The Popperville Town Hall

Saturday, September 14, 2019

Mike Mulligan, Pilgrim decommissioning, NRC, Ma AG Healey: Truncated Adams Searches, erratic legal E-filing and Dead NRC OIG E-filing complaint system

What do you think, my timing of this is suspicious?

Healey sues NRC over Pilgrim license transfer
By Colin A. Young / State House News Service

FridayPosted Sep 27, 2019 at 1:33 PM

BOSTON - Attorney General Maura Healey is suing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over its recent approval of the transfer of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station license.

The attorney general lodged the suit Wednesday in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit over the NRC’s decision last month to approve the transfer of Pilgrim’s license from Entergy to Holtec International.

Healey, Gov. Charlie Baker’s energy and environment secretariat and members of the state’s Congressional delegation mounted an effort to block the transfer unless the NRC held a full hearing on concerns over Holtec’s ability to safely decommission the nuclear plant, the company’s financial stability and its alleged involvement in a kickback scheme. No hearing was held before the NRC approved the transfer.

“The NRC has repeatedly rubber stamped Holtec’s plans, despite serious concerns about the companyâ€™s financial capacity, technical qualifications, and competency to safely decommission and clean up the Pilgrim site,” Healey said in a statement. “We are asking the Court to exercise its authority to vacate the NRC’s misguided and unsupported actions.”

The NRC declined to comment on Healey’s lawsuit. When the agency issued its order approving the license transfer, it refuted some of Healey’s arguments.

***Dear NRC Chairwomen Svinicki,

I have gotten word the degraded operation(truncated searches)with the NRC Adams (public portal for all NRC documents) are related to the late e-filing by Attorney General Maura Healey surrounding Pilgrim's decommissioning. The e-filing system was degraded similar to Adams or components supporting the e-filing system and the NRC knew the e-filing system was degraded for months. The NRC intentionally lied to the Massachusetts Attorney General in a official decommissioning process or legal proceeding. Worst case, Holtec license could have been rescinded and another contractor could have replaced Holtec. I have talked extensively to AG Healey about this.

I request a independent comprehensive and historical investigation on the degraded e filing system and the NRC response to the late e-filing to Ma AG Healey?

I would asked did the NRC shutdown the e filing to do maintenance while you were submitting your legal document to do maintenance (when AG Healey was using the system)? Was it negligent the NRC employees or contractors didn't verify if somebody was on the e system or using it.

Heavens help us all if NRC had a employee waiting in standby to sabotage Healey submittance??

This all began in the PDA department with Adams's truncated and inaccurate searches. You staff treated me in a unprofessional manner. I suspected a coverup with insufficient IT infrastructure or maintenance. Maybe not enough IT people or proper training to keep the system reliable. Check out my email stream to the PDR department?

Ultimately unreliable Adams effected everyone who used Adams for months and obstructed and disrupted public participation!

Unbelievable! I can't believe this could get worst. It just did! Your NRC IT system is on fire with unreliability. ON Sept 14,2019 at around 8:55am I attemped to submit a simular complaint to the NRC's OIG "on line" e-complaint form. The NRC OIG wouldn't accept my complaint and reject it. The below techical gibberish words is the message I recieved. Can you explain it? Could you please pass on my complaint to the OIG. Somebody needs to explain why this happened. I am terrified when I send this to you by normal e-mail my complaint it is going to get rejected by the NRC. I am going to need from you a verification message that my complaint was recieved by the NRC OIG because you system has become so unreliable.

"Access Denied

You don't have permission to access "http://www.nrc.gov/HTBIN/nrc_mail" on this server.

Reference #18.760f6168.1568465523.c4b1174"

I am going to need a investigation from you on the below:

1) The truncated document searches in Adams

2) The erratic operation of the e-filing system with Ma AG Healey leading to a late filing on decommissioning.

3) The dead NRC OIG e-filing complaint form that occurred to me this morning.

I never have any confidentiality or anonymity needs what so ever.

Mike Mulligan

Hinsdale NH

16032094206

Friday, September 13, 2019

Ma AG Healey Over Pilgrim's Decommissioning: The E-filing System Was Degraded or Erratic for Months Prior TO The Filing

I have gotten word the degraded operation(truncated searches)with the NRC Adams (public portal for all NRC documents) are related to the late e-filing by Attorney General Maura Healey surrounding Pilgrim's decommissioning. The e filing system was degraded similar to Adams or components supporting the e-filing system and the NRC knew the e-filing system was degraded for months. The NRC intentionally lied to the Massachusetts Attorney General in a official decommissioning process or legal proceeding. Worst case, Holtec license could have been rescinded and another contractor could have replaced Holtec. I have talked extensively to AG Healey about this.

