Junk Watts Bar Facility: This Is What Capacity Factor Looks Like With Intractable Employee Intimidation By Upper Management

They are just not doing enough or quality, maintenance or replacement of obsolete component. The NRC just doesn't have enough horsepower. Increasing numbers of nuclear plants are completely spinning out of control right now.

I can't wait for the drama with the startup of either Arkansas Nuclear One units. It better than the movies.   

Facility: WATTS BAR Region: 2 State: TN Unit: [1] [ ] [ ] RX Type: [1] W-4-LP,[2] W-4-LP NRC Notified By: BILL SPRINKLE HQ OPS Officer: DONG HWA PARK	Notification Date: 05/02/2017 Notification Time: 22:33 [ET] Event Date: 05/02/2017 Event Time: 19:45 [EDT] Last Update Date: 05/02/2017
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): RANDY MUSSER (R2DO)

Unit	SCRAM Code	RX CRIT	Initial PWR	Initial RX Mode	Current PWR	Current RX Mode
1	M/R	Y	26	Power Operation	0	Hot Standby

Event Text

MANUAL REACTOR TRIP DUE TO FAILED REACTOR COOLANT PUMP POWER TRANSFER "On May 2nd, 2017, at 1945 EDT, Watts Bar Nuclear [WBN] Plant Unit 1 reactor was manually tripped due to a failure of the #3 Reactor Coolant Pump normal feeder breaker to close during the planned power transfer to unit power following startup. Concurrent with the reactor trip, the Auxiliary Feedwater system actuated as designed. "All control and shutdown rods fully inserted. All safety systems responded as designed. The unit is currently stable in Mode 3, with decay heat removal via auxiliary feedwater and main steam dump systems. Unit 1 is in a normal shutdown electrical alignment. "This reactor trip and system actuation is being reported under 10CFR 50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A) and 10CFR 50.72 (b)(2)(iv)(B).

This below comment must be nuclear industry graveyard humor. These are the guys (unit 2) with a collapse main condenser...   

"There was no effect on WBN Unit 2. "The NRC Senior Resident [Inspector] has been notified."

Here is two newspaper articles with TVA back peddling about the units 2 main condenser collapse and its terrible capacity factor.

TVA's newest nuclear plant helps keep winter costs down despite recent snags

Federal utility boosts profits during season even with cut in hydroelectric generation, decreased power sales

May 3rd, 2017 by Dave Flessner in Business Around the Region Read Time: 4 mins.

TVA's newest nuclear power plant helped enable the federal utility to keep costs down this winter while a drought cut hydroelectric generation from TVA's power-generating dams.

But a ruptured condenser that broke apart when support beams failed at the Watts Bar Unit 2 reactor on March 23 has forced the $5 billion power plant to cease power production for the past six weeks and could keep the reactor out of service until later this summer, TVA officials said Tuesday.

"These are huge pieces of equipment — three stories tall or more — and we are still assessing the extent of the damages and the best way to make the necessary repairs," TVA President Bill Johnson said Tuesday. "It isn't technically complicated, but there is very little space, so how you do [the fix] is the tricky part. We don't have a fixed schedule yet."

The heat exchanger, or condenser, turns steam generated within the reactor back into water. But it has nothing to do with the nuclear side of the plant.

Tennessee Valley Authority CEO Bill Johnson answers questions during an interview with The Associated Press Tuesday, April 18, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. The CEO of the biggest public utility in the country says the agency is not going to reopen coal-fired power plants under President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

The condenser equipment could not be checked for reliability during the prolonged construction of Watts Bar Unit 2, which began in 1974 and was completed last year, Johnson said.

Dave Lochbaum, director of the Union of Concerned Scientists Nuclear Safety Project, said similar problems in the internal supports for the condenser developed at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Mississippi during that plant's initial fuel cycle.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission also cited TVA last year for having a "chilled work environment" at Watts Bar that could stifle employees from voicing concerns. But regulators said in March that the work environment is improving and managers have implemented numerous processes and programs to address any employee concerns.

Or maybe the silence before the 100 yearer?  

"It seems like the worst is behind us, although the all-clear is not quite ready," Lochbaum said.

Making tritium for nuclear bombs

Watts Bar Unit 2 also could be critical to supplying a key component for America's nuclear arsenal. TVA has been irradiating tritium for nuclear weapons at its Unit 1 reactor at Watts Bar since 2003 and is preparing to also make tritium at the newest reactor at Watts Bar for the Department of Energy's military operations.

"We're in a unique position to support the DOE on tritium, a key component in the nation's nuclear component capabilities.," Johnson said. "Supporting the national defense is a key part of our history and this is just the latest in a long series of activities we have supported dating back to before World War II."

As a government-owned utility, TVA is uniquely positioned to use its nuclear power generation to also support nuclear weapons within the terms of international nonproliferation agreements that otherwise could restrict mixing civilian and military nuclear functions.

TVA changes generation mix

The 1,210-megawatt Watts Bar Unit 2 entered commercial operation on Oct. 19, 2016, as the first new nuclear reactor in the country in two decades.

TVA said Tuesday it brought a new 1,025-megawatt combined cycle power plant online last month to replace two coal units at the Paradise Fossil Plant in Kentucky. The new gas-powered facility was completed on time and within its $900 million budget, Johnson said.

TVA also added the River Bend Solar Energy Center in northern Alabama in November and another combined cycle gas-powered facility at the Allen Fossil Plant is expected to be completed in 2018, replacing TVA's 58-year-old coal plant in Memphis.

"TVA's generation fleet continues to become more diversified and this is helping us provide low-cost energy in a reliable and efficient manner," Johnson said. "With the drought conditions we experienced in the first half of the year, which limited power production from our dams, Watts Bar Nuclear Unit 2 played an important role in keeping costs low."

TVA rates lower than 5 years ago

Despite an increase in both TVA's base rates and fuel cost adjustments in the past year, Johnson said TVA rates are still below where they were in 2012, thanks to more than $800 million of cuts in annual operating expenses at TVA and the shift toward cheaper fuel sources, including natural gas and nuclear power.

"TVA's power rates have become more competitive year over year for several years now and we've managed to keep costs down this year despite drier than average conditions in the first half of the year," Johnson said.

