https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/poll-shows-us-tumbling-in-worlds-regard-under-trump/2017/06/26/87a4f1bc-5857-11e7-840b-512026319da7_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_worldpoll-806pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.6b5a193c4839Poll shows U.S. tumbling in world’s regard under TrumpThe inside track on Washington politics.By Isaac Stanley-Becker and Scott Clement By Isaac Stanley-Becker and Scott ClementJune 26 at 8:00 PMBERLIN — President Trump has alarmed citizens of the nation’s closest allies and others worldwide, diminishing the standing of the United States in their eyes, according to a wide-ranging international study released Monday.But in the survey of 37 countries, Russia is a bright spot for Trump. As beleaguered as the president is at home, a majority of Russians say they have confidence in him. And Russians’ attitudes toward the United States have improved since Trump took office.Elsewhere, though, and with remarkable speed, Trump’s presidency has taken a toll on the United States’ image abroad…
New details emerge in USS Fitzgerald collision investigation
By CNN Published: June 26, 2017, 9:09 pm
(CNN) — Five of the seven Navy sailors who died aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Fitzgerald when it collided with a cargo ship off the east coast of Japan may have been almost instantly “incapacitated” and died quickly, according to a preliminary Navy analysis, a defense official told CNN.
That assessment is based on an examination of the point of impact and the berths in which the sailors were likely sleeping.
The two ships collided on the Fitzgerald’s starboard side directly next to the berthing area, where sailors sleep. The impact ripped the Fitzgerald open and caused water to pour in.
The official also noted the Navy is trying to corroborate accounts which suggest that the two sailors who weren’t almost instantly “incapacitated” attempted to help the other five escape the incoming water.
“But at some point the ship somehow lost communication,” with the two sailors and they also perished, according to the official. All seven were found dead in the flooded area…
Report: US warship was warned of collisionA U.S. warship that collided with a container vessel earlier this month was reportedly warned ahead of the collision.An incident report by the ACX Crystal's captain said the Philippine cargo ship flashed lights warning the USS Fitzgerald was on course to cross its path, Reuters reported.
She is in. What about the other two positions.
Her current term is set to expire Friday, which would leave the NRC one seat shy of a quorum on the five-seat commission. Catherine Douglas Moran will coverThe gutless democrats will renominate her just because she is a women. Remember all the talk about obstructing Trump. If they don't vote on her she is out of the NRC.
Svinicki's confirmation vote set for today
Kristine Svinicki could be reconfirmed to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as soon as this evening, with the Senate set for a final vote on her nomination.
2. As with most mishaps, a series of factors often contribute to failure. This mishap is no different. A fundamental lack of procedural compliance was the principal cause but contributing factors included: a lack of effective leadership; a culture of complacency and overconfidence by some members of Crew 101 combined with a lack of experience and expertise; and a systemic failure to effectively arid completely resolve deficiencies. The investigation, supplemental investigation and endorsements adequately capture the proximate issues and co11'ective actions.3. Several key senior-level leadership oppmtunities to intervene were either missed or poorly executed. Although intervention by leadership above the unit level might not have prevented this incident, leadership should have recognized and addressed the following shortcomings: failure to follow the governing instruction for Crew tumover, specifically not executing the necessary underway demonstration; lack of involvement by LCSRON ONE and DESRON SEVEN in the material assessment during the Exchange of Command; lack of evaluation or certification for the LCSRON ONE Engineering Training Team in accordance with the LCS Training Manual; failure of Crew 101 to complete Engineering Assessments- Pacific's recommended actions prior to conducting Exchange of Command as well as Crew 101 's failure to successfully complete full deployment certification. Perhaps most importantly, both the parent ISIC and the operational !SIC recognized they had a Crew whose perfmmance was below that expected of a deployed unit and little to no mitigating actions were taken. It was not an issue of recognizing the performance but more of taking effective action to correct it. These 63 FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLYSubj: COMMAND INVESTIGATION INTO THE COMBINING GEAR CASUALTY ON BOARD USS FORT WORTH (LCS 3) ON 12 JAN 16
opportunities were largely missed due to organizational issues above the LCS unit level. Clear, unambiguous command and control functions—who owns what, when —above the unit level are mtssmg.
