TO DANIEL MILLS AT 1330 EDT * * 

"The loss of offsite power was due to one main line coming into the plant shorting to ground. Emergency plan procedures have been implemented, natural circulation has been established, and the plant is stable. Offsite electrical power has been restored to both Unit 2 and Unit 3. Emergency diesel generators have been secured, and plant equipment has been restored to a normal line up.

"Extended loss of instrument air following the loss of offsite power complicated the recovery actions. The normal reactor coolant system letdown flow path was not able to be established. This resulted in the rupture of the pressurizer relief tank rupture disk inside containment. The relief valve on the volume control tank lifted when restoring normal letdown. This caused the primary drains transfer tank to overflow into the auxiliary building. This overflow path has been isolated. Supplementary leakage collection system radiation monitor HVR-RE19B, and auxiliary building normal ventilation radiation monitor HVR-RE10B, are indicating normal levels."

Notified R1DO (Gray), R1DRA (Lew), NRR EO (Kokajko), IRD MOC (Grant).

* * * UPDATE FROM MICHAEL CICCONE TO DANIEL MILLS AT 1548 EDT * * 

At 1414 EDT the licensee terminated the Unusual Event.

Notified R1DO (Gray), R1DRA (Lew), NRR EO (Kokajko), IRD MOC (Grant), DHS SWO, FEMA Ops Center, NICC Watch Officer, DOE Ops Center, USDA Ops Center, HHS Ops Center, and Nuclear SSA via email.

 

May 26: This is a example with how captured the media has become. They didn’t millstone was actually in a UE.  Well, a hollowed out media might more explain it.

A LOOP tremendously jacks up the chance of a meltdown...

I think it is a mistake they didn’t declare a UE…a unusual event. 

Just saying, what does it mean when they say a electrical short cause the Loss of offsite Power (LOOP) event. They have four or five high voltage transmission lines coming into their site. One shorting line is never suppose to trip a plant let alone the whole site. Protective devices are supposed to immediately isolate the fault and the rest of the lines should be able to handle the load of both plants.

I think it is a mistake they didn’t declare a UE…a unusual event…

Just saying, what does it mean when they say a electrical short cause the Loss of offsite Power (LOOP) event. They have four or five high voltage transmission lines coming into their plant. One shorting line is never suppose to trip a plant let alone the whole site. Protective devices are supposed to immediately isolate the fault and the rest of the lines should be able to handle the load of both plants.
Six hours without power....don't forget how vunerable the Pigrim plant has become with lost of lines and site blackouts, caused by the system not spending money on the lines going to their plant.

Power restored. This is terrible PR.

Something "big big" was going on in the grid an hour before the two plant trip.

WATERFORD, Connecticut — Federal officials say Connecticut's nuclear plant in Waterford has lost power, with an electrical short likely to blame.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the two reactors at Millstone Power Station shut down at about 7 a.m. Sunday. Neil Sheehan, spokesman for the regulatory agency, says Connecticut Light & Power determined that a short in a power line is the likely culprit.

A spokeswoman says CL&P is investigating and would not confirm the cause of the outage.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says automatic trips of the reactors were uncomplicated, safety systems functioned properly and public health and safety are not affected.

Diesel generators at the plant, which is owned by Dominion Resources Inc., activated and are providing power to safety systems.

A spokesman for Millstone said it's in a "safe and stable condition."

Hinsdale NH: What the Peeping Tom Incidences Disclose About the Police-Media System

My new Facebrook group:

Hinsdale Crime watch, Police watch and news

Aug 1

Got booted from crime watch.

July 31

Just heard from a birdy about a seminar the Keene's police chief put on last week. He said in the surrounding areas around Keene, there has been 90 heroin overdose deaths this year.
　
　
　

July 30:

Scot,

Do you know what an “injustice collector” is…a “fact collector” is very similar? A person becomes obsessed and aggravated by issues…he goes our collecting all the so called facts to avenge some grudge?

As a facts professional, you sure you got that right I was convicted with a class B felony? Thanks a lot the Brattleboro Reformer!

One of the great lessens I learned in my “replace the dilapidated bridge campaign” for over three years…is how to deal with all the irate and angry people who came upon me. I got tremendous positive signals from the greater public, but the irate people disproportionally bothered me. You just get a thick skin; “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me”. You get a wonderful mastery of your emotions over people being irate and angry with you. I’d seen those angry emotions pop up over and over again, you’d begin to see how unproductive these emotions are. You had to keep your wits about you when you are in that environment. That bridge work down there made me a better person!