Since he joined TVA as CEO in 2013, TVA has cut its staff by nearly 20 percent from 13,000 to about 10,500 today.

TVA said Tuesday its power sales in the winter quarter were down 7 percent, cutting net income by a third from last year. But for the first half of fiscal 2017, TVA still reported net income of $313 million, or $32 million more than the previous year, on sales of more than $5 billion in the 6-month period.

After completing Watts Bar and the new Paradise gas plant, TVA is focusing on finishing the Allen gas plant and spending another $1.1 billion in coal cleanup projects. But the agency's $26 billion of long-term debt should begin to decline this year and fall steadily over the coming decade, TVA Chief Financial Officer John Thomas said.

Them financial pin heads disconnected from the world. Maybe the pressure to reduce TVA's huge governmental debts is causing the problems in the Watts Bar two plant facility. Lets all just make believe they can bring down long term debts to zero in a century. Can you even imagine the stock price if this was a private company? You can clearly see the hypocrisy of the Great Southern extremist ideology here. Indeed, the extremist Republicans in general. Unpayable governmental debt to benefit my political self interest is perfectly ok for me, a grievous sin destroying the nation for all other ideologies, the poor and weak and other political parties. Less productive debt to everyone else means more blow debt for me. Throwing bags of governmental just printed one hundred bills from helicopters is great for my Southern district, but bad for everyone else. You can't even imagine the Roosevelt and later money we spend on the great southern infrastructure project of the 20th century, which drove the back water South to where they are today. It was once what a great nation could do. The forever unpayable long term debt is the Sword of Damocles hanging over TVA system. Believe me, the Southern conservatives and Republican extremist secretly love gigantic government and infinite government monies and debts as long as it serves their own pocket. Yep, our unimaginably large southern nuclear weapons production facilities was a Roosevelt infrastructure and jobs program. Do you remember, Roosevelt felt so sorry for seeing the suffering object and intractable poverty in the South, and especially in Georgia, he decided to fix it. It was what a great man once could do. I once was a southern long haul truck driver. I'd seen the southern infrastructure spectacular with my own eyes!!!    

One only wonders what the real price of TVA's electricity would be if Congress forced them to quickly pay off this debt. If they never allowed TVA to run up the long term debt. It would astronomical. The cheap price of Southern electricity is on the dime of everyone else in the nation!!!          

"Our expectation is that our debt will begin to drop this year," Johnson told financial analysts during an earnings call Tuesday.

TVA has $1 billion of notes up for maturity in July and another $700 million of bonds expiring in December "so I would expect we would be back in the market sometime this year."

Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6340.

(Platts)TVA says Watts Bar-2 reactor to be offline until summer for repairs

Washington (Platts)--2 May 2017 530 pm EDT/2130 GMT

The Tennessee Valley Authority's 1,210-MW Watts Bar-2 nuclear generating unit will be offline until sometime this summer as a result of a structural failure in the unit's condenser, TVA CEO Bill Johnson said in a conference call with analysts Tuesday.

The reactor, located in Spring City, Tennessee, has been shut since March 23, when it started up from an outage and experienced a condenser vacuum loss. A review showed the condenser waterbox had experienced a structural failure, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a preliminary report.

The condenser is a three-story-high heat exchanger connected to the turbine, a standard part of any generating unit, Johnson said. "We're still assessing the damage and the best way to repair it," he said.

The tight quarters inside the condenser are a challenge and "the logistics are quite tricky," Johnson said.

There is no fixed schedule for the repair work other than to complete it during the summer, he said.

Watts Bar-2 became the newest US nuclear unit in October when it began commercial operations. Construction of Watts Bar-2 began in the 1970s, but was suspended for two decades before TVA decided in 2007 to complete the unit.

The federal power producer said that many of the active plant components, pumps, valves and motors, were reconditioned or replaced during the completion effort.

The adjacent, 1,210-MW Watts Bar-1 reactor was operating at 15% of capacity Tuesday as it exited a refueling and maintenance outage that began March 18. The unit restarted earlier this week, and was at 14% of capacity early Monday, NRC said in its daily reactor status report.

Johnson said TVA's fuel and purchased power expenses were higher during the six months that ended March 31 as a result of lower hydroelectric generation and the need to purchase more power, Johnson said.

The electricity generating mix for the six months ending March 31 was 41% nuclear power, 25% coal-fired units, 11% hydroelectric and purchased renewable power, 15% natural gas and 8% purchased non-renewable power, TVA said. That share was an increase from 32% nuclear power in the same period of fiscal 2016, it said.

TVA recorded net income of $211 million in the three months ending March 31, compared with a profit of $318 million in the same period of 2016, it said in a Tuesday filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Its revenue totaled $2.51 billion in the quarter, compared with $2.53 billion in the same period a year earlier.

Expenses for fuel and purchased power increased this year, TVA said.

The Huge New Hinsdale/Brattleboro Route 119 Bridge Construction Project Begins

This always has been a disgusting political indictment condemning all of us. It is ridicules all the details not now being all worked out, with the broader game plan sitting in idle waiting for the funding. The NHDOT is terrible underfunded, as is the care of our poor and defenseless foster children. There always was a destructive rivalry between the states and our two small towns. The primary cause of this is the level of object poverty in our two towns. Why do I think all issues delaying the building of the new bridge is a agenda to not spend money. Welcome to the balkanization of the USA where every state, person, town and city is nation-state unto their own! Where the weak federal government is too intimidated to set our over arching laws, codes and regulations. We are a nation of squabblers with no set direction. It is a steep regression of a once great nation.

Is our great savior only President Trump!!!         

It is a indictment on our forth estate!!! Where they don't have the skills and resources to comprehensively paint our horrendous dysfunctions with our greater good.

That is why I was running my around that bridge protesting for three years like a mad man with a fake homemade halo on my head and then yanking unattached planks from a walkway of a grossly obsolete 1920s era rust bucket bridge. It was the best $1500 dollars I ever spent.

And the greatest over arcing issue of it all, always with tears in my eyes and infinite sorrows in my heart, is how severe and horrendously underfunded all our great institutions serving our common good have become.