Cease all commercial shipyard work and focus it on fleet maintenance and rebuilding our navy.
Patton also noted that the transmission and generation outages and extreme weather in the South led to 22 days of conservative operations in load pockets and three days with maximum generation alerts in April. An emergency maximum generation event on April 4 was spurred by the loss of a large nuclear unit, apparently Entergy’s Grand Gulf 1 in Mississippi, which the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported going out of service because of a condensate leak.
Permanently Closed U.S. Nuclear Reactor Should Be "Autopsied"
Examination could identify potential safety flaws in operating reactors with parts from same controversial French forgeTAKOMA PARK, Md. - A permanently closed nuclear reactor in Florida that, documents show, likely has a manufactured weakness in a vital safety component produced by a controversial French forge that also supplied components to 17 still operating U.S. reactors, should be “autopsied,” says Beyond Nuclear, a leading national anti-nuclear watchdog group.
The Crystal River Unit 3 reactor in Red Level, Florida, was permanently closed in 2013 and is in the decommissioning process. Research by Beyond Nuclear staff found that the Florida reactor likely shares an at-risk safety-related component manufactured at the French Le Creusot forge that is currently shut down and under international investigation for the loss of quality control of its manufacturing process and falsification of quality assurance documentation. The Crystal River reactor pressure vessel head was supplied by a factory at Chalon-Saint Marcel that assembles pieces forged at Le Creusot, both Areva-owned factories.
“The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission should seize upon this opportunity and ‘autopsy’ Crystal River 3,” said Paul Gunter, Director of the Reactor Oversight Project at Beyond Nuclear. “A close examination of Crystal River could provide critical safety data to inform the decision-making on whether the seventeen U.S. reactors still operating with at-risk Le Creusot parts should also be materially tested,” Gunter said.
The Le Creusot factory forges large ingots into safety-related components such as reactor pressure vessels, pressure vessel lids and steam generators.
The French industrial facility was discovered to be operating with lax quality control procedures that allowed the introduction of an excessive amount of carbon contamination into its manufacturing process, a problem technically known as “carbon segregation.”
The excess carbon weakens the component’s “fracture toughness” in the face of the reactor’s extreme pressure and temperature. Failure of a weakened component during operation would initiate the loss of cooling to the reactor and a serious nuclear accident.
At-risk safety components potentially containing these flaws, and manufactured at the Creusot Forge, have been delivered to reactors in France, other countries and the United States over a period of decades.
The NRC published Areva’s list in January 2017 identifying the 17 operational U.S. reactors with the at-risk components from the French forge. However, the federal agency did not disclose that Crystal River also installed a Le Creusot-manufactured replacement pressure vessel head during the October 2003 refueling outage and then operated the unit for nearly a decade before permanently closing.
“This information provides the incentive to do material testing on a component here in the U.S. from the suspect forge,” Gunter added. “It is only common sense, when presented in effect with the corpse, that the NRC should autopsy Crystal River before the body is buried,” he continued. ”This is a chance to better understand scientifically what the potential risks are at operating reactors with Le Creusot parts rather than relying on computer modeling, simulation or speculation,” Gunter said.
“For the sake of science and public safety, it is fortuitous that Crystal River, which operated for nearly a decade with a possible Le Creusot replacement component, is now permanently shut down and can be materially examined,” Gunter concluded.
The carbon segregation problem was first discovered at the Areva-designed EPR reactor still under construction, and now well over budget and behind schedule, at the Flamanville Unit 3 in Normandy, France. French safety authorities are investigating and are expected to make a decision in September on whether to continue with the troubled Flamanville reactor which experts say does not meet the fracture resistance standards.
