Thursday, October 25, 2012

Communication about Fort Calhoun to the NRC

...It is interesting I got a, after I sent my Oyster Creek superstorm e-mail to the NRC :
""MAILER-DAEMON@yahoo.com" Sorry, we were unable to deliver your message to the following ...Message expired for domain nrc.gov. Remote host said: 452 Too many recipients received this hour [RCPT_TO]"
I assumed my e-mail didn't ever get to the NRC. So this NRC phone call to me today about Oyster Creek hurricane Sandy says my e-mail did get past this yahoo DAEMON notification. I ask the inspector what does this DAEMON thing mean when I send e-mail to the NRC, he seemed to be aware people were getting it, he told me to just send it again.

I am still confused about the meaning of the MAILER-DAEMON notification after I send into the NRC ...but the indication is my stuff is still getting into the agency.
...So a utility get the best gold plate consigliore service from the NRC, while the public get cheap Wal-Mart little trained and overwhelmed opa people...disconnect from the operation of the plants.
Yea, but I got a lot of access from the NRC officials. Still I don't have access to foundational raw information.


...Is this anything?
Fort Calhoun on their red finding: "Design engineers had limited knowledge of GE AKD-5 switch gear which resulted in over-reliance on vendor knowledge and skill. 
VY with their SRV air actuator seals that failed "Entergy Engineering staff overly relied upon the vendor's recommendation and did not conduct an appropriate equivalency review on their own."  
...So I bumped into a ongoing NRC investigation. And the Region didn't have the professionalism and decently to say it is under investigation. We don’t know how seriously they took the environmental qualification problem in the containment until I showed up. With the link to the Popperville Town Hall I am trying to draw their attention to my Peach Bottom problem on the NRC, PB and VY on not calling containment components a 10 CFR 50.73(a)(2)(v)(D): "Any event or condition that could have prevented the fulfillment of the safety function of structures or systems that are needed to mitigate the consequences of an accident. Including wiring insulation and other plastic or rubber like material of the actuator or components."

I think they thought I had inside information and they were trying to play me for it.

I am tired with the NRC saying in a almost infinite and prolong excuse with plant’s like Fort Calhoun, this is under a investigation. 
From: Michael Mulligan
Sent: Friday, October 05, 2012 6:17 PM To:
OPA4 Resource Subject: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun Mr Drinks,
The Popperville Town Hall 
A follow up to my phone call messages I recorded on OCT 5... 
You and me have tangled over at Region III or earlier at Region I... 
Like I said, I could throw 2.206s at region IV if I wanted to... 
So I wanted to talk to the Fort Calhoun inspector about the environmentally unqualified containment valve actuators. Region IV is a mess with Fort Calhoun and San Onofre....the investigation with intimation by the region IV staff with their boss. You know, Brown Ferry, Palisades, VY and Peach Bottom, the agency almost allows me to talk at will with their senior staffs and the resident inspectors. I just call up the resident inspector for a talk and it happens. I spend a lot of time criticizing the agency. I tell everyone it is absolutely amazing the contact time the agency allows me with resident inspector programs. I make a big deal how good these inspectors are to the one. 
So I call up the Calhoun inspector...he tells me he is not busy. I explain the LER and the reason why. He says he can't remember the LER...I tell him all the Region I, II and III inspectors almost got a photographic memory to the one. The Peach Bottom resident really on a cold call was very familiar the Fort Calhoun actuator LER. I am always astonished with the professionalism with the northeastern residents...how they keep up with the issues and their ability to cold talk with me. The VY resident knew my name, most of them others too...he blew my socks off with the detailed knowledge he had about the service water system, Diesel Generator and Loss of off-site power accident procedure issues. We had a hour conversation. My task for VY politically that day by my handlers was a test to see just how accessible the VY residents were to the community. They got an A plus from me that day. I talked to the Peach Bottom senior resident about their SRV issue just days ago for 45 minutes with a cold call. 
I have big issues with Peach Bottom, Browns Ferry, VY, Palisades and how the agency regulates these guys. What I am astonished with is the access the little guy has with the resident program in region I, II and III. They have spoiled the hell out of me. At some level I respect the hell out of them for this even in my disagreements. So the Fort Calhoun Resident blew me off with "I am unfamiliar with a LER in my plant"...you have to call Lara Uselding to get me to talk. Lara was bemused why the inspector would make me call her. She questioned me why somebody from NH would call Region IV. She told me to throw her a e-mail with what I wanted...I told her I am sick and tired of the decency of women with not giving me a call back when I call. I felt she again was going to throw me in the trash can. 
I massively overloaded her in technical talk in one minute and she admitted this sounded like technical talk way above her head. I left a message on her phone the day before... and she couldn't even call me back in a timely manner. She told me she is headed for another plane ride, I told her I heard that often from you kind of guys...region IV is overloaded and overwhelm with their troubles. 
The thing I would do is retire or lay off Dricks...never mind wipe out all the region IV staff through firings, transfers or retirements because they don't know how to communicate with the good public... 
Thanks,Mike Mulligan 
Hinsdale, NH 
16033368320
So I sent e-mails and left messages on their phone...I was irked that Lara blew off my first phone message. This is the signal Region IV is going to blow me off.
From: OPA4 Resource
To: 'Michael Mulligan'
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2012 12:40 PM 
Subject: RE: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun
Thank you Mr. Mulligan for your email. Again, feel free to email me your technical questions and we can get you the information you need.

Lara Uselding
 
So what the heck, I will throw them some of my questions.
From: Michael Mulligan
To: OPA4 Resource
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2012 2:05 PM
 
Subject: Re: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun 
Was the whole actuator unqualified to be in the containment besides these nitrile parts...370 degrees? What are the licensing temperature requirements of these actuators..err, the containments, both on a PWR and BWR? What did Fort Calhoun and the manufacturer state as the temperature qualification of these actuators? 
How does a PWR depressurized for RHR...does any of the PWR depressurization associated valves and actuators have nitrile problem? 
Could you explain the offending nitrile components more completely...it is a gasket, o-ring or seal? What is the difference between nitrile, buna or buna-n material? 
How long was this nitrile materials installed in containment in LER 2012-017? I hope this isn't a rather new install in the last few years and then it was discovered. Is it like Vermont Yankee's buna-n SRV actuator seal and type 1 or type II air actuators, like in their LERs and inspection reports? 
Who was the manufacturer?  
Any more environmentally unqualified components in the Fort Calhoun's containment...how big of a generic issue is this? 
I wish you would put an NRC name on the response to me who is responsible for writing the e-mail, not like this one.
Why didn't the NRC enforce containment accident maximum temperature requirements on these components?
I am saying to the NRC, I think unqualified components and parts in containments is a national problem. 
From: Michael Mulligan
To: "allegation@nrc.gov"
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2012 12:29 PM
  