I request a independent comprehensive and historical investigation on the degraded e filing system and the NRC response to the late e-filing to Ma AG Healey?

Mike Mulligan

Hinsdale NH

16032094206

Our Goverment Shouldn't Be Subsidizing Nuclear Plant Fuel?

It seems the free and competitive market is a thing of the past.

Exelon’s Byron 2 Completes First Insertion of Westinghouse Accident-Tolerant Fuel

Exelon’s Byron Unit 2 nuclear power plant has completed installation of EnCore Fuel, Westinghouse Electric Co.’s accident-tolerant fuel (ATF) solution, marking the start of the first test of uranium silicide fuel pellets in a commercial nuclear reactor.

The installation, completed during the plant’s scheduled 18-day spring refueling outage this April, but publicly announced on Sept. 5, marks a major milestone for Westinghouse’s development of the new fuel, which is part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Accident Tolerant Fuel Program, an industry-led effort to deliver the new family of robust fuels to market by 2026.
ATF is an industry concept used to describe new technologies—in the form of new cladding and/or fuel pellet designs—that further enhance the safety and performance of nuclear materials. While ATF technologies have been under development since the early 2000s, they have received a marked boost in the wake of the Fukushima accident in March 2011 as the DOE aggressively implemented plans under its congressionally mandated EATF program to develop ATFs for existing light water reactors. The program today casts a wide net of collaboration that includes several U.S. utilities, universities, and the Electric Power Research Institute, and under it, two vendors have already installed ATF concepts at two U.S. reactors.

A First for Uranium Silicide Pellets

The Byron 2 installation involved insertion of two lead test assemblies that contain chromium-coated zirconium cladding for enhanced oxidation and corrosion resistance, higher density ADOPT pellets—which is a chromia (Cr2O3) and alumina (Al2O3) doped UO2 pellet—for improved fuel economics, and uranium silicide pellets, Westinghouse said on Sept. 5.

According to Westinghouse, EnCore Fuel has the “game-changing” potential to significantly increase public safety through revolutionary new materials, while at the same time improving the economics of plant operation through longer fuel cycles and enhanced flexible power operation capability.

Westinghouse’s, which is seeking a grant totaling more than $93 million from the DOE to develop EnCore Fuel, plans to deploy the new fuel to market in two phases...

Prairie Island Steam Generator Comes from Saint Marcel and Might Be Defective

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-edf-safety/frances-asn-boss-says-at-lest-five-edf-nuclear-reactors-affected-by-anomalies-figaro-idUSKCN1VX0N7

France flags welding fault at five or more EDF nuclear reactors

PARIS (Reuters) - At least five nuclear reactors operated by French utility EDF might have problems with weldings on their steam generators, a fault which has raised fears of closures, France’s nuclear regulator was quoted as saying.

State-controlled EDF, whose shares were down 0.9% on Thursday, had said on Tuesday it had identified issues with weldings of some existing reactors, sparking a stock price fall of nearly 7%.

France has the world’s second-largest fleet of nuclear reactors behind the United States, but a spate of technical problems, coupled with hitches at reactors under construction, has tarnished EDF’s image as a leader in nuclear technology.

EDF has exported to China, Finland, South Africa and South Korea, with Britain also set to use its equipment.

“At least five nuclear reactors are affected by this problem,” Le Figaro newspaper quoted Bernard Doroszczuk, head of the ASN regulator, as saying.

“EDF has advised that in around a week it will give an exact number of facilities affected,” Doroszczuk added.

https://www.montelnews.com/en/story/at-least-5-french-reactors-affected-by-weld-issues--report/1042135

At least 5 French reactors affected by weld issues – report

(Montel) At least five French nuclear reactors are affected by a welding fault in steam generators, the head of France’s ASN nuclear safety authority told French daily Le Figaro late on Wednesday.

"EDF has said it will give more details on the number of components concerned in a about week… so it’s not over,” said Bernard Doroszczuk.

The comments came after operator EDF said on Tuesday that “several” French reactors were affected by substandard welding on some of their steam generators and that it was investigating the matter.

20 generators
The ASN said on Tuesday that “potentially” 20 steam generators were concerned by the faulty welds manufactured by Framatome at its Saint Marcel factory in the south of France since 2008, adding it would release more information in “the coming days”.

An official at France’s IRSN, the technical arm of the ASN, told Montel EDF and Framatome were confident that inspections on steam generators would reveal they were safe.