We have become a geography of individual nation states with no glue to hold us together. It truly is survival of the fittest  We are aiming for nothing but our individual self interest. It is a great regression of democracy itself.

Sometimes with my fake homemade halo on my head, I feel like I am the only sane person in the USA.      

Brattleboro bridge to N.H.: repairsaga spans four decades

A new bridge might finally be built, adding a chapter to a story that began in 1977

Originally published in The Commons issue #406 (Wednesday, May 3, 2017).

By Wendy M. Levy/The Commons

BRATTLEBORO—How long does it take to build a new bridge?

When it connects two states across a body of water, includes a railroad grade crossing and a hazardous waste site, and involves one of Brattleboro’s least-favorite intersections, it could take 40 years.

And they haven’t even started construction…

I just last week gave the Keene Sentinel a heads up. I asked them to check into when my bridge build is to begin? It seems they blew me off. It is a $35 million dollar project. I don't understand why the local papers don't keep us updated on the huge construction project.

Sitting aside the marina today is a NHDOT soil sampling rig. They pull out bore holes of dirt, they evaluate the soil conditions in advance of the project. They drill down many feet or to bed rock. Then the engineers figure out what kind of bridge footing are needed for a particular bridge.

I wonder when the actual dirt digging begins???

Controversial VY Shooting Range in Hinsdale, NH and Leyden, Ma

Yep, I watched them bulldozing for the last two months. Noticed them building up the berms for the second time. It is a half ass shooting range. Last snow storm, I parked next to the sewage plant. I go out most snow storms and hike along woods behind the range for hours on end. A big old blizzard is even better. I love being out in any storm. The police and snow plows get irked with me parking on the roads during snow storms. I didn't want to park my car near the gun range gate cause my car might get stuck in the snow. So I am on River Road on the way back, been out for about six hours on the most beautiful snow storm you can ever image. I am exhausted and cold, it was a spectacular day. Up ahead is a police car coming towards me. The chief had seen me shoveling out by the side of a road in another wooded area in the morning. I see its the chief, it is the second time. I thinking man, the police department must be really short of the officers for him to be out so long. The Chief is a really dedicated person to his difficult job. About nine months prior to this, I complained to the selectman about this police department. Heroin is decimating the police department and they are severely undermanned. The chief explained in heavy snow my car is parked near the sewage plant, he asked me want I am doing out here. I told him I am walking the woods behind the old dump. He explained I am making it difficult for the plows to clear road. Because there were issues with me complaining about the police department, I didn't want to get in a argument with the chief. I said as little as I could.

Proposal to expand Hinsdale shooting range draws backlash

By Ethan DeWitt Sentinel Staff

HINSDALE — The opposition was relentless, the criticisms rapid-fire.

A proposal to renovate the Hinsdale Police Department shooting range and extend its use to employees of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant drew a strong backlash at a board of selectman hearing Monday night, as residents raised concerns with noise levels and safety.

The proposal, advanced by Police Chief Todd Faulkner, would amend the town’s shooting range ordinance to expand the use of the range to security personnel from the nuclear power plant, as well as officers from Cheshire County police departments...

Anyway, I use the trail from the dump gate, through the gun range, up behind the gun range, to the dam area, all the time. The path is completely cut off by the new berms. They took no consideration making a new trail bypassing safely the shooting range.

I never got charge with anything on the link below. The agents said in a deep elevated voice, to never say them three bad words again in the same paragraph. This was pre Snowden. I think the FBI, CIA or NSA through domestic surveillance, picked up my three bad words. Told the FBI to take a peek at me. I asked the agent they got this information, the told me they couldn't say for national security reasons. I am glade are agencies are paying so much attention to terrorism issues.        

VY: FBI/Joint Terrorism Task Force investigating VY incident (Nov 2013)

The last time I got involved with protesting Vermont Yankee's new shooting range in Leyden Ma, two FBI agents assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force demanded they talk to me "before the end of daylight today".They thought I was making terrorism threats to VY. Remember, very few of the plant operations staff is left at the plant now.

The similarities with the Leyden and Hinsdale shooting range is the police force and Vermont Yankee are bullies. They wasn't proper notification. None of these dummies could imagine the amount of semi and automatic gun fire could effect the local population.  