Subject: 2.206 on Not Qualified Components In Containment With VY and Peach Bottom Oct 13, 2012
R. William Borchardt
Executive Director for Operations
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001 
Dear Mr. Borchardt, 
(Jan 24, 2012) Request an Emergency Peach Bottom nuclear plants 2 and 3 shutdown to replace all safety relief valves pneumatic actuators buna-n seals with nylon sealsor other high quality and durable materials designed and tested for elevated temperature." So this is a renewed requested based on10 CFR 50.73(a)(2)(v)(D) concern. 
In other words, I am requesting all SRV seal materials be like vitol. They be able to withstand all containment accident conditions and temperatures (340/370 degrees F) . Not only is the buna-n seal material not qualified for worst accident temperature, but the whole actuator won't meet10 CFR 50.73(a)(2)(v)(D) including wiring insulation or any other buna or nitrile based elastomers (rubber or plastic) gaskets or seal material. Any material that won’t stand up to the accident temperatures or conditions.
The "FCS branch" threw me?
 From: OPA4 Resource
To: 'Michael Mulligan'
Sent: Friday, October 19, 2012 11:30 AM
 
Subject: RE: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun
Thank you for your email and questions. The FCS branch will take a look and we will get back to you.
The FCS (Fort Calhoun Station) is such a big problem in the NRC, they made it a whole NRC branch out of it.  
From: Michael Mulligan
To: OPA4 Resource  Sent: Friday, October 19, 2012 1:55 PM
 
Subject: Re: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun  
What is the FSC branch?
I know its under a serious investigation.
From: Michael Mulligan
To: OPA4 Resource
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 10:53 AM Subject: Re: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun 
 
Is this in any investigation process like Enforcement or the OIG going on with problems inside containment?I will tell you what, it sounds like fraud with the containment accident analysis of record for Main Steam Line Break MSLB). Were they gaming nuclear accident analysis and "modeling" (San Onophre)to fit in environmentally unqualified containment components like the safety actuator or others?
What drove Fort Calhoun into changing the MSLB accident in containment...peak temperature.Did they have a recent power uprate or were they heading towards a power uprate...Mike
It's cooking now i think.

She made a commitment to call me in this sentence, to call me to negotiate a time for the call with the branch: "Please let me know the best number to contact you at so that I can call to set this up" And she didn't keep this commitment without a explanation. 

I hate me not being able to keep a prior stated commitment and I hate people doing the same to me. I can't trust any of her communications and commitments now...Region IV is a black hole as far as communications integrity. If I failed to meet a comment I try to hit people with a messages on explanations before I break my promise...and i profusely apologize after I screw up. She is just making promises she can't keep and she has a habit of forgetting what she wrote in past e-mails.

And if Lara and me would have had that conversation, I would have kissed her ass trying to show her I am a decent person, to show her so I would be professional to the branch chief.

From: OPA4 Resource
To: 'Michael Mulligan'
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 1:18 PM
 
Subject: RE: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun Fort Calhoun Station
The branch chief can make some time to address your questions. Please let me know the best number to contact you at so that I can call to set this up.
Lara Uselding
I am beginning to kiss her ass...to make up for being a little rude to her in the beginning as she was trying to stiff arm me over talking to the FCS resident inspector.
From: Michael Mulligan
To: OPA4 Resource
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 1:28 PM
 
Subject: Re: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun 
 Good job. I will be out this afternoon...tomorrow morning is a good time or whenever convenient.
Mike Mulligan
 
1-603-336-8320
 So i interpret this below e-mail as she must have talked to the branch chief...I got three choices, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. I figure Wednesday is what the branch chief is mostly likely looking for.
I got a 2.206 on Wednesday and i suspect she knows it...I suspect the NRC could be trying to throw me off my stride for Wednesday for Palisades.

I am thinking she is overloaded and overwhelmed ..she and the branch chief are passing like ships in the night with no or miss-communication. I am getting that from her fractured and disconnected communication commitments style.
From: OPA4 Resource
To: 'Michael Mulligan'
Cc: "Uselding, Lara"
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 6:32 PM
 
Subject: RE: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun
I will need to know your availability Wednesday or later this week. I will then coordinate with the Branch Chief and get back to you.Lara
So i am honest and up front with my needs...I make my commitment at being on the phone anytime on Thursday or Friday bar no excuses with this official. 

If she would told me at any time the only available time of the branch chief is on Wednesday I would have taken it. Right this is Monday and she has inferred she has talked to the branch chief many times about talking possibilities. I don't think Lara can make any committments to anyone.

From: Michael Mulligan
To: OPA4 Resource
Sent: Monday, October 22, 2012 8:15 PM
 
Subject: Re: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun 
 Hmm, so I got a 2.206 from 3 to 4 pm on this Wednesday for Palisades....I'll be studying for that all day. Could be available shortly after 4 pm ESDT?Just name the time on this Thursday or Friday and I will be on the phone to you.Mike
Here in the below its two days later. It is Wednesday and she is inferring she hasn't even got in touch with the branch chief yet. Maybe the branch chief is disrespecting Lara, as he doesn't really want to talk with me so he is not getting back to Lara. Maybe they all know this disconnected, benzene and fractured...missed commitments and promised schedules just drives me crazy. It is 10:30 am and she knows my 2.206 is at 3 pm this day...and she knows I don't like to be disrupted before the 2.206. So were they trying to disrupt my Palisade presentation.
From: OPA4 Resource
To: 'Michael Mulligan' ; "Uselding, Lara"
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 10:25 AM
 