Steam generators are key components that convert water into steam from heat produced in a reactor core. Each of France’s 58 reactors typically holds between two and four steam generators.

The latest welding problems comes amid concern about other substandard welding at EDF’s new-generation European pressurised reactor (EPR) being built in Flamanville.

https://www.energy-reporters.com/industry/edf-admits-to-reactor-welding-issues-in-france/

EDF admits to reactor welding issues in France

By Energy Reporters | 12.09.2019 | Industry

The French state-run electricity provider EDF has admitted to possible weaknesses with components, including improper welding, used in reactors in France.

Shares slumped in EDF, which said Framatome, a company partially owned by EDF that supplies atomic equipment, had reported the issues.

The French Nuclear Safety Authority said around 20 reactors built after 2008 might be affected.

The authority reported that test results appeared to have been falsified and it had alerted prosecutors to possible fraud.

An EDF spokesman said it was too early to say if any of its 58 reactors would close. He said the safety authority had been informed this week.

He added that Framatome said it had not used the same welding technique in all of the reactors.

A factory making steam generators used in nuclear reactors had purportedly failed to follow standard procedures on the welds, EDF said.

The power giant said Framatome warned of “a deviation from technical standards governing the manufacture of nuclear-reactor components”.

“Post-Fukushima, safety rules are so stringent that unplanned halts are becoming more and more frequent,” said Tancrede Fulop, a Morningstar analyst. “That is undermining the nuclear case for a low-cost, base-load production of low-carbon electricity.”

The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) said last year that 71.7 per cent of France’s electricity came from nuclear sources, the world’s highest proportion.

Framatome’s factory in Saint-Marcel, central France, supplies heavy equipment for the sector, providing components for 106 reactors around the world.

EDF said the problem concerned components already installed in reactors and items being prepared for future installation.

“EDF, along with Framatome, has been conducting in-depth investigations to identify all affected components and reactors, as well as to ascertain their fitness for service,” EDF announced.

In 2016 EDF checked almost a third of its nuclear reactors after finding manufacturing problems in components made by Framatome, then called Areva, at its factory in Creusot.

That forced longer-than-anticipated maintenance outages, reducing EDF’s output.

EDF has recently had to delay the launch a new-generation nuclear reactor. The Flamanville reactor in Normandy is now not due to begin operations until 2022, a decade behind schedule.

The utility is leading the controversial £19.6 billion project to build two similar reactors at Hinkley Point in Somerset on the southwestern English coast. They are due to begin operation in 2025.

Wednesday, September 11, 2019

Browns Ferry: Operators Denied Access To Safety Systems

Well, this is what you would see in a EMP bomb?

Power Reactor Event Number: 54266

Facility: BROWNS FERRY
Region: 2 State: AL
Unit: [1] [2] [3]
RX Type: [1] GE-4,[2] GE-4,[3] GE-4
NRC Notified By: RYAN GRIMME
HQ OPS Officer: THOMAS KENDZIA Notification Date: 09/11/2019
Notification Time: 03:10 [ET]
Event Date: 09/10/2019
Event Time: 19:34 [CDT]
Last Update Date: 09/11/2019

Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY
10 CFR Section:
50.72(b)(3)(ii)(B) - UNANALYZED CONDITION Person (Organization):
FRANK EHRHARDT (R2DO)

Unit SCRAM Code RX Crit Initial PWR Initial RX Mode Current PWR Current RX Mode

1 N Y 100 Power Operation 100 Power Operation

2 N Y 100 Power Operation 100 Power Operation

3 N Y 100 Power Operation 100 Power Operation

Event Text

UNANALYZED CONDITION DUE TO LIGHTNING STRIKE

"A lightning strike occurred at approximately 1502 CDT on 09/10/2019, and a resulting power surge damaged some of the security door card reader system equipment. However, this did not affect access to plant areas for personnel who were already within protected area. At 1830 on 09/10/2019, it was discovered that some of the oncoming night shift personnel could not access particular areas that required the use of security card readers. Extent of condition check at 1934 on 09/10/2019 determined that access to 1A and 3A Electric Board Rooms, which contain remote shutdown panels and Fire Safe Shutdown equipment. was prohibited for the night shift personnel. This condition is reportable under 10 CFR 50.72(b)(3)(ii)(B) - Any event or condition that results in the nuclear power plant being in an unanalyzed condition that significantly degrades plant safety. Access was restored to all plant areas at 2106 on 9/10/2019. No plant events occurred during the time frame that the 1A & 3A Electric Board Rooms inaccessible that would have required access to these areas.

"The NRC Resident Inspector has been notified."