Leyden rifle range run-in results in broken foot

Posted Wednesday, October 14, 2009 10:14 pm

By BOB AUDETTE

BRATTLEBORO -- A man who lives next door to the rifle range where Vermont Yankee security officers train sustained a fracture of a bone in his foot after it was run over by a vehicle driven by one of those guards.
"It hurts," said Matthew Cormier, 22, who said his 3-month-old child was awakened by a blaring truck horn as a vehicle was leaving the Leyden Rifle Range on River Road in Leyden, Mass., on Tuesday night.
He ran out of the house to ask the drivers not to blow their horns, he said.
The first vehicle that passed him almost hit him, said Cormier, so he tried to get the second vehicle to stop, which did not.
The third vehicle that went by was so close to the edge of the road that it ran over his foot, fracturing a bone.
"He didn’t even make an attempt to slow down," said Cormier. "He just kept on going."
Cormier denied he had thrown himself on the vehicle or made any physical move to block the road.
"If I had run out in front of him, I would probably be dead," he said.
He also denied that he damaged any vehicle during the altercation, which he was accused of by the security officers.
"How am I going to damage the vehicle when he is running me over?" asked Cormier, who called 911 after being struck by the vehicle.
Cormier said he plans to talk with a lawyer to figure out how to proceed, whether it’s just against the driver or against the driver and Vermont Yankee.
Leyden Police Chief Daniel Galvis said the incident is still under investigation.
Neighbors had called police to complain about the noise coming from the rifle range, which didn’t end until about 8 p.m., said Cecilia Tusinski, 64.
Tusinski and her husband Peter went outside to yell at and wave signs at the security guards as they drove by.
"We were highly incensed by the level of the noise," she said. "We went out specifically to voice our displeasure at the racket they were making. I yelled go home and don’t come back. We’re sick of you and have had enough."
The incident quickly escalated into a shouting match after one of the drivers stopped and threw his door open, she said.
"It was a heated exchange," said Tusinski.
She said some not very polite words were traded back and forth.
"I was yelling quite loudly and not in a very ladylike fashion," she said.
The driver not only swore at her and her husband, she said, but passengers in the next vehicle swore at them and gestured with their middle fingers. Her husband Peter said they also called them "crybabies."
"I then responded with some expletives," he admitted, adding "I believe we did nothing wrong. We expressed our displeasure through yelling and holding up a sign."
The sign read "Respect Leyden Taxpayers, No Shooting After 6 p.m."
"This is an intolerable situation," he said.
Though Cormier called 911 after being struck, police did not arrive until after they received a phone call that he had damaged one of the vehicles. When they did arrive, they were quick with their questions, asking if anyone was blocking the road or if anyone had threatened to go into their house and bring out a gun.
"It was nonsense," said Cecilia Tusinski.
"This is absurd that the state police were giving us the third degree," said her husband. "They’re more concerned about protecting VY’s goon squad than the citizens who pay taxes."
What was even worse, said Peter Tusinski, was the fact that none of the officers offered to help Cormier.
"Why in the hell would you send three state troopers and two local officers and not render assistance?" he asked.
The Tusinskis said they want Vermont Yankee to respect their neighborhood.
As taxpayers in Leyden, said Cecilia Tusinski, "We feel that our right to a peaceful night is being taken away by this escalation in the training of Vermont Yankee security forces."
Noise at the rifle range has gotten worse recently, she said, and Tuesday night’s racket was especially disturbing. She said that might be due to several factors, including it was a clear night, leaves have fallen off the trees, buildings at the rifle range were recently demolished and logging has taken some trees down.
But either way, said Peter Tusinski, having a large number of people firing at once creates quite a racket.
"The noise and disruption at night appears to have escalated," he said. "It’s getting everyone upset."
Another problem is that Yankee issued a schedule of when training was to be conducted, but hasn’t been sticking to the schedule, they both said.
Plant officials are attempting to make sure the schedules set are adhered to by their security forces, said Larry Smith, director of communications, which is a challenge, he admitted.
Smith also confirmed that Yankee had made a request of local police.
"We have requested a police escort," he said.
Sue Sojka, a registered nurse who drove Cormier to the hospital, said there is one solution that can make the problem go away.
"Get your butts home with your family and let us have some peace and quiet," she said.

Defective Safety Relief Valves: NRC Says It's Not Target Rock

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION INSPECTIONOF CURTISS-WRIGHT FLOW CONTROL COMPANY TARGET ROCK DIVISION, REPORT NO.99900060/2017-202 AND NOTICE OF NONCONFORMANCE

Entergy's Poor Southern Capacity Factor?

Grand Gulf: agonizing slow startup to 100%

Arkansas Nuclear 1	0
Arkansas Nuclear 2	0
Callaway	100
Columbia Generating Station	74
Comanche Peak 1	100
Comanche Peak 2	0
Cooper	100
Diablo Canyon 1	0
Diablo Canyon 2	100
Grand Gulf 1	95
Palo Verde 1	100
Palo Verde 2	0
Palo Verde 3	100
River Bend 1	89
South Texas 1	89
South Texas 2	100
Waterford 3	0
Wolf Creek 1

*Seems Waterford is in a normal outage. ANO 2 was at 50% power for forever based on leaking feed water heater and then shutdown to repair. Unit 1 seems to be in a prolonged normal outage.

Grand Gulf has severe employee troubles. They can't get it up past 94% power since startup?

River Bend been heavily coming down in power for a week, then stopping at 64%...who knows what went on? It doesn't look like a coast down to outage.

Arkansas Nuclear 1	0
Arkansas Nuclear 2	0
Callaway	100
Columbia Generating Station	74
Comanche Peak 1	100
Comanche Peak 2	0
Cooper	100
Diablo Canyon 1	0
Diablo Canyon 2	100
Grand Gulf 1	92
Palo Verde 1	100
Palo Verde 2	0
Palo Verde 3	100
River Bend 1	64
South Texas 1	69
South Texas 2	100
Waterford 3	0
Wolf Creek 1

Ticks

I pulled 5 off me this year. Its way above average. I think it is going to be a very bad season with ticks. I am the woods a lot riding my bike.

2016 Uranium Prices

NRC Blog Shutdown: Here it comes?

Bet you Trump shutdown the NRC's Blog. It sure isn't the same blog before Trump. Bet it revolves around a general Trump order for all agencies, don't post anything until we define what can be disclosed? We can't let the Obama leftovers at the agencies spew out their agenda...

Junk NRC and Watts Bar's Safety Culture?

***You get how pathetic the NRC is? It took a employee talking to allegations...to make the residents go looking for safety culture at Watts Bar. It makes you wonder how structurally preventing the residents from seeing the real plant condition at any plan. Now the residents are implicated. SO why couldn't the residents pick this up on their own during normal inspection routines?

You get in these NRC inspection, the NRC never goes to the employees asking them when trust issues and safety discussion, how did this mistrust exceed the safety of the plant? Actual conditions...    

This looks like the typical extremist southern utility ideology of total dominance and absolute submission by their employees. We are the total gods of our sites, we can lie and cheat to meet our ideological-business agenda of the organization. We totally define truth at our sites independent of our nation's culture of truthfulness and transparency.

The fallacy of the worth of third party safety experts in the industry can clearly be seen in Watts Bar. These experts are just PR arm of the executives. You get it, it's better the third party doing the lying and deceiving than the NRC who catches Watts Bar doing the same. Third party investigators always craft their reports to those that pays them. I would rather the NRC pay for these investigations.

Again, the NRC doesn't enforce truth telling and document inaccuracies and falsification. They think lying and deception aren't safety related.   

Watts bar interfered with the ability of the NRC to oversee the site by lying and deception, this in itself should have been a shutdown issue at both sites for a year. It is the only way to keep the system straight, prevent anyone else from pulling a Watts Bar on the NRC. Shut them down for a years and fired anyone who has a association with intimidating the staff. I doubt this is limited to the TVA or Watts Bar. It is all over the place.  

What everyone is afraid of, is doing a survey on Watts Bar employees asking them how effective is the NRC's oversight of Watts Bar?