Beyond Nuclear petitioned the NRC on January 24, 2017 to suspend operations at the 17 affected U.S. reactors pending thorough inspections and material testing for the carbon contamination of the at-risk components and to open an investigation into the potential falsification of Le Creusot quality assurance documentation. To date, the NRC has accepted the petition in part for further review and in part referred the potential falsification of documents to the federal agency’s allegations unit.
Only one affected nuclear plant, Dominion Energy’s Millstone 2 in Connecticut, has conducted a visual inspection on a Creusot Forge component at the behest of the state energy authority, but did not observe any defects or cracking.
However, a French newspaper revealed last week that metal specimens harvested from the Flamanville Unit 3 reactor pressure vessel, and subjected to shock resilience testing, fell dramatically below regulatory performance standards. A newly surfaced memo (jn French) from a leading safety physicist at the prestigious Institute of Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety said that, if subjected to violent pressure-thermal shock, the EPR reactor pressure vessel could shatter. Such a rupture could lead to a major loss of coolant accident and subsequently a nuclear meltdown.
###Beyond Nuclear aims to educate and activate the public about the connections between nuclear power and nuclear weapons and the need to abandon both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear advocates for an energy future that is sustainable, benign and democratic.
House Democrats demand info on Michael Flynn’s alleged Saudi Arabia visit over Russia nuclear plant deal
WASHINGTON — House Democrats are demanding that Michael Flynn disclose more information about an alleged trip to Saudi Arabia to promote a possible joint U.S.-Russian project there that he failed to disclose when he renewed his security clearance.
President Trump’s former national security adviser, already in legal trouble, reportedly made a trip to the Middle East in the middle of the 2016 campaign, when he was a senior Trump adviser.
According to Newsweek, he was there to try to negotiate a joint project with Americans and Russians to build nuclear power plants in the Middle East. That trip was not disclosed when he renewed his top security clearance ahead of becoming Trump’s top national security official, with access to almost all of the U.S.’s top secrets.
The top Democrats on the House Oversight and House Foreign Affairs committees are now demanding he share any documents he has from those trips.
“In contrast to this report, we have no record of Gen. Flynn reporting this trip or any contacts with foreign officials on his security clearance renewal application or in his interview with security clearance investigators,” wrote Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) and Eliot Engel (D-Bronx).
Shortly after the trip, Saudi Arabia and Russia announced a $100 billion agreement to build 16 nuclear power plants in the country.
They say the ship bridge might not be manned during this. What a perfect opportunity to take over the ship.Donald J. TrumpVerified account @realDonaldTrump 24 minutes ago"While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!
Overnight Energy: Perry questions role of carbon dioxide in climate changeBy 06/19/17 05:46 PM EDTPERRY QUESTIONS CARBON'S ROLE IN CLIMATE: Energy Secretary Rick Perry said he doesn't believe carbon dioxide is the "primary control knob" behind climate change on Monday, a position at odds with the conclusions of most climate scientists.Asked by CNBC on Monday if he believes carbon dioxide is "the primary control knob for the temperature of the Earth and for climate," Perry said no, and that "most likely the primary control knob is the ocean waters and this environment we live in.""This shouldn't be a debate about is the climate changing, is man having an affect on it? Yeah, we are," Perry said. "The question should be, just how much and what are the policy changes that we need to make to affect that?"Perry's position goes against the scientific evidence presented by most federal, international and private sector researchers, who have concluded that increasing greenhouse gas emissions, driven primarily by human activity, have directly contributed to higher temperatures around the globe.Perry becomes the second of President Trump's energy and environmental officials to go on CNBC's "Squawk Box" to dispute well-established climate science. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt said on the same show in March that he "does not believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor" to climate change.