***So I’d like to see the Hinsdale police put up on the internet a running trend of residential burglaries, business break-ins and car break- ins on a weekly or monthly bases. Or any other indicator of heroin and drug infestation.

Please give us a description on the trends with these heroin problem indicators.

“Over the past two months, Keene police have been getting report after report of residential burglaries around the city. The burglaries are all over the map, but many have been concentrated in the Court Street area, according to police records.

But homes are just the latest targets in a pattern of theft that changes every few months, police said. So far, July has been a quieter month with seven residential break-ins in the city, according to a recent tally.

A while back, it was car break-ins. Then it was local businesses.

The broken headlight sitting on my bedroom desk.

I was coming home from a bike ride…there was a congregation of people at the top Woodlawn Lane. I walked over to them, I see a body face down on the side of the road in a culvert. The boy is moaning into the dirt. So after everyone left, I looked where he laid. That is when I found the rather large car headlight fixture. I knew in broke off because vehicle hit one of our neighbors. I thought, it took a lot of energy to break it off and it must have caused a lot of damage.

I brought it in our house and showed it to my children and wife as a example to pay attention while driving in town and slow down. They all think I am really weird. I ride these roads all the time…many people go too fast and many are driving while distracted.

So I got that piece of headlight plastic on my bedroom desk. I never want to forget that suffering human face down in a culvert who was hit by a car I seen. Hopefully it would always remind to slow down and pay attention around my house!     

Note: I am constantly updating this and repairing the mistakes I made in first writing this up. If I make a substantial mistake or correction I will leave the mistake in and and also make the correction.

July 27: 

Connecticut is expecting to have 300 overdose deaths from heroin in 2014. If the proportion of deaths in the Conn population carried over to all the states…total heroin deaths in the USA would be 26,500 heroin overdoses. The Vietnam war was 58,209.

The Iran and Afghanistan war total deaths were 8267.  Katrina 1833. 

We are in a national emergency.

The west coast doesn’t have near a severe problem as the east coast. I don’t think there has been any rise from normal. 

Why?

Note: Many NH cities and cities all through the northeast are gearing up to contend and fight this  heroin war by adding to the force additional police officers and court officials.

This is like a severe hurricane or some other natural disaster...why hasn't the states put in for federal disaster relief? Or why can’t our federal politicians write into the federal disaster relief regulation that this heroin problem is a natural disaster.    

July 26@ 6:30 pm (Saturday party night?)

Oh Baby, say it ain’t so, Joe. 

I believe I’d discovered two heroin dealers within a mile of the Hinsdale Town Hall. In separate locations. I give one a 90% probability and the other one a 80% probability of being a heroin dealer. They were the nervous corner guys or building stoop guys in the inner city ghettoes…always looking you in the eyes from afar hoping for a signal.  Except these guys were young whites! Did I see one with a Connecticut license plate just up for a visit? One was peddling heroin right in downtown route 119 and everyone knows where it is. 

It is convenient, I 91 being the favorite drug transportation corridor?

Imagine what a burden this is for the Hinsdale police and the selectman…triage. This is going to cost them big time bucks for a bust and the courts, with utterly no economic payback for the town. All our tax money is going down the toilet on this. And you know if they are busted, they will be right back in the streets next day.

Is this the local hub, in the hub and spokes drug distribution system…

Holy shit, once your eyes are opened, HOLY SHIT!   

The basic question is, should a newspaper serve it profits and circulation first, or do they have a responsibility to serve a community first. It goes to the heart of  a private company or corporation.

Is there a holy alliance between the town police and town officials...

The basic question is, should a newspaper serve it profits and circulation first, or do they have a responsibility to serve a community first. It goes to the heart of a private company or corporation. 

I not saying we are anywhere like the Congo…but the shallow and superficial reporting by the newspapers and other new outlets are very similar to us.  

The Congo in Southwest New Hampshire

'Our stories about others tell us more about ourselves"

The telltale sign of such mythical, distant reporting is a distinct assuredness. Confusion and vulnerability are stripped away, as are the subtleties and contradictions of life. People and places are reduced to simple narratives — good and evil, victim and killer. Such narratives can be easy to digest. But they tell us only a portion of the story.   