Subject: RE: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun
I will need to first check timing with the Branch Chief. I ask that you be respectful. You were not so to me or our Resident Inspector and I will not tolerate rudeness to our staff. So if you will be considerate and respectful then I will move forward on setting up a brief call to get you answers to your questions. If during the call you can’t play fair then I will end the call.Lara Uselding
I am still kissing her ass in the below. I telling her if she and the chief begin to irk me, I will professionally end the conversation without being disrespectful. I am signaling to them I won't let anyone intimidate me over any nuclear safety problem. I think on the whole, the NRC is trying to intimidate me with this benzene style of public communication and it is a attempt to hold the NRC unaccountable to not regulating Fort Calhoun according to the regulations for decades.The NRC gave Fort Calhoun permission to lie to them and the NRC intentionally over decades didn't hold Fort Calhoun to federal oversight and regulations.
From: Michael Mulligan
To: OPA4 Resource
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 11:59 AM
 
Subject: Re: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun  
I got tons of these e-mails... this is over the contentious Palisades plant. I was in a phone call with John and the two resident inspectors for an hour. I get along very well with all the Vermont Yankee and Peach Bottom resident inspectors and higher NRC officials. Call them to see if I am a good guy. I generally can call these guys off the cuff not like your up tight region. What are you hiding.
 I believe Giessner is a branch chief in Region III:  
From: "Giessner, John" <John.Giessner@nrc.gov>
To: "steamshovel2002@yahoo.com"
Sent: Tuesday, August 21, 2012 3:30 PM
Subject: 12 Sep call in Palisades safety culture
Mike, thanks for your insights. I thought the call went well!
Jack
The phone line for call-in (12 September 6PM, EDT)
Phone: 800-621-9524
Passcode: 5591733
I am just saying I will end the call professionally if you guys are playing games with me. From my vantage point in the northeast, the resident inspectors and the NRC officials above them are a cut above the rest of us. 
So why is your region different than these guys? 
Another good question is, does the FCS LOCA DBA bound the MSL break accident or does the MSLB accident bound the LOCA?
It sounds like 3:50 pm she finally got in touch with the branch chief. I had no scheduling conflicts...I was just communicating my wishes and needs. It sounds like she just is disconnected for her past communication and commitments to me throughout this email string. To infer I have a scheduling conflict is beyond unprofessional and disrespectful. I made a commitment to be at the Palisades 2.206 between 3 and 4 pm Wednesday
From: "Uselding, Lara"
To: "steamshovel2002@yahoo.com"
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 3:50 PM
 
Subject: Fort Calhoun Mr. Mulligan: 
It is not going to work to have a call this week or next due to schedule conflicts you mentioned on your end and here. Inspections continue at the plant and staff are busy overseeing Fort Calhoun. There are several ongoing inspection activities associated with environmental qualifications, equipment qualifications, and corrective actions which are some of the areas you asked about. As you know, they can’t provide preliminary information. You are welcome to view the next Commission meeting on Oct. 30 or attend the upcoming meetings in Nebraska. See Fort Calhoun special oversight page for updates: http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactor/fcs/special-oversight.htmlBottom line, the NRC will not permit FCS to restart until inspectors and staff verify it is safe to do so.
The above rejection e-mail was a out of sequence reply to this e-mail below. Was this a NRC signal.


From: Michael Mulligan [mailto:steamshovel2002@yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 9:54 AM
To: OPA4 Resource
Subject: Re: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun
Sent: Wednesday, October 17, 2012 9:54 AMTo: OPA4 ResourceSubject: Re: Lara Uselding and Fort Calhoun 
http://steamshovel2002.blogspot.com/ 
Is this in any investigation process like Enforcement or the OIG going on with problems inside containment? 
I will tell you what, it sounds like fraud with the containment accident analysis of record for Main Steam Line Break MSLB). Were they gaming nuclear accident analysis and "modeling" (San Onophre)to fit in environmentally unqualified containment components like the safety actuator or others?

What drove Fort Calhoun into changing the MSLB accident in containment...peak temperature. 
Did they have a recent power uprate or were they heading towards a power uprate...
No doubt, I am irked!
From: Michael Mulligan
To: "Uselding, Lara" >
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2012 5:17 PM
 
Subject: Re: Fort Calhoun  
Yea, I get it, I will never trust you and region IV on anything that is said.Good public relation's job. 
Mike

Saturday, October 06, 2012

The Death Of American Tissue Corporation

Oct 17: The America Tissue Case


Oct 9 2012:


I put my paper mill exploits in nuclear regulatory commission 2001 documents. 

"Date: Sunday, August 26, 2001 12:04 PM
Sharon,
Well, here we are in another pre drought in this area. Many stream flows are approaching record lows. On my first interaction with your agency in 1999, I questioned what would be the results of the low stream flows and the acceptable normal pollution and heat discharged into these rivers. My guess is that the La Nino is subsiding, and the El Nino is already on the upswing. My guess is that the next summer, or the following, we are going to be facing a historic drought. Will we be ready? Of course the great NE drought of 2002 might have just started."
Nobody ever listens to me? I was talking global warming and affects of droughts on our society big time in 2001. Then we had the big Midwest drought this year.
"Out this rage of mine, we discovered that there was a national problem with late pollution permits. Just not enough money was the refrain. I asked the EPA inspector general to characterize pollution reporting. He came back with a report that many facilities of medium and small size are just not required to report pollution scientifically. They were only legally required to disclose only a small proportion of the pollution. On a national level we are all looking at our problems through devices of selectivity. If we can leverage our power, position, and self interest, then we will look through the binoculars from any position that benefits us even if we can't make sense of what we see." 
"I asked all the officials repetitively; just what is the meaning of this pollution and the system than ignores it. The state inspector, their bosses, the department heads, the EPA, the EPA higher officials, the NH governors office, the assistant NH Attorney General, the NH Governor herself (when I showed her a recorded video of the pollution during one of her outing at this end of the state); they all came back with an overly bureaucratic answer like the locale inspector. Basically he explained it in terms of how the plant was situated within the spotty regulations and dismal state resources. As long as they were doing it according to regulations, even if the detection and collection method only gave a small proportion of the pollution, it was acceptable." 
Not inspected by OSHA for decades and decades...NH OSHA is just as good as NH Department of Environmental Services and the EPA. I believe NH is one of the few states that does its own employee safety inspection program.

So in Aug of 1999 I notices a tint in the water of my town's Ashuelot River. I had no idea it would lead to a non functioning state pollution program, nonexistent NH employee safety program, bad state and EPA permitting of industrial facilities and defective EPA rules for reporting pollution at medium and small plants throughout the nation  It was like going though a nightmare.  So we went through the environmental movement and this was left. Come on?
OSHA fines paper mill for violations 

By ANDREW RAGOUZEOS
Reformer Staff May 2005


WINCHESTER, N.H. -- Although operations were shut down in March, Atlantic Paper & Foil's paper mill was cited on Friday for having hazardous work conditions.