Big picture: The NRC is down two commissioner. If indicates our political system is failing the nuclear industry. The silence of the commissioners is the largest symptom of the disease, it has nothing to with the condition of the industry being in calm waters with nothing to talk about.  

Both Watts Bar plant are shutdown now. One being in outage and the other shutdown on a collapse of the huge main condenser. I have talked to experts over this. The collapse of the main condenser is unprecedented in the industry. It a shocking indicator with how poorly build Watts Bar 2 is.

Report: TVA meddled in third-party reviews on Watts Bar Nuclear Plant

"Mistrust permeates the organization," says reviewing consulting firm. CEO says that's the old TVA.

A firm that investigated TVA’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant has alleged TVA edited third-party reports on the plant's work environment.

TVA's Office of the Inspector General enlisted NTD Consulting Group to review TVA's history of nuclear safety culture issues and the company's response to a "Chilled Work Environment" letter from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 2016.

The letter was written after a series of allegations reported to the NRC and to TVA's Employee Concerns Program indicating employees were afraid that raising safety concerns would result in harassment, intimidation or retaliation by management.

The NTD group released the final draft of its report April 19, which contains the results of TVA's most recent NRC inspection.

The inspection report said TVA lacked clear, objective criteria for evaluating how nuclear standards are met. The report called into question the independence of previous reviewing teams that sometimes included TVA personnel, and said the company was not "appropriately self-critical" in looking at the work culture.

TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson said he could not answer whether TVA had a hand in third-party reports, because that information came from employee interviews with TVA's Inspector General, and those are not shared with other company staff.

"I can't answer what consultants were told what or what was told to anybody else," Johnson said.

Johnson also disputed NTD's report, which included information from previous interviews with TVA's Office of the Inspector General.

"The report doesn't represent the current state of affairs at Watts Bar or at TVA," Johnson said. "The NRC told us last March we had a chilled work environment at Watts Bar and we have never contested that fact. We don't contest it, and we've been working hard for the past year to fix it."

The Inspector General did gather the interviews after a confidential informant first reported the chilled work environment in 2015, about a year before the NRC's letter. Upon reviewing the interviews, the NTD group alleged TVA leadership was "in denial" of events that were precursors to the NRC's letter.

"They were clear, covering a period of years," the NTD report said. "It appears there were attempts to downplay the precursors and failures to implement appropriate (corrective actions)."

TVA had hands in investigations?

According to NTD, one of the Watts Bar senior leaders told TVA's Office of the Inspector General they "heavily managed the results" of root-cause analysis reports on Watts Bar's work culture.

Members of management told investigators they had directed some findings be left out of reports because they were worried Watts Bar’s second reactor would not get licensed if there were a problem with the nuclear  

Members of management told investigators they directed findings be left out of reports for fear Watts Bar’s second reactor would not get licensed if there were a nuclear safety culture problem.

TVA spokesman Jim Hopson leads a media tour of the new Unit 2 turbine floor Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. Watts Bar Unit 2 already has provided consumers with more than 500 million kilowatt/hours of carbon-free energy during testing. It joins six other operating TVA nuclear units to supply more than one third of the region's generating capacity, meeting the electric needs of more than 4.5 million homes.(Photo: Paul Efird)

Story Highlights

CEO: Inspector General interviews don't represent "current state of affairs."

Employees told reviewers they felt safer bringing up nuclear safety issues than non-nuclear safety issues to supervisors.

Watts Bar senior leaders reportedly told Inspector General they "heavily managed the results" of reports on work culture.

Latest NRC inspection shows some improvement but still more work to do. 
A firm that investigated TVA’s Watts Bar Nuclear Plant has alleged TVA edited third-party reports on the plant's work environment.

TVA's Office of the Inspector General enlisted NTD Consulting Group to review TVA's history of nuclear safety culture issues and the company's response to a "Chilled Work Environment" letter from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 2016.

The letter was written after a series of allegations reported to the NRC and to TVA's Employee Concerns Program indicating employees were afraid that raising safety concerns would result in harassment, intimidation or retaliation by management.

The NTD group released the final draft of its report April 19, which contains the results of TVA's most recent NRC inspection.

The inspection report said TVA lacked clear, objective criteria for evaluating how nuclear standards are met. The report called into question the independence of previous reviewing teams that sometimes included TVA personnel, and said the company was not "appropriately self-critical" in looking at the work culture.

TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson said he could not answer whether TVA had a hand in third-party reports, because that information came from employee interviews with TVA's Inspector General, and those are not shared with other company staff.

"I can't answer what consultants were told what or what was told to anybody else," Johnson said.

Johnson also disputed NTD's report, which included information from previous interviews with TVA's Office of the Inspector General.

"The report doesn't represent the current state of affairs at Watts Bar or at TVA," Johnson said. "The NRC told us last March we had a chilled work environment at Watts Bar and we have never contested that fact. We don't contest it, and we've been working hard for the past year to fix it."

The Inspector General did gather the interviews after a confidential informant first reported the chilled work environment in 2015, about a year before the NRC's letter. Upon reviewing the interviews, the NTD group alleged TVA leadership was "in denial" of events that were precursors to the NRC's letter.

"They were clear, covering a period of years," the NTD report said. "It appears there were attempts to downplay the precursors and failures to implement appropriate (corrective actions)."

TVA had hands in investigations?

According to NTD, one of the Watts Bar senior leaders told TVA's Office of the Inspector General they "heavily managed the results" of root-cause analysis reports on Watts Bar's work culture.

Members of management told investigators they had directed some findings be left out of reports because they were worried Watts Bar’s second reactor would not get licensed if there were a problem with the nuclear safety culture.

They also said they were worried the reports would reflect poorly on senior management.

The confidential informant's 2015 tip on the plant's work environment also triggered an internal investigation by TVA's Employee Concerns Program. The ECP hired two consultants - one used to be a manager at TVA - to perform the investigation.

The consultants were told what they could include and must exclude in their reports. One of the consultants who performed the ECP review told the Inspector General he believed he was not invited back for a second debrief because Watts Bar senior management did not like what he wrote.

Once the consultants finished their report, they said TVA's ECP personnel edited it to remove any mention of the term "chilled work environment" and replaced it with the term "degraded work environment," a non-regulatory phrase that was reportedly never used by TVA or the NRC before.