 

Is there a holy alliance between the town police and town officials...and the media.
Basically you know the deal, the newspapers only make pennies from Hinsdale residents. Hardly worthwhile. The cheap way out of this with their overwhelmed reporters is to get overly dependant on the disclosures of the town officials and police chief. The officials feed them cheap stories. SO the reporters don’t want to disrupt this communication path…they never want to irk the police chief because then he won’t feed them stories and tips in the future.  Welcome to the small town shame culture of “Peyton Place” and everyone repressing all their problems.  I can  remember the old Hinsdale police chief talking about the Brattleboro Reformer…he had utter contempt for this newspaper.

Peyton Place is an exposé of the lives and loves of the residents of a small New England mill town, where scandal, homicide, suicide, incest, and moral hypocrisy hide behind a tranquil façade in the years surrounding World War II. The film stars Lana Turner and Hope Lange, with supporting roles from Lee Philips, Lloyd Nolan, and Diane Varsi.

I give you an example…the Hinsdale Police chief set the agenda of the Thursday community meeting in the high school cafeteria. It is a peeping tom issue and I am worried about some vigilantes settling debts on their own. The newspaper reporters on their own would ever make the expensive trip out to Hinsdale and find out really what on the mind of the Hinsdale residence outside the agenda of the police chief. They can’t even portray the communities issues outside the chief agenda in the High school’s meeting. There will be retribution if the newspaper paint outside the lines of the chief and the town officials. 

I basically count four community members talking about making a police complaint…with absolutely no follow up on the complaints by the police.  One women talked about she was surprised the police never came out to his house to talk to her child about what he’s seen with the peeping tom issue he reported to mother. The mother said, at least they could come over to talk to my son so as to put him at ease and show that the police cared. In “community policing”, an issue like this isn’t really about the complaint…it’s about showing a police presence and establishing long lasting trusting relationships to the community members. Others talked about they were surprised the police didn’t come to their house to have a talk with their children trying to gather more evidence…a basic police work curiosity. One talked about calling the police because he had a dangerous unknown intruder in his house at midnight. He was hold the intruder by gun point…the police came to the house and arrested this dangerous guys. This man had children in the house. Once arrested, this man never got a call back from the police explaining what the charge the intruder with. Never got a call back at all.  I explained I had a missing three and a half old child missing from a neighbor for three hours, the mother was hysterical, called it into 911 three time, never got a immediate police response and never got a explination why the system screwed up. There is a wide spread pattern with the police force not properly interacting with community members making official reports to the Hinsdale police and they have systemic issue with communication across the board.
 

I think this police behavior all stems from inadequate police funding. I think this inadequate funding is blinding the police from knowing what is actually happening Hinsdale and it is blinding the community to knowing what is going on in their town. 

Right, the 4th estate’s role is serving their public. Their role is a immune system for us all. Their role is to courageously criticize the officialdom, town officials, the police department and collectively all of us They heroically and without any fear of reprisals publicly shine a light on our flaws hoping the wider system eventually corrects itself. This is the funding principles of our democracy and our democracy! We really don’t have a healthy 4th estate around here. We have a privatized and very limited news media system mainly serving itself. I am telling you folks, we are very prone to collusion with our officialdom and systemic corruption. Usually this falls hardest on the poor, weak and the disenfranchised.

So the main points of the newspaper articles coming out of the peeping tom community meeting should have been: “Hinsdale residents very concerned about police not responding to their reporting of criminal activity“ and “Hinsdale residents think their police department has a huge communication problem with them.”

How Many more secrets like this are hiding deep in Hinsdale:

A concerned Hinsdale citizen: "Tell you a story, about 8 maybe 10 years ago a teenage kid broke into our home, My neighbor caught him and detained him until the police showed up, When I got home my neighbor asked me if the police called me at work, or if anyone contacted me (we were working at the time), anyway I called the police and they came up, I wanted to press charges but the chief would not do it, personal friend I guess, this story has more twist to it, my point is NOTHING was done. I have heard of more of this kind of thing, you know that's not right. Maybe Vernon VT had the right idea when they voted NOT to fund their PD and now have state coverage."