The Lost Road plant, which closed temporarily so that machinery could be upgraded, has been under inspection by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for the past six months.


Friday's citation of $319,200 in safety violations is the highest such fine issued to a New England business in a year, an OSHA spokesman said. OSHA's investigation, which began after a worker suffered non-fatal injuries after being caught in a paper winder last year, netted a total of 59 alleged violations.


More than half of the fines, 62 percent, are credited to willful violations, meaning unsafe conditions that OSHA believes the company knew about, but chose to ignore.


Those alleged willful violations include failure to maintain roof support, having untrained personnel operating forklifts, front end loaders operating without working brakes and paper machines that are not guarded to prevent workers being caught in moving parts.


Gabbay said the "majority of these issues are left over from the previous company American Tissue] that owned the site. We're left with their burden....


The safety of our employees is paramount to us.".


...Other alleged violations include lacking an emergency response program, having inoperable sprinkler systems, improper chemical storage, lacking adequate hearing protection for workers, creating excess noise levels, having unsanitary bathrooms and numerous instances of unguarded machinery. 
Oct 8: New Aug 13 memo


Oct 7 : My ACE Number is 8. What's yours?

Winchester/Ashuelot paper mill –Corruption

Skipping stones And A NH Paper Mill

Worker: Paper Plant Closed Again

I bankrupted and shut these fuckers down twice.

Winchester Paper Mills Lays Off Help

New: 2005 NHDES Reconnaissance Inspection

They turned off the lagoon aerators because electricity prices was so expensive...
This is my complaint from employees saying the aerators should be on.

The Death Of My Mother: Marion Mulligan

If There Is A god, Why Did he Enable Us To Build Thermal Nuclear Devices

***Sorry, when I am nervous and  get excited my sentence structure sucks. It is as if I want to send the message out in hurry before it melts without checking it. I gotten better at it. But it is still around. I should have spent more time writing better sentences in 1999.

***This is how I memorialized my activities that ended up bankrupting the 3rd largest paper mill corporation in America. It directly lead to a $400 million bank fraud conviction and the jailing of executives. My family was temporary living in James R Brooks apartment and thus his e-mail name and address. When you see the Brooks name it is really me. Brooks is my wife's brother. Click on the images to make them easier to read.

We were temporally living atop the oldest post office in the USA...

This is me memorializing getting a Keene Sentinel story in the paper on Aug 6, 1999 about the mill and they took ugly pictures.

In the closing life of this plant, the Hinsdale water department reported a continuous discharge of diesel fuel in the river and it was traced back to the Ashuelot paper mill. Their below ground fuel oil tanks had been leaking for decades...it was a obscene mess with a lot of fuel in the ground. I didn't catch it and I should have. I believe the NHDES came in there with a rather large environmental clean-up. I believe it wasn't charged to the operating paper mill...the people of NH spent $100s of thousands of dollars in this cleanup and the pollution barriers were in river for many years. I got the NHDES to force the American Tissue to bring in a environmental sampling contractor..they dug tons of sampling wells all over the plant on both sides of the river and even across route 119. They were there every other day and weekly sampling at times of those wells. I wouldn't be surprised if they caught it...Hinsdale just thinks they made the NHDES act.      




















This is me me notifying the NHDES and EPA on Aug 08 ...I don't trust the NHDES or the EPA. Looking in hindsight, my grounds for mistrust of both these agencies was totally justified.






















Was I predicting on Aug 1999, based on watching the Connecticut River temperatures trending up for decades...did I predict the big drought of 2012. I certainly was worrying about it. There was a lot of nuke plant changing rules to allow hotter water into their plant prior and including to 1999...into the plant.

















When I called the NHDES they told me they are so busy it would take months to visit the facility. They disconnected me at the office six times...I had to call seven times to get to talk to a human besides the secretary  I told them is was severe human health threat and then got the Keene Sentinel involved. They are notifying me an inspection was on the way and I could talk to the inspector. This meeting went terrible. The inspector told me my eyes were lying to me. He spun me up with that and we got into a argument.























The outcome of the sampling, possible legal, document trap on Aug 12. I didn't trust anyone by that point.






















Got the below information from a NHDES whistle-blower...he told me they were calling me a terrorist inside the NHDES. I didn't know how serious it was. At the AHR thing in Brattleboro, I said to the EPA official upstream of VY the river was heating up. River temperature had been trending up for decades and VY had to reset their rules because the water was approaching too hot for the inlet of the plant. The freaking inlet you idiot. And this year my involvement with our drought and massive discharging of hot water from the nukes power plants...me calling the Illinois grid not designed for the climate.

















This is me on Aug 12 reporting to the NHDES somebody in their office was passing around e-mails accusing me of being a terrorist because I reported a paper mill pollution...to Charley my contact person.

















More on Deputy dog Bisbee on Aug 13. Getting serious.






















New Oct 8: Once I sent that copy of the unabomber slander, I had Crist apologizing and begging me for forgiveness in a Keene coffee shop the very next day pushed by Bisbee. It is because I made the legal threat with suing them for slander. I accepted it from Crist, but it really wasn't sincere. Then Bisbee scheduled a discussion with me, him, to watch Crist get down on his knees to beg for forgiveness again. I am sure the lawyers were on the line and I bet you that meeting was recorded.

This is me memorializing the meeting... I hit Bisee as tough as I could. Did you pick up at the end of this Bisee is backing Chris...he is calling me the unabomber again after all that apologizing. I knew this was my opportunity to get my message up as to a much higher level. I bet this set off the NHDES into talking to the NH assistant attorney general...or legalize it.

By this time we knew Winchester American Tissue pollution permit was out of date for many many years...the EPA had been slashing money as political favors forcing the states not to update the water permit pollution permit on a wholesale level. It went across many states and it facilitated large amounts of pollution to be admitted to our waterways. We believe as protection to president Clinton, he fired the regional NE EPA administrator. By Aug 16, 1999, I knew this was approved strategy by the highest levels of our government as political payoffs and favors. You know, like I keep saying, it is not your competitors or enemies you got to watch...it is you friends that will hurt you the most. It was the gov Shaheen and Clinton show.

This guy Bisbee was just a terrified little fish like me...



