The new phrase appeared in subsequent TVA reports at least 28 times.

The NTD group said the use of the term was an "unfortunate choice" that may have given an inaccurate picture of Watts Bar's work culture. Joey Ledford, an NRC spokesman, said that though the NRC does not recognize the term "degraded work environment," he does not believe its use impacted their investigations.

Johnson said TVA avoided using the term “chilled work environment” until it received the letter in 2016 because TVA views it as a regulatory conclusion that only the NRC could declare.

"We would talk about degradation or a degraded environment, which I think is common in the industry," Johnson said.

"Our focus is on meeting the requirements of the NRC, which is the exclusive regulator of commercial civilian nuclear plants."

TVA spokesman Jim Hopson said the NRC has not turned up any specific instances of retaliation, and contends whether it happened was never the issue.

"Perception equals reality in this case," Hopson said. "If there is even a perception people can't raise concerns or use their voices, then things can go off the rails. It's a culture that over time would have allowed something unsafe to happen, and that's why we take this so seriously."

'Mistrust permeates'

The plant has had a history of these perceptions.

In 2016, Watts Bar led the nation in allegations submitted to the NRC, indicating employees did not feel comfortable raising concerns internally.

Several employees reportedly told NRC reviewers in 2016 that they felt safer bringing up nuclear safety issues than non-nuclear safety issues to their supervisors.

In interviews with TVA's Inspector General, employees said they did not trust Watts Bar's Employee Concerns Program because they believed it was not independent from the nuclear plant. The Office of the Inspector General validated the employees' concerns about the ECP when another survey revealed 50 percent of Watts Bar's ECP personnel did not feel comfortable going forward with the safety concerns employees told them.

"Mistrust permeates the organization, yet in leadership's mind the challenge is contained to operations and represents a miscommunication problem rather than a need for management to regain trust and credibility," NTD's report said.

In 2009, the NRC ordered TVA to make changes after two investigations revealed a maintenance mechanic at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Alabama was demoted for raising a safety concern.

That same year, Synergy Consulting Services completed a survey report indicating instances of mistrust and intimidation existed at Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. A second report in 2011 said the behaviors were continuing. Subsequent reports by Synergy and other groups highlighted "significant weaknesses" in Watts Bar's safety culture.

NTD's review of TVA's Inspector General interviews pointed to several instances of employee intimidation that occurred in the years leading up to the NRC's chilled work environment letter:

According to NTD's report, a manager told the Inspector General that a senior leader called him into his office after workplace survey results came out one year and instructed him to discipline employees for their answers;

A maintenance employee told reviewers he lived in constant fear he'd lose his job because plant leadership routinely threatened to fire the entire staff and bring in a contractor;

Another employee said that during a refueling outage, one manager would come into the shop, sit down and glare at employees without speaking to them. He later told employees his intention was to get them to "the breaking point" so he could get the most out of them;

A senior reactor operator said he was "relieved from watch" for raising a safety concern to his supervisor. The NTD group believed the operator's concern was valid, but TVA reviewers did not corroborate it.

Other workers refused to speak to reviewers or flipped their badges over their shoulders so they could not be identified for retaliation.

"TVA failed to look for, and in turn deal with harassing, intimidating, retaliatory or discriminatory behaviors of the senior leadership that were common knowledge among personnel in operations and other departments," the NTD said, adding that precursors to the NRC's letter were not "subtle," as the ECP has previously stated.

TVA CEO questions validity

Johnson raised concerns about the validity of the NTD group's report in a response letter, arguing the report’s authors reviewed the information secondhand and didn’t observe the demeanor or credibility of the employees interviewed. TVA's Inspector General office is independent of the company itself, so Johnson did not witness the interviews firsthand either.

"We don't know who said what in what interview to whom. We are not privy to that information," Johnson said in an interview after the NTD report was released.

TVA President and CEO Bill Johnson pauses in front of the cooling towers before announcing the new Unit 2 reactor has entered commercial operation Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016, at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant. "Watts Bar Unit 2 is a key part of our commitment to produce cleaner energy without sacrificing the reliability and low cost that draws both industry and residents to our area," said Johnson. (Photo: Paul Efird)

In his response to NTD, he wrote that he questioned the credibility of the interviews because the investigators were armed and credentialed and interviewed some employees more than once. He also alleged investigators may have used tactics designed to pressure or intimidate interviewees.

After the report was published, he added that during the time frame in which the interviews were likely given, TVA was trying to complete the second Watts Bar reactor.

"This was a stressful environment," he said. "People were tired. There was a lot of work going on and to put it in succinct terms, I think we stressed the workforce a little too much."

Corrective actions taken

Johnson said that since the NRC's letter, TVA has replaced the management team at Watts Bar and is working to regain employees' trust.

NTD reported that TVA hired a specialist after it received the NRC's chilled work environment letter to ensure senior leadership at Watts Bar would "own the situation."

Junk Plant Indian Point 3 Baffle Bolts: How Can You Ever Trust a Nuclear Safety Evaluation Again by Anyone

More failed bolts discovered at Indian Point

BUCHANAN – It was a little over a year ago when Indian Point unit 2 reactor core baffle bolts were found missing or impaired, causing opponents of the nuclear power plant to raise their voices against continued operation of the facilities. At that time, 227 of 832 bolts were found either degraded or missing.

Since then, an agreement was reached to permanently shut down units 2 and 3 in 2020 and 2021.

Now, it has been learned that 256 of the 832 bolts that keep the inner plates of the reactor core from coming apart in unit 3 were impaired.

Riverkeeper has been in the lead along with the governor to close down the facilities.

Riverkeeper spokesman Cliff Weathers said Wednesday the cause of those two situations must be determined immediately.

“We need to know why these two reactors are the only ones to suffer such problems. It is incumbent upon the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to conduct a root-cause analysis of the problem. We don’t know if it is a design or structural problem or just a maintenance issue, but until the NRC determines the cause, they should not let unit 3 reopen,” he said.

Unit 3 has been off-line for weeks for a scheduled refueling.

Here is the NRC's Blog evaluation summation.