I think the newspapers are fearful about the police and officialdom reprisals…these officials turning off the spigots the cheap penny ante stories. Remember, the papers crown these officials with status.

You scratch my back; I’ll scratch your back…the holy alliance. This doesn't really protect our greater good.

High Police Officer Turnover

During the end of the last police chief’s time, it seems to be the beginning of the police officer turnover. Once the new chief came in, there is rumors he got rid of some police officers deadwoods. Why the musical chair in the police officer ranks.Why the tremendous turnover of police officers in Hinsdale? Do the officers get experience and initial training in low pay Hinsdale...then head towards higher pay with their new qualifications.

There are implication we don’t pay the officers enough, issues with enough training…and little promotional opportunities. We get the bottom of the barrow and they don't stay very long because of low pay and benefits. I heard rumors a new hire police officer would get better pay and benefits at Wal-Mart. I just don't think we compensate the police force so the best and bright want to be a small town police offer. I worry they are putting in too much overtime to even lave a real life. This is a very stressful job and they need time off to recover from their job.

A bad police chief would go, oh, another police officer quit. He go though the long hiring process lucky if he finds a qualified applicant, then wait to get him into the state police academy. Then on to the job training. This could be a very lengthy process. A good police chief would think, I got a high turn over…I need to hire on three or four police officers and train them up. He’s anticipate other police officers quitting and promotion. He’d over staff his police department with one or two police officers…considering training needs of the troops and vacations.

Basically he says Thursday the department got police opening positions…but he can’t get a fully trained and experienced officers actually on duty and sitting in cars or walking the beat. I'll bet you it's hard to find qualified candidates and with clean record...people who want to be small town cops. I think this is a police chief and selectman mismanagement of the highest order.

Just to be clear, this police force undermanning has been going on for years

Basically he says on Thursday the department got a police opened positions…but he can’t get a fully trained and experienced officers actually on duty and sitting in cars or walking the beat. I think this is a police chief and selectman mismanagement of the highest order.

Just to be clear, this police force has been undermanned for years. I believe they really use the police undermanning to control town budgets.   

Keene Sentinel

Hinsdale residents air concerns about alleged peeping Tom

HINSDALE — The town’s police department will continue to investigate reports of a peeping Tom in the community, but officers don’t yet have enough information to conclude there is one, Police Chief Todd A. Faulkner said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the department will move forward with establishing a community watch group after several residents said they were interested in being part of one.

Faulkner, Lt. David A. Eldridge and Sgt. Wayne H. Kassotis met with roughly 60 residents in the Hinsdale Middle/High School cafeteria Thursday night to discuss the alleged peeping Tom situation, which has several people in the community concerned.

Faulkner scheduled the meeting after the establishment of a closed Facebook page called Hinsdale Crime Watch, which had been reporting some of the alleged sightings.

Some of the information on the Facebook page, such as a description of the alleged peeping Tom and the number of incidents reported, is different, and in some cases more extensive than what has been reported to the police department, Faulkner said.

The information on the Facebook page can’t be used in the investigation because it’s considered hearsay, he said, and people who have first-hand information should report it to the police department.

“Since June 21 of this year, we received only eight official complaints about this potential issue. Of those eight complaints, only three detail a peeping Tom or an event like that,” Faulkner said.

Most of the reports were made to the police department hours to days after the incidents, and in the cases of two, which were reported immediately, police officers were unable to locate the alleged perpetrator, he said.

The majority of people reporting the incidents have been children or parents on behalf of their children, he said. In one case, police officers believe they know who was involved in the alleged peeping based on the description, he said.

The reports are spread across town, and not clustered in one area, he said.

“At this time, I don’t have information that would cause me to tell you to lock all your doors, close all your shades and sleep on the couch with your kids. We have something going on out there, but I don’t believe it’s a peeping Tom-type incident as of now,” he said.

He added, “Your children shouldn’t be afraid, and you shouldn’t be afraid for your children.”

Based on the information police have about the incidents, the person or persons involved may have mental health issues, Faulkner said. Some of the behavior being described is similar to somebody with a condition such as that of missing Chesterfield resident Ronald Cheever.

Cheever, 61, who has been missing since July 4, has dementia. He was last seen walking south on Winchester Road in the direction of Pisgah State Park on the afternoon of July 4, according to officials from the N.H. Fish and Game’s Law Enforcement Division.