Proceeding with an investigation of American Tissue by the NHDES on Aug 13.







Thursday, October 04, 2012

Peach Bottom And Fort Calhoun SRV Seal Questions

I want to understand how Fort Calhoun came up with these containment defective air actuators. It is essentially the same issue with VY (they now have 400 degree seals) and Peach Bottom (is heading towards 400 seals) that have 200 degrees actuators seals. The assumption is the whole actuator is the below:
10 CFR 50.73(a)(2)(v)(D), Any event or condition that could have prevented the fulfillment of the safety function of structures or systems that are needed to mitigate the consequences of an accident.
The NRC has said because of the nitrogen reservoir the valve actuator would still operate the valve in an accident, make the accumulator unessential. As I have asked them, what engineering testing and proof do they have that 200 degree actuator seal would survive 340 degrees temperature for the length of time. In the pedigree of these actuators, it has to state this component is qualified for for the DBA accident.

We don't know how many plants in the USA can't survive a Fukushima event and they would fail extremely early in a design bases accident with defective components that was accepted like this by the agency. And make no case about the NRC, they never addressed the 10 CFR 50.73(a)(2)(v)(D implications of this. And any NRC official should have recognized the CFR implication of the VY and Peach Bottom seal problem and should have directly addressed it. There is a tremendous amount of money involved in this and it directly challenges the credibility of the NRC. As I said, because this constitutes a potential NRC cover-up and wrong doing by the agency...the official I talk to was forced to flip it into a allegation. I did not want him to do that because it might effect a future 2.206. The NRC resident did tell me I had a legitimate issue with this that is beyond his control. This isn't a resident inspector level issue! Remember, he told me the Peach Bottom issue had far ranging ramifications for the agency.

This asks everyone do I have to state or write a perfectly correct technical phrase that is never attainable before the agency is forced to act. I found it suspicious as hell why the inspector repeatedly told me I had wide spread ramifications to the agency over this. I am pissed that the agency never in writing gave me any credit for prompting the agency.

I feel the agency was acting suspicious with me within their communication with me. It was like, you sure you can swallow the results of what we said. It is like nobody in the agency can suggest a different wording on the record to me that will get the agency in trouble...cause there will be an implication to their career if it gets on the record.             
"While performing an extent of condition review associate with the adequacy of air operated equipment inside containment to withstand containment main steam line break (MSLB) and loss of coolant accident (LOCA)temperatures, it was discovered that valves HCV-238 ( Reactor Coolant System (RCS) Loop 1a Charging Line Stop Valve), HCV-239 (RCS Loop 2a Charging Line Stop Valve), and HCV-240 (Pressurizer RC-4 Auxiliary Spray Inlet Valve) have nitrile based elastomers for the air filter regulator and actuator and may not be able to withstand Containment MSLB and LOCA temperatures. The design temperature limit for the nitrile elastomers used in the valves is 180°F which is acceptable for the normal operating conditions inside Containment of 120°F. However, during the MSLB and LOCA accident the temperature inside Containment is analyzed to reach 370°F. Since these valves have both open and close functions supported by an air accumulator, failure of the nitrile based elastomers could prevent the valves from fulfilling their intended safety function."
Oct 5: Basically Lara and inspector interrogated me with who am I and what group do I represent. They insulted me by accusing me of being from the media. I just told them I am Mike Mulligan in Hinsdale NH...I am a skilled safety advocate with tremendous NRC access. 

I just can't find the key where they will give me access to Fort Calhoun resident inspectors.  


They spun me up with these mechanical hurdles that would get me nowhere...I was spiting mad with this mindless bureaucratic bullshit just before they hung up on me or threatening they were going to hang up with me. 


Mr Drinks,

The Popperville Town Hall 

A follow up to my phone call messages I recorded on OCT 5...

You and me have tangled over at Region III or earlier at Region I...

Like I said, I could throw 2.206s at region IV if I wanted to...

So I wanted to talk to the Fort Calhoun inspector about the environmentally unqualified containment valve actuators.Region IV is a mess with Fort Calhoun and San Onofre....the investigation with intimation by the region IV staff with their boss. You know, Brown Ferry, Palisades, VY and Peach Bottom, the agency almost allows me to talk at will with their senior staffs and the resident inspectors.I just call up the resident inspector for a talk and it happens. I spend a lot of time criticizing the agency. I tell everyone it is absolutely amazing the contact time the agency allows me with resident inspector programs. I make a big deal how good these inspectors are to the one.

So I call up the Calhoun inspector...he tells me he is not busy. I explain the LER and the reason why. He says he can't remember the LER...I tell him all the Region I, II and III inspectors almost got a photographic memory to the one...the Peach Bottom resident really on a cold call was very familiar the Fort Calhoun actuator LER. I am always astonished with the professionalism with the northeastern residents...how they keep up with the issues and their ability to cold talk with me. The VY resident knew my name, most of them others too...he blew my socks off with the detailed knowledge he had about the service water system, service water, Diesel Generator and Loss of off-site power accident procedure issues. We had a hour conversation. My task for VY politically that day by my handlers was a test to see just how accessible the VY residents were to the community. They got an A plus from me that day. I talked to the Peach Bottom senior resident about their SRV issue just days ago for 45 minutes with a cold call.


I have big issues with Peach Bottom, Browns Ferry, VY, Palisades and how the agency regulates these guys. What I am astonished with is the access the little guy has with the resident program in region I, II and III. They have spoiled the hell out of me. At some level I respect the hell out of them for this even in my disagreements.
 
So the Fort Calhoun Resident blew me off with "I am unfamiliar with a LER in my plant"...you have to call Lara Uselding to get me to talk. Lara was bemused why the inspector would make me call her. She questioned me why somebody from NH would call Region IV. She told me to throw me a e-mail with What I wanted...I told her I am sick and tired of the decency of women with not giving me a call back when I call. I felt she again was going to throw me in the trash can.   
 
I massively overloaded her in technical talk in one minute and she admitted this sounded like technical talk way above her head. I left a message on her phone the day before... and she couldn't even call me back in a timely manner. She told me she is headed for another plane ride, I told her I heard that often from you kind of guys...region IV is overloaded and overwhelm with their troubles.
 
The thing I would do is retire or lay off Dricks...never mind wipe out all the region IV staff through firings, transfers or retirements because they don't know how to communicate with the good public...