Saturday, September 07, 2019

I Got An Idea, Don't Buy Any Russian Uranium For US Plants

The vast majority of uranium powering our reactors comes from Russia. How about just not buying Russian uranium.

This is setting up USA to subsidize uranium cost to the utilities.

White House Considering Direct Purchases of U.S. Mined Uranium

By Brinkwire on September 7, 2019 demestic

(Bloomberg) — The White House is considering a plan that would have the government directly purchase uranium from U.S. producers as it contemplates ways to revive the flagging domestic mining industry.

A group set up by President Donald Trump to study the issue is considering a request by the nuclear industry to use the Defense Production Act, a 68-year-old Cold War-era statute once invoked by President Harry Truman to help the steel industry. The plan calls for requiring the government to buy American uranium to replenish their stockpiles and for other purposes, Paul Goranson, chief operating officer for Energy Fuels Inc., said in an interview.

Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy Inc. unsuccessfully petitioned the White House to put quotas on foreign imports of uranium. The concept of direct government purchases of U.S. uranium was among ideas discussed during a roundtable with administration staff and the nuclear industry at the Old Executive Office Building earlier this week, Goranson said.

“They seem receptive to direct purchasing of material,” Goranson said. “The president intends to take bold action on this. It’s got his attention now.”

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Share Rise

Shares in U.S. uranium producers rose on the report. Energy Fuels jumped as much as 11% while Ur-Energy climbed as much as 10%. Cameco Corp. increased about 2%.

Trump in July rejected the Commerce Department’s recommendation that he impose quotas on uranium imports using a trade law tied to national security concerns that he invoked to impose tariffs on steel, solar panels and hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods. Instead, Trump said a fuller analysis was needed and he directed his administration to identify other options. He created a nuclear fuel working group comprised of six cabinet secretaries and several other top White House officials.

The Uranium Producers of America, which represents miners including Cameco, is requesting “federal actions facilitating domestic uranium production” of at least 7.5 million pounds per year by 2025 and 10 million pounds per year by 2030, according to a letter the Santa Fe, New Mexico, trade group sent to the working group last month. That includes millions of pounds via contracts with the Department of Defense, requirements that government-owned utilities buy domestic uranium, and the creation of a new “Federal Uranium Security Stockpile.”

“We may not be able to continue any operations without immediate relief from the impact of state-backed entities, which have distorted global prices and made it more difficult for free market mines in the U.S. to compete,” the group wrote in the letter, which included a request to direct payments to domestic uranium companies.

In a separate letter, the Nuclear Energy Institute, which represents nuclear reactor operators, also recommended the working group use the Defense Production Act to “accelerate the procurement” of domestic uranium as well as “incentivize” the annual purchase of domestic uranium through a tax credit for nuclear utilities.

In addition, the trade group urged expanding an Energy Department loan program to include domestic uranium projects and to ”modernize the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s regulatory regime to be more safety focused, risk-informed, timely, consistent, cost-contained, and transparent.”

(Updates with more details starting in seventh paragraph.)

Friday, September 06, 2019

How Does the Brunswick Plant Get To Be So Lucky

Electric Power
05 Sep 2019 | 19:41 UTC

Washington

Duke shuts Brunswick nuclear plant in North Carolina ahead of Hurricane Dorian

Author William Freebairn
Editor Keiron Greenhalgh
Commodity Electric Power

Washington — For the second time in a year, Duke Energy is shutting its two-unit Brunswick nuclear plant near Wilmington, North Carolina, in advance of the arrival of a hurricane.

Grand Gulf Had a Excellent August Capacity Factor

Pittleful before that.

Friday, August 23, 2019

China

I think the response to Trump and the USA is China is going are to make a bloody mess out of the Hong Kong protesters. That will make them look tougher to the USA, Hong Kong and the Chinese people. We are humiliating China.

I think this is going to make the HK protestors even more crazy, more confident... That is why China needs to go crazy on them...

Power Reactor	Event Number: 54266
Facility: BROWNS FERRY Region: 2 State: AL Unit: [1] [2] [3] RX Type: [1] GE-4,[2] GE-4,[3] GE-4 NRC Notified By: RYAN GRIMME HQ OPS Officer: THOMAS KENDZIA	Notification Date: 09/11/2019 Notification Time: 03:10 [ET] Event Date: 09/10/2019 Event Time: 19:34 [CDT] Last Update Date: 09/11/2019
Emergency Class: NON EMERGENCY 10 CFR Section: 50.72(b)(3)(ii)(B) - UNANALYZED CONDITION	Person (Organization): FRANK EHRHARDT (R2DO)