“In speaking with Mr. Cheever’s family, the information being reported to us could be him or someone with the same disability as him,” Faulkner said.

Faulkner then handed out sheets of paper with information about Cheever’s disappearance and a description of him.

Cheever is described as a white male, 5 feet, 7 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds, and having gray hair. He was wearing tan shorts, sneakers, a red raincoat and a tan Harley Davidson Motorcycle ball cap at the time of his disappearance, according to the information.

Several residents at he meeting Thursday said they were concerned about hearing people say they were going to take matters into their own hands and not wait for police officers.

See, the Chief was talking about the scenario of war hero Dustin Curtiss’s homicide. Hinsdale police department and the state police are too overwhelmed and resource starved in order to solve this case. We are coming up to the one year anniversary (Oct) and not a peep out of the state attorney or the Hinsdale police department where this case is heading. Here we live in the “Promised Land” of libertarianism, anarchy and anti governmentalism. Instead of the home of the free and the brave…we are the home of the free-staters and anarchist.   

His father and Dustin got into a argument…the father solved the problem by killing his son. Everyone knows there has been violence related to this relationship for many years. This is a stand your ground or castle doctrine case, except in crazy New Hampshire it is between the farther and son. Again, if the Hinsdale police department was more intrusive, communicative and proactive…would Dustin be dead? There are rumors of a police delay in responding to this.

You know, if Dustin, the Dad, his family and the surrounding community thought the Hinsdale police department was a worthy and trustful partner, would somebody have brought the police department into this when the family conflict first emerged?  Why didn’t the father think he could get the police to help control his son. Why didn’t daughter in law or wife get the police involved…where they facing a severely dysfunctional and uncommunicative Hinsdale police department?

Was this murder preventable by good community police work and a more intrusive police force?

Don’t forget about the shootout in the North Hinsdale Road’s spiderweb leading to a unsolved homicide.   

Faulkner strongly advised against it.

“Taking the law into your own hands and trying to interact with the person could have a negative effect,” he said. “If the person is outside your home, your doors are locked, and you’re not in any immediate danger you need to call 911. If someone enters your home, and you’re in fear of your life, then you have to make that decision.”

Confronting someone, whether there is a physical altercation, could result in criminal or civil charges be being brought against either or both people involved in the confrontation, he said.

He then asked residents if they were interested in forming a neighborhood watch group. They said they were.

Faulkner said such a group would need to follow standards outlined by the Department of Justice, and he would schedule a meeting to present those standards and other information about forming a group at a later date.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

The one day late story of the Brattleboro Reformer

I got to admit, the Reformer did pose the question, the Hinsdale police department is unresponsive to their citizens. But they don't want to investigate the magnitude of it?

Hinsdale police chief addresses residents' safety concerns

By DOMENIC POLI / Reformer Staff

Posted: 07/26/2014 03:00:00 AM 

HINSDALE, N.H. -- Residents expressed fear and frustration at a special meeting the town's police chief scheduled to address concerns there might be someone around town glaring into people's windows.

Chief Todd Faulkner set up the Thursday night meeting in the Hinsdale Middle/High School cafeteria and told the more than 80 citizens in attendance there have been eight official complaints since June 21 about a potential "peeping Tom," but only three of them were consistent with that particular crime. Faulkner said each case was investigated and only two share a possible link. Accompanied by Lt. David Eldridge and Sgt./School Resource Officer Wayne Kassotis, Faulkner tried to calm residents' nerves and told them the Hinsdale Police Department is doing everything possible to get to the bottom of whoever is creating their anxiety.

"This may not be a criminal. We have a significant mental health problem in the United States," he said, adding that a 61-year-old Chesterfield man named Ronald "Buddy" Cheever has been missing since he was last seen walking south on Winchester Road in Chesterfield on July 4. Faulkner said members of Cheever's family have stated the traits described in official complaints to the police match that of their missing relative.

I don't believe the below paragraph at all with the chief. This is a product of the shaming culture of small town NE. Basically he is trying to protect the image and reputation of the property owners, large property owners and businesses in Hinsdale. He is attuned to the needs of the wealthy, not to the safety of the middle class. He don't want to taint the paradise called Hinsdale NH with the idea we got a peeping tom or any other dirty issue in Hinsdale. We basically got a little town inferiority complex...we don't have the security and confidence that we can discuss publicly any issue that comes up to the plate. 