Thanks,
Mike Mulligan
Hinsdale, NH

The NRC inspectors said they have had far reaching discussions on a nation level over my issue at Peach Bottom but they kept it secret from me.So generically now I have to ask...what is the magnitude nation wide with allowing extremely inadequate environmental qualification of nuclear safety components in containment. Basically they have been allowed to operate outside licencing bases and safety studies. 

So generally the Peach Bottom actuators and Vermont Yankee safety actuators in containment are designed for that 200 degrees temperature...but containment temps are expected to be 370 degrees in accidents...it should be noted VY shifted to new material that is qualified for 400 degrees...so how can Peach Bottom be safe.

340 degrees for BWRs and I verified PB actuators are in the 180 degree range for the seals...


John.Hughey@nrc.gov
    
Peach Bottom SRV seal notes 

Emergency shutdown of Peach Bottom over SRV Seals 

Fort Calhoun  containment actuator valves 

"The design temperature limit for the nitrile elastomers used in the valves is 180°F which is acceptable for the normal operating conditions inside Containment of 120°F. However, during the MSLB and LOCA accident the temperature inside Containment is analyzed to reach 370°F. Since these valves have both open and close functions supported by an air accumulator, failure of the nitrile based elastomers could prevent the valves from fulfilling their intended safety function."

Michele G. Evans, Director Division of Operating Reactor Licensing Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Friday, September 07, 2012

Entergy CEO Leonard's Casablanca at Barclays

Entergy's stock price was down 1.50% Friday!

Entergy's slides

Leonard's presentation

My early 2011 Entergy-Palisades NRC petition trying to bring sanity to the NRC and our national objectives. My Mike Mulligan's Palisades Casablanca...

" Feb 22, 2011

R. William Borchardt
Executive Director for Operations
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Washington, DC 20555-0001

Subject 2.206: Request a emergency shutdown of Palisades because the Reactor Oversight Program is ineffective and Entergy has a documented history of a culture of falsification and thumbing their noses at reoccurring violations. It should be noted in this inspection period most of the fleet of Entergy's plants are on fire and burning in the Gulf of Mexico with numerous NRC inspection findings including Grand Gulf, River Bend, Arkansas One and Cooper.

Jan 18, 2011: my 2.206 Emergency shutdown of Vermont Yankee.

"The safety culture of the plant is impaired because of information inaccuracies and wide spread acceptance of falsifications."

"I request Vermont Yankee to be immediately be shut down and that Entergy be prohibited from owning nuclear power plants... because Entergy doesn't have the integrity to tell the truth about safety and nuclear power plant issues. Money and profits comes before truth telling and full disclosures."

Dear Mr. Borchardt,

In the 1942 movie Casablanca:
Rick Blaine: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
 Captain Louis Renault: I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.
(The strategic outcome of this mad dog teabagger Republican Congressional and nuclear industry thrust was to take out NRC chairman Jazcho just prior to the 2012 presidential election cycle? It took a year and a half to take-out Jazcho ending in July 9 2012 when a new chairwomen was sworn in. I’ll bet their aims was to create controversy all through the election cycle, but Jazcho short circuited it by resigning...?)

There just has been unprecedented political pressures to intimidate the NRC to reduce regulations and safety margins at nuclear plants in the last four months. There has been political insinuations made by the mad dog rabid Republicans that they are going to cut the NRC's budget if the NRC doesn't reduce regulation to the nation's nuclear power plants and relicense old plants willy nilly. It seems these Republicans are going after the NRC in order to take down President Obama, or just to get even to the president because of Yucca Mountain. It stated last fall just before the election with the ranking House Republican of Reps. Fred Upton (R-MI) and Ed Whitfield (R-KY) asking the NRC OIG for an investigation concerning Yucca Mountain and the supposed misdeeds of Chairman Jazcko. Recently, the ranking senators James Inhofe (Oklahoma) and David Vitter (Louisiana) have been filling up the newspapers and the media intimidating the NRC to cut regulations concerning the New England nuclear plants. Just one more politician added to this Republican team and will have the Keating Five Senators who tried to influenced the Savings and Loans debacle back in the early 1990s. The Democrats are missing from this team as in the Keating Five... but this is political corruption in order weaken the safety of the nation's nuclear power plants. Collectively this is all unethical and illegal activity in order to improperly influence the NRC."

Back to the Casablanca Sept 6 "Barclays 2012 CEO Energy-Power Conference" slides and presentations?


Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Entergy CEO Leonard Quits!

At Palisades community get together meeting tonight (9/6):

So he used the hurricane as an opportunity to divert us from understanding it was the problems in his nuclear fleet.

I wouldn't be surprised if the NRC asked him to retire under a threat of sorts...

So why haven't they voluntarily shutdown for 6 months to a year...totally reorganize and start with a plant in a new renewed state...
"We recognize our performance over the last several months has not been acceptable with what you expect or what we expect of ourselves as a professional nuclear operator," Palisades site Vice President Tony Vitale told reporters Thursday."
This has been my project for a long time?

Entergy CEO Wayne Leonard to Retire, CFO Denault Will ReplaceBy Tina Davis - Sep 5, 2012 5:15 PM ET

Entergy Corp. (ETR) owner of the second-largest group of U.S. nuclear reactors, said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Wayne Leonard will retire on Jan. 31 and be replaced by Chief Financial Officer Leo Denault.

Leonard, 61, was the longest-serving CEO in Entergy’s history, taking the role in January 1999, the New Orleans-based company said in a statement today.

During Leonard’s tenure, the utility owner survived Hurricane Katrina, added nuclear power plants in the Northeast and Midwest and abandoned a multibillion-dollar merger plan with NextEra Inc, then known as FPL Group Inc.

Denault, 52, has been with the company since 1999 and been CFO since 2004. He’ll be replaced in that position by Andrew Marsh, currently vice president of system planning for the company.
Exelon Corp owns the largest number of U.S. reactors.




DOE gives Entergy A+ for Isaac storm response

Entergy's prestorm preparations help them achieve high marks
UPDATED 5:48 PM CDT Sep 06, 2012
NEW ORLEANS —

The U.S. Department of Energy gave Entergy an A+ for how the power giant handled Hurricane Isaac.

In the Walnut Bend area of Algiers, power knocked out by Hurricane Isaac was finally restored earlier this week, six days after the storm hit. But despite the slow pace of progress in some neighborhoods, the DOE is praising Entergy and its post-storm performance.