Entergy, Indian Point’s owner, is in the process of analyzing the condition and replacing the degraded bolts. It will also assess any implications for Indian Point Unit 3, though that reactor is believed to be less susceptible to the condition for several reasons, including fewer operational cycles.

South Korean Hanul (6 plants) Nuclear Facility Under North Korean Attack, 2 & 4 Are Melting Down

Nobody knows if ballistic missiles or infiltrators? Might have come from a submarine launched medium range ballistic missile with a huge weapon's load.

NRC Office Of Inspector Generial(OIG) Wants To Interview Mike Mulligan Over The 2.206 Complaint Process

Update April 20

This was part of my pitch trying to get the OIG auditors to make a case study on the 2.206 failure over the Pilgrim SRVs.

My Thinking Notes

https://adamswebsearch2.nrc.gov/webSearch2/main.jsp?AccessionNumber=ML13112B055

Title: 10 CFR 2.206 Petition RE

Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station

Docket Number: (n/)

Location: teleconference

Date: Thursday, April 11, 2013

Would you look over this Pilgrim 2.206 prehearing transcript.

Upon first installation with the so caled new SRVs in 2011, the first leak occurred within two weeks of first heat-up.

I have had a lot of experience with 2.206s. The routine of the process changed without notifying me. The chairman was being rude to me and unprofessional…I interpreted this behavior as intimidation and part of a coverup. I clearly stated it in the meeting. Hope they saved the recording of this? The tone of this was horrid.

Why wasn’t there a investigation over this 2.206 process intimidation?

Why didn’t somebody in the meeting report that mike felt intimidation in the proceeding? Why no transparent investigation of it?

There were some 15 to 20 officials listening in on the bridge. Why didn’t somebody report that mike felt intimidation and a cover-up here? A least a investigation to cover the NRC’s asses. Maybe if the OIG got involved, ordered a huge special inspection in 2013…maybe the 2015 SRV blizzard event wouldn’t have happened and Entergy would have made the rest of their bad actor plants to straighten up.

My Pilgrim 2.206 date: March 7, 2013

ANO’s dropped stator: March 31, 2013

***I requested in the 2013 2.206 the Pilgrim SRV problem be referred to the OIG. Was it referred to OIG? I considered the OIG a black box. How was my OIG complaint dispositioned? I frequently get from the NRC inspectors, “I’ll refer your complaint to the OIG”. I have no idea if the resident sent the message to OIG, if the OIG dispositioned the complaint and why was it rejected. Is the OIG living in Russia? Is the NRC residents lying to me when they say they are sending my issue to the OIG, just to get me off their backs? The agency and OIG treats us so disrespectfully.          

Why didn’t higher officials not in the meeting sense there was improprieties going with our problem “Mike” after reading the transcripts?

Why wasn’t this reported to the OIG?

If you think the system is straight, you would think, if all the non public licensee reports about the magnitude of the leaks and poor testing leading up to this transcript, the NRC would require Pilgrim to shutdown and replace the SRVs. There was scant public reporting about the malfunctioning srvs, the down powers and shutdown required to replace the valves. The bureaucrats by this excessive secrecy are just protecting themselves from accountability?

We felt as Vermont Yankee was wobbling towards permanent shutdown, the NRC was giving Pilgrim special compensations outside the rules and laws of the NRC. We felt the NRC was withholding inspection resources from the Pilgrim in order to make their record look better than deserved? ANO and Pilgrim were quickly going down the tubes during this period, why couldn’t this all be prevented by the activities of the NRC and OIG.  

Why didn’t the LER system and inspection report system work during this? There was precious little reporting on the troubles of these valves until the next big blizzard in 2015. There was a white finding in this. The finding should have been much higher than it was. All valves should have been inop since 2011 based on the quality of the valves was unknown. The backup power line was unreliable too. It should have been at a much higher violation level. To date, it has been reported as test stand damage to the valves. I got from lead inspector with the upcoming inspection report that Entergy still hasn’t done a root cause on the SRV failures.

Believe me, it is very painful for me to read my comments in the transcripts. I have very poor verbal communication skills when I am nervous and under pressure.

Why didn’t the 2013 blizzard 2.206 process work to prevent the dysfunctions in the 2015 Blizzard? I am anticipatory, the NRC is reactionary. Believe me on predicting the future, there is no evidence available about future events. If you are excessively evidenced based, you can never disrupt the upcoming accident.

In hindsight with all the information, all the licensee corrective action and other internal reports, why couldn’t I make my case in real time. Because I didn’t have all of the available evidence. The NRC needs triplicate proof perfect evidence and never obtainable facts in order to get enforcement action.  

Do I just have a grudge with Entergy? A few years or months prior to Pilgrim, I put a 2.206 on the Vermont Yankee SRV actuators. They put in new SRVs just like Pilgrim did. Upon first leak rate testing with the new SRV pneumatic actuators one failed. The actuator shaft buna seals got brittle and leaked based on too much heat. Two of us put in 2.206s trying to figure out what failed. Information was terribly sparse.  As VY controversy pick up steam and the politicians got involved, the NRC got sensitive to their credibility. Many months later in an inspection report (and LER), the IR disclosed VY put in inferior environmental grade SRVs in the plant. They needed Type I SRVs, but there were no replacements available. The vendor talked them into putting in type II SRVs. The heat damage these guys. I don’t think the NRC gave permission via a public discloser it is ok to put information inferior grade SRVs into the plant. Why didn’t the NRc demand a 50:59 to allow VY to put inferior grade SRVs into the plant?

At this point, I felt the NRC lost control of enforcing environmental and safety regulations on the SRVs. I feel it is happening all over the industry. I feel 1000 times more sure it is still going on today. Any third world reactor can run at 100%. It is much more difficult to align the plant for the worst design event.

Pilgrim has the worst LOOP rate in the industry. The average is about 2 LOOPS per lifetime. LOOP rates are calculated into all violations and all sorts of other issues in the plant. The standard-generic rate for safety analysis and violations is about 3.5 LOOPs per lifetime. Pilgrim’s LOOP rate is beyond 21 LOOPs and we aren’t counting in the early years. Pilgrim’s is seventeen times worst than the inputted into safety analysis rate. One wonders why the real LOOP rate as penalty, isn’t inputted into all violations and safety analysis?