Dozens of new cracks discovered at Belgian nuclear reactorsPublished time: 11 Jun, 2017 04:00 Edited time: 11 Jun, 2017 09:34The latest ultrasonic inspections have detected a substantial number of new micro cracks in nuclear reactors at the Tihange and Doel power plants in Belgium since the last study conducted three years ago, Belgian and German media report.At least 70 additional cracks were uncovered at the Tihange 2 nuclear reactor during an ultrasonic inspection in April of this year, Belga news agency reports. Some 300 new flaws have also allegedly been discovered at the Doel 3 reactor tank during a check last November, according to tagesschau.de.Belgian Interior Minister, Jan Jambon, confirmed the micro fissures at Tihange 2 following a parliamentary inquiry posed by Green Group leader Jean-Marc Nollet, DW reports. The reported new cracks at Doel 3 have not yet been confirmed.The cracks do not pose any danger to operations at the nuclear plants, says operator Engie-Electrabel, which carried out the inspections under instructions from the Belgian Atomic Regulatory Authority (FANC).The operator said the new flaws were discovered due to a “different positioning of the ultrasound device.” Engie-Electrabel maintains that as long as cracks do not expand, they do not pose a danger to the reactor’s operations.Branding Engie-Electrabel “irresponsible,” environmentalist group, Nucléaire Stop, has criticized the operator for still running Tihange 2 reactor despite a 2.22 percent increase in faults.In February 2015, FANC said 3,149 cracks had been found at Tihange, while 13,047 were discovered at Doel. The operator must now submit additional analyzes of the situation by September.Tihange lies only 60 kilometers (about 37 miles) from the German border, while Doel is 150 kilometers away, near Antwerp. Germans living in the area close to this border have been exerting pressure on the government to force Belgium to shut down the aging reactors.Both of the reactors have experienced leaks and cracks for some time now. Doel 3 has a capacity of 1,006 megawatts, while Tihange 2 a capacity of 1,008 megawatts. The reactors are almost 35-years-old but are still generating about 14 percent of the nation’s power capacity.
…South Korea’s President Moon Jae-In said that South Korea is not safe from the risk of earthquake, and a nuclear accident caused by a quake can have such a devastating impact. Photo: Bloomber…South Korea to scrap all plans to build new nuclear reactorsSouth Korea’s President Moon Jae-In says he will dump the atomic-centric power supply and open the door to the post-nuclear eraSeoul: South Korea’s new President Moon Jae-In vowed on Monday to scrap all plans to build new nuclear reactors as he seeks to steer Asia’s fourth-largest economy clear of atomic power.Moon, who swept to power with a landslide election win last month, campaigned on promises to phase out atomic energy and embrace what he says are safer and more environmentally-friendly power sources including solar and wind power.The Fukushima nuclear meltdown in Japan sparked by a powerful earthquake in March 2011 sparked widespread public concern in neighbouring South Korea over its own aged atomic plants.“We will dump our atomic-centric power supply and open the door to the post-nuclear era,” Moon said in a speech marking the decommissioning of the country’s first nuclear reactor, the Kori-1.“I will scrap all preparations to build new reactors currently underway and will not extend lifespan of current reactors,” he said.Many reactors are located dangerously close to residential areas in the densely-populated nation, Moon said, warning of “unimaginable consequences” in case of a nuclear meltdown.“South Korea is not safe from the risk of earthquake, and a nuclear accident caused by a quake can have such a devastating impact,” he said.South Korea currently operates 25 nuclear reactors, which generate about 30% of the country’s power supply.Many of them will see their lifespans expire between 2020 to 2030, with decisions on whether to extend some of their operations set to be made during Moon’s 2017-2022 term.Moon, during his presidential campaign, vowed to try to eventually shut down all nuclear power plants across the country, although doing so will likely take decades.Major corruption scandals involving state nuclear power agencies in recent years and a series of earthquakes last year further fanned public distrust and concerns over the safety of the plants.Bottom of FormMoon on Monday also vowed to decommission “as soon as possible” another aged atomic plant in the southeast, whose original 30-year lifespan had been extended by another decade to 2022.He also vowed to introduce “post-coal” policy in line with his campaign promise to abandon coal power to ease air pollution in the country, which has the highest level of small air pollutant particles among OECD member nations.But experts say shutdown of coal power plants could dramatically hike utility cost in the country where coal power generates about 40% of entire power needs.