Andre Celestine, an Algiers resident, said he disagrees with the praise.

"I would not give them an A+," he said. "I wouldn't give them an F, but also not an A."

"The typical benchmark for utility companies is to restore power to 70 percent of customers within five to seven days. The pace of Entergy's restoration, restoring power to 90 percent of its customers in four to five days, is unbelievable," said the DOE's William Bryan in a written statement.

"When the DOE looks at it, they are looking at the whole picture," said Bob Thomas, the director of the Environment Communications Department at Loyola University.

Thomas said the fact that Entergy's prestorm preparations, including having workers, trucks and resources standing by, helped them achieve high marks.

"They are looking at the overall impact of the response of the energy corporation. They are not looking at individuals that are still hurting," Thomas said.

A spokesperson for the DOE is quick to point out that they do not go around handing out compliments to every public utility. In fact, the federal agency said that earlier this year, public utilities in the Washington, D.C., area were unprepared for storms that left many without power for seven to 10 days, adding, "They did not have teams pre-positioned for the recovery."

During Hurricane Irene last year, a storm that affected New York City and the East Coast, the DOE said public utilities made mistakes and did not have assets in place.




Thursday, August 30, 2012

Is this NRC OIG evaluation fair about the NRC's internet social media presence?

So Booz Hamilton is actively soliciting the extreme 'Yes Vermont Yankee' blog participants for the agency's evaluation on the NRC's social media. We know many of these players are paid to pump the extreme pro nuclear side. I suspect they are paid by the nuclear utilities.

Most of the nuclear industry's employees are contractually prevented from talking about their plants and the industry...so it is hard to get these employees to speak anything nuclear because they are playing it safe. So that is why Booze is soliciting to these intimidated employees to comment about the NRC's social media...it's hard to get a comment from them?

Yes Vermont Yankee blog:
"A consultant for the NRC contacted me a few weeks ago and asked me for my opinion of the NRC's social media outreach efforts, such as the NRC blog, YouTube channel and twitter feed. I obliged by giving them a phone interview. I don't know how they picked people to interview, but I think that my blog was part of the selection process. 
Two days ago, they asked me if I could publicize their wider efforts to gather opinions of NRC's social media outreach. Specifically, they asked me to publicize a link to an opinion-survey form."   
Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Use of Social Media
"Booz Allen Hamilton is conducting an independent evaluation on behalf of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Office of Inspector General. As part of our research, we would like to provide the public with an opportunity to share their feedback, thoughts, and ideas regarding NRC’s use of its official social media channels which include the NRC Blog, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr sites. Links to all the NRC social media sites can be found on the NRC’s homepage at http://www.nrc.gov/. NOTE: Comments will not be attributed to individuals or organizations. They will be reviewed by Booz Allen Hamilton and considered as part of its research efforts for their final evaluation report which will be presented to NRC and made publicly available. Additionally, this is an open forum and all feedback is welcome. Comments will not receive a response from Booz Allen Hamilton or the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Thank you for your time and participation.  
If you follow, read, subscribe to, or engage with NRC via any of these channels, please share your feedback on how efficiently and effectively the NRC is currently using these sites and provide any recommendations on areas for improvement. *"
...This is what I submitted to him:
I think the NRC's social media is a typical corporatese public relation pumping operation. It is not about the employees of the NRC creating a open conversation with the public. Mostly, comments contrary to the agencies ideology-philosophy is censored out of the social media. The gate keepers of the social media leans towards the extreme pro nuclear attitude...we don't have sympathetic gate keepers on all sides. 
You submit a comment....the comment takes forever for it to get on the site, if at all. It is not like the typical social media where you comment is added without censure or delay. 
I am completely turned off with the NRC'S total control of their George Orwell's  social media sites....
Basically the NRC is keenly managing the look of their social media presence by controlling content...it is not a peoples totally organic site.
My Blog
I am surprised the OIG contractor is only interviewing the extreme wing of the pro nuclear side, not the regular people, the safety advocates and the antis. 
If you behave in a way that projects to the NRC the agency is not up to the job of regulating the nuclear plants or controlling the bad plants ...they won't allow you to participate.  
My email: Mike Mulligan steamshovel2002@yahoo.com  
Bottom line, they are extremely controversy adverse. They are creating a huge hurdle to participate.  
Is Booz cherry picking the extreme pro nuclear wing side of the equation for interviews who advocate for much less NRC oversight and regulations...?

And we know the NRC OIG is under the total control of the mad dog House Republican extreme wing of the pro nuclear extremist...zero regulations of the nuclear plants!


Palisades Nuclear Plant Restarts

At least they waited till my 2.206 yesterday before starting up. The region III officials were missing from my prehearing...that was really abnormal. I knew something was up. I rather have them watching the start-up preparations. 

What is always missing, there was no information of what broke and why on the CRDM casing to the public before the start-up...  

18 days for this outage, plus 28 day for the SIRWT, it gives us a total of 46 outage days since last outage...  

I bet you it is the worst post outage capacity record ever...

So that is a 58% capacity factor...

Will they even cobble together another month of operation... 

Palisades nuclear plant returned to service

Published : Thursday, 30 Aug 2012, 8:21 AM EDTCOVERT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The Palisades nuclear plant in southwestern Michigan has been returned to service following a shutdown that began earlier this month because of a minor steam leak.
Spokesman Mark Savage says in an email that the plant in Van Buren County's Covert Township will be returned to full power over the next several days. It was returned to service Thursday morning following repairs.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has been investigating. The agency said the leak was coming from a control rod drive, which is part of the mechanism for shutting down the reactor. It said steam was confined to the building that houses the reactor, and no radiation escaped into the environment. 
The plant owned by New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. was shut down starting Aug. 12.
3:30 pm Aug 30: 

So the NRC says Palisades can’t be trusted...once again they can’t operate in a sustaining “self directed" manner. The NRC has to hold their hands. The NRC had to raise questions like they had over and over again at this plant...

I just find is suspicious the NRC had to keep this secret until after the startup...

Palisades nuclear plant returned toservice

AP Aug. 30, 2012, 12:11 p.m. CDT
The NRC has been investigating the leak as well as looking at the plant's safety culture. The agency said the leak was coming from a control rod drive, which is part of the mechanism for shutting down the reactor. It said steam was confined to the building that houses the reactor, and no radiation escaped into the environment.
 