The OIG by me and others think this branch of the NRC as highly dysfunctional. We consider the OIG as a paper tiger. I had discussions with a high OIG official concerning the OIG’s investigation on San Onofre defective steam generator and the NRC response to this. He talked about the OIG is severely hemmed in because the they can’t challenge any NRC’s staff inspections and safety analysis. He talked about using tricky interview and investigative techniques to write up the San Onofre. The OIG needs to gear up with plant and oversight expertized to challenge any staff evaluation or activity at any plant. We think this OIG restriction comes from the utilities big bucks through the politicians influence over the NRC, limiting the capabilities of the OIG.

Loops and paper tiger OIG

My Pilgrim 2013 2.206

March 7, 2013

Bill Borchardt

Executive Director for Operations

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Washington, DC 20555-0001

Dear Mr. Bochardt,

Request an emergency and for a exigent bases, that the Pilgrim Nuclear plant be immediately shut down.

Don't tell me just before the Nor'easter Nimo struck the Pilgrim plant with a leaking safety relief valve and down at 80%, Entergy was intending to operate that plant with a defective leaking safety relief valve till the next refuel outage? Tell it ain't so. It certainly looks like with the current leak today that is intending to operate till next month.

Is the game plan today to incrementally increase reactor power from 94% by 1% to see if a new SRV leak is getting worse?

Timeline:

1) New three stage safety relief valves installed in the plant around May 2011.

2) First leak and shut down on Dec, 26. 2011 (SRV RV-203-3D).

3) Second leak and shut down on Jan 20, 2013 (SRV RV-203-3B).

4) Third leak occurred a few weeks later and the plant was at a restricted to 84% power...the Nemo blizzard Feb 9, 2013 tripped the plant. The NRC promised these valves are fixed before startup. (SRV RV-203-3B).

5) Basically, they operated for 20 days at 100% power operation post shutdown, then reported on Feb 27 the plant is operating at 94% power with no explained reason until today. The reason for the down power was kept secret from the public.

6) Today March 7, 2013 I called the NRC's public relation people and the agency told me they had indications of a leak and that is why the plant is at a restricted power level. 

Don't forget the repetitive nature of the recently broken scram discharge volume vent and drain valves...implies Entergy is incapable of maintaining safety components of a nuclear plant.

The repeated nature of the failure of the safety relief valves means Entergy doesn't know the mechanism of the failure...it is a common mode failure. The design and manufacture of these valves are defective and it is extremely unsafe to operate a nuclear plant with all safety relief valves being INOP. A condition adverse to quality...

The NRC should have made a public comment about the new leaking safety relief when they first became aware of th leak. The implication is the agency was going to allow the plant to operate with unsafe SRVs until the refueling outage next month. The NRC is involved in a serious cover-up of an extremely unsafe operation of a nuclear power.

1) Request an immediate shutdown the Pilgrim Plant.

2) The is the second time I requested a special NRC inspection concerning the defective SRV valves.

3) Not allow the plant to restart Pilgrim until they fully understand the past failure mechanisms of the four bad new three stage safety relief valves.

(April 18 2017-again below, I request the paperwork trail with how this got to the OIG and its disposition of my request)

4) Request the OIG investigate this NRC cover-up to keep an unsafe nuclear plant at power.

Update  April 6

I doubt anything will change. It was a pleasant discussion. They are captured by the monstrous system just like everyone else.

To Michael Mulligan

CC

Cole, Levar Wong, Jimmy

Today at 12:19 PM

Mr. Mulligan,

 

Thank you for taking the time to meet with us this morning.  The meeting was very informative and forthright.  You provided us valuable material about the application of 10 CFR 2.206 from the petitioner’s perspective.  Please reach out to any of us if you think of anything that can help us in our audit.

 

Many thanks,

 

Deyanara Gonzalez Lainez, MBA, MSM

Auditor

Nuclear Reactors Safety Audit Team

Office of the Inspector General

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

*I received this email on Good Friday. I thought I was being spammed. I knew this was a holiday for the NRC employees. I looked at the document carefully, figured out it was the real deal. Within a hours, I got a call back from the OIG official.

Gov bureaucrats are usually very sensitive with sending something on a holiday. Sending it on a particular holiday can highlight the agenda of the meeting sometimes.

So I figure, I am going to be crucified or made the savior of the nuclear industry.

This is the only 2.206 that ever got past the prehearing process with me. It was successful in many ways. I got a prime example in Pilgrim where this process completely broke down.   

Dear Mr. Mulligan:

 

The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is conducting the Audit of NRC’s 10 CFR 2.206 Petition Review Process.  Your petition filed on March 26, 2015, regarding the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station and Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plan, is part of the audit sample selected for analysis.  We would like to meet with you to discuss any insights you have on the 10 CFR 2.206 petition review process from the petitioner’s perspective and any specific concerns you had about the review of this petition.  Your petition and its supplements are in the NRC's Agencywide Documents, Access and Management System (ADAMS) under Accession No. ML15090A487, ML15198A091, ML15286A003, and the Final Director’s Decision under ML16054A731.

 

This OIG audit began on February 13, 2017, and its objective is to determine whether NRC staff follow agency guidance consistently in reviewing 10 CFR 2.206 petitions, and take steps to ensure appropriate information supports NRC decisions on 10 CFR 2.206 petitions.

 

If you agree to this meeting, can you please let us know when you might be available to meet next week? The meeting will take about an hour and will be conducted as a team conference call.  Please provide us the best number to call you.

 

 

Respectfully,

 

 

Deyanara Gonzalez Lainez, MBA, MSM

Auditor

My response

I appreciate your interest in me. I never have any confidentiality or anonymity needs in any of this. Sure, at your convenience next week. Just name the date and time. I will make myself available for the discussion.

A more controversial 2.206 would be the one surrounding the SRVs at Pilgrim in 2013. It shows where the 2.206 process utterly failed its intended purpose. But we can get to my themes going your way. 

Can you follow all the rules, but not meet the intent of the will with all the people of the USA?

Our highest national security priority is our collective faith in government...trusting our government. I love the USA with all of my heart.

( I love our adversarial court system)     

Sincerely,

Mike Mulligan

Hinsdale, NH