Saturday, August 30, 2014:The Local Cult of Teenager Death: Brattleboro Ford and the Local NewspaperThis bridge should be torned down or the entrances should be fence off. Could create a fenced walk way across the railroad bed.
Recovery mission continues: Missing man identified as Hinsdale, N.H., resident
HINSDALE N.H. — Andrew Laffond, 29, from Hinsdale, was seen falling off an old railway bridge and into the Connecticut River around 8 p.m. Wednesday night.
Thursday morning and afternoon, the New Hampshire Fish and Game department surveyed the scene to see if it was safe to send divers into the river, while officers from the Hinsdale Police Department offered assistance and surveyed the banks.
Laffond was with a friend walking along a bridge linking Brattleboro, Vt., and Hinsdale when he fell. Two fisherman saw the fall from the shore.
Attempts to find Laffond on shore have proven unsuccessful. The New Hampshire Fish and Game department has been conducting a recovery mission, meaning they don't expect to find Laffond alive. Officers have traveled from across the state to find Laffond.
Lt. David Walsh, from New Hampshire Fish and Game, said he didn't have "high hopes" for recovering a body on Thursday. The department sent out four divers around 2 p.m. and were waiting on a sonar device.
"It's a very strong current and there is no visibility," Walsh said. "So it's the worst diving scenario possible, and if it becomes too dangerous we have to pull up."
The sonar device should work regardless of visibility. If nothing can be recovered through diving and sonar, Walsh said, the next step would be to "hurry up and wait." The water from the river should go down and visibility should increase within the next few days. Divers will rotate each day that the recovery mission continues.
Walsh has called the Vernon Dam to see if officials could decrease the water, or put up a barricade, but he said nothing could be done.
The rail bridge has been inactive for as long as Police Chief Todd Faulkner has been in Hinsdale, at least 21 years. He said the bridge gets a lot of foot traffic. "We know that it is usually [used] by individuals who don't want to be monitored," he said. Brattleboro's homeless population uses the bridge, according to Faulkner. It's not common for people to fall off the bridge, he said. It's not illegal to walk across the bridge, but Faulkner has had complaints about kids jumping off during the summer time and complaints about parties.
Faulkner confirmed that there was an ongoing open investigation into the incident.
The river is still being used for recreational purposes. Walsh said if someone finds anything relating to the recovery they should call 911. It's possible that a body could float down the river. Walsh recounted an incident where a body had floated 38 miles from Charlestown, N.H. to Vermont. If nothing is found within a few days, Walsh will be calling Massachusetts to expand the search.
The search started Wednesday night after authorities received a call for help around 8:25 p.m. The Brattleboro Police and Fire departments, Rescue Inc., and the Hinsdale Police and Fire departments attempted to find Laffonds's body but were unsuccessful. The area of the river he fell in was in New Hampshire territory, but Brattleboro rescuers contributed to the operation because of their proximity, equipment and because they have trained divers, Brattleboro Fire Chief Mike Bucossi said.
The search and rescue team had rafts deployed within five minutes of their arrival and set up a base of operations at the Riverside Drive Industrial Complex. Other departments were checking the man's home and making search efforts on the shore, Brattleboro Fire Captain Ron Hubbard said. However, divers determined after getting into the water that the situation was unsafe in which to dive.
"It's murky. It's swift. There's a flow of debris," Hubbard said.
Like New Hampshire Fish and Game, The Brattleboro Fire Department was operating a recovery mission.
"No one saw him come out of the water," Bucossi said.
However, Rescue Inc.was on standby. Rescue Inc. Chief Drew Hazelton said he had medical personnel on site to serve as a support unit. Rescue Inc. left the scene around 10 p.m., Hazelton said. Bucossi said his team started packing up around 10:30 p.m.
Conditions are expected to improve as the weather warms up and water lowers.
"We hope and pray for the best," Walsh said. "But we're prepared for the worst."