Maybe one more police officer on the force would get you out to do the investigations and collect the information?

Faulkner also told the crowd he did not approach the local media with the information he has because he did not want to unnecessarily alarm residents, as only two accounts are potentially connected. Faulkner doesn't have enough facts to give a description of a suspect because the information he has is unverified and some of it is conflicting.

Resident Beth Salg said she is worried about the reports she has read on Hinsdale Crime Watch (on Facebook), because some people have commented they plan to find and shoot whoever has supposedly been peeking into windows around town. She said she is terrified to have her children outside past a certain time out of fear that some misguided vigilante will harm them by accident.

"This is scarier than some guy looking in my window," she said.

Resident Beth Salg said she is worried about the reports she has read on Hinsdale Crime Watch (on Facebook), because some people have commented

The Dustin Curtiss homicide case scenario…we are all still poisoned by a unclear explanation of what happened and it still hasn’t gone into a court case. Is that how we solve family and other disputes in Hinsdale; vigilantism and violence with a gun? Hate government and love anarchy. We got a lot of incomplete and unfinished business in Hinsdale.    

they plan to find and shoot whoever has supposedly been peeking into windows around town. She said she is terrified to have her children outside past a certain time out of fear that some misguided vigilante will harm them by accident.

"This is scarier than some guy looking in my window," she said.

The conversation then turned to citizens asking the police to address what they feel is a lack of follow-up on certain cases. One woman said her son and his friend were the two children who reported a suspicious man watching them play on July 2. She said no police officers have kept in touch with her about the incident. Faulkner explained the description his department received identified the suspicious male as a mental health patient and not a "peeping Tom." The woman said her children are afraid to go out in their own yard and wishes someone with the department could have come to her home to reassure her family members they are safe.

Allen Damon raised his hand and said he created the Hinsdale Crime Watch Facebook page. He told Faulkner that more than a year ago he had to force a man out of his home at gunpoint and never heard back from the responding officers, even though he had said he wanted to press charges. 

criminal trespassing: not on Thursday, maybe as a follow-up on Friday. No seamless coverage between the police and Cheshire County victim/witness advocate...the compartmentalization, siloing and balkanization of the police and the justice system to the troubled town folks of Hinsdale. Do you think this only happens in Hinsdale...I bet you it is systemic and widespread coming through the Keene court systems?     

Damon said he just found out that man was arrested for criminal trespassing, but he was never notified of that fact. Faulkner apologized to Damon and said a Cheshire County victim/witness advocate should have contacted him.

Faulkner and Eldridge said the police department is still short one full-time officer and the case load is drastically large. Faulkner said each officer has a stack of files they are investigating.

A woman asked if pepper spray is legal in New Hampshire, and Faulkner said it can only be used in self-defense. He also cautioned the citizens present about taking the law into their own hands.

"The last thing we need is a George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin incident that happened down in Florida," he said in reference to the infamous case of Neighborhood Watch Group coordinator George Zimmerman fatally shooting teenager Trayvon Martin during a struggle after Zimmerman called the police to

What about war hero Dustin Curtiss whose voice was stolen from him by gun shots by his father and a noncommunicative police department?

report someone acting "real suspicious" walking around in the rain in his gated community. Faulkner told people to stay vigilant and report anything they deem suspicious. He said all officers are tracked and monitored.

"If an officer is at Hinsdale Heights and then enters into a foot pursuit and people call and say, ‘There is a flashlight outside my home,'" Faulkner said, "the dispatcher can say that is a Hinsdale Police officer."

Resident Keith Owen urged all parents in the cafeteria to be careful in how they talk to their children about the issue at hand. Faulkner also added that he cannot rule out that the person causing concern throughout town is not simply a teenager playing a prank.

Before the meeting wrapped up, Faulkner mentioned the new on-body cameras his officers are sporting. He joked that citizens do not need to worry about the officers turning into RoboCops and said all officers must inform people of when they are being recorded.

A few people told Faulkner they understand his officers have a difficult job and appreciate their work to keep the town safe.

Bottom line, this might be less malicious than I portrayed it. It might be a natural product of our low population density and our rather isolation. It just might be a product of a lazy minds.