Inspectors raised a number of questions about some of the inspections and analysis performed by the plant, NRC spokeswoman Viktoria Mitlyng said, and the plant performed additional work to ensure the plant was safe to restart. The agency it will review plans for inspections going forward. 
The NRC provided strong oversight of analysis, repairs and testing," Mitlyng said.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Heat Sink Temperature NOED and License Amendment Request Were Unforeseeable

From: "Stuchell, Sheldon"
To: "steamshovel2002@yahoo.com"  
Cc: "Bahadur, Sher" ; "Burnell, Scott" ; "Wertz, Trent"  
Sent: Tuesday, August 28, 2012 5:10 PM

Subject: EMAIL DATED JULY 14, 2012, REGARDING U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION (NRC) ISSUANCE OF WEATHER RELATED NOTICES OF ENFORCEMENT DISCRETION (NOEDS)

Dear Mr. Mulligan:

This e-mail is in response to the concerns you brought to the attention of the NRC on July 14, 2012, regarding an increasing trend in the issuance of weather-related NOEDs. Specifically, you were concerned about the larger implications of the NOED request concerning a potential industry trend in plant operational challenges due to environmental issues, whether the NRC was reviewing this trend, and what actions were being considered around the country with regard to licensee’s increasing their UHS capacity to address hot weather conditions. Because your concern contained possible safety issues with NRC-regulated activity, your emails were forwarded to my office for review.

The NRC expects all nuclear power plant licensees to operate their facilities safely and in compliance with NRC regulations, the plant license, including technical specifications (TS), and other requirements. Nevertheless, circumstances may occur in which explicit compliance with an NRC requirement could result in an unnecessary plant transient or unnecessary delays in plant startup, or the performance of a test, inspection, or system realignment that is inappropriate for the prevailing plant conditions. 

There are two types of NOEDs: (1) “regular” NOEDs and (2) “severe weather or other natural phenomena-related” NOEDs (severe-weather NOEDs). Requests for “regular” NOEDs involve consideration of the radiological health and safety of the public. Requests for “severe-weather” NOEDs involve not only the consideration of the radiological health and safety of the public, but may also consider the potential impact on public health and safety because of power delivery challenges.

On July 7, 2012, the NRC considered and approved a request for a weather related NOED. The evaluation of this request was performed by NRC staff from various technical specialties to ensure the radiological safety of continued operation. This request for a NOED was approved. 

This was the first weather related NOED request in 2012, and the first in the past 10-years based on a search of NRC records. The NRC takes public health and safety very seriously and will only approve a NOED request if the NRC staff finds continued operation of a nuclear power plant safe.

The NRC reviews all granted NOEDs to ensure that the NOED process is completed in accordance with the NRC Enforcement Policy and to determine if adverse trends are noted. At this time, we do not find it necessary to initiate any further actions.

Concerning other licensee-specific issues you raised in your e-mails, specific questions concerning licensees are the responsibilities of the regions and, if appropriate, the regions will provide a response.

Thank you for informing us of your concerns. Should you have any additional questions concerning NOEDs, or if we can be of further assistance to you, please contact me at (800) 368-5642.

Sincerely,
Sheldon Stuchell
Sheldon D. Stuchell, Acting Chief
Licensing Processes Branch
Division of Policy and Rulemaking
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

Mr. Stuchell,

And you call yourselves a scientific based organization and scientist?

The NOEDs don't require a nuclear plant to submit heat sink temperatures trends over a long period of time. The NRC doesn't make them admit our heat sink temperatures have been increasing for years and we aren't required to admit we seen the train coming while we were on the tracks and we were too stupid to move out of the way so it hit us. 

The NRC is using stupid selective information to reject my allegation...

You are defending the agency actions with inaccurate and incomplete information...

Millstone and NRC falsify's documents in order to keep plant at power
Millstone looking to adjust operation to warmer wate 

By Judy Benson
Temperature data collected by environmental scientists at Millstone shows average temperatures of the waters around the plant have risen by 0.67 degrees per decade since 1976, Holt said. In 1976, the annual mean temperature was 51.6 degrees, compared to 53.4 degrees in 2009. 
...WATER TEMPERATURE, THEN AND NOW
Temperature data collected by environmental scientists at Millstone shows average temperatures of the waters around the plant have risen by .67 degrees per decade since 1976, Holt said. In 1976, the annual mean temperature was 51.6 degrees, compared to 53.4 degrees in 2009. The mean temperature in August 1976 was 67.3 degrees, compared to 69.8 degrees in August 2009. The next year, the temperature went still higher in August. In a 2010 annual environmental report, Millstone scientists noted that April and May of that year had the warmest temperatures on record, and that the mean August temperature was 70.3 degrees.
Last year, the mean August temperature was slightly lower, 69.9 degrees, while the annual mean for 2011 was 53.8 degrees.
Impacts of Climate Change on Chicago Expected to Increase in Coming Decades( Sept 18, 2008)
Already, emissions of heat-trapping gasses have changed Chicago’s climate. The city’s temperatures have risen by 2.6 degrees Fahrenheit since 1980, 4 degrees in winter. In 15 of the last 20 years, meteorologists have seen above-average annual temperatures. Many of the defining characteristics of the city are being altered, including more frequent heat waves, warmer winters and a doubling in the amount of heavy rainfall events
Great Lakes water temperatures at record levels
July 24th, 2012

Data shows a long-term warming trend throughout the Great Lakes, which may be related to manmade climate change. According to George Leskevich, a physical research scientist with the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich., there is also a long-term downward trend in Great Lakes wintertime ice cover, although there is considerable year-to-year variability. 
The all-time daily average high temperature record for Lake Superior is 71°F, which was recorded in mid-August 2010. With a few more weeks of warming left, that record is in jeopardy. 
“The season hasn’t played itself out yet and we’re already within 3 degrees of the all-time daily record surface temperature,” Austin said
Of course, the climate around Millstone wasn't the hottest since 1895...it was just the 9th hottest summer this July. 

I just want everyone to stick to the facts and be truthful, not play pretend to keep you out of trouble and no one has accountability...

If everyone plays pretend, then one day a lot of Exelon's nuclear power plant's end up sitting on the edge of shutting down during a heat emergency and the fossil plant's discharge damaging amounts of heat to the waterways as we climb up the results of climate change. Just like we did this year. 

And I will make the case if you start fudging 8ths of a degree temperature of heat sink water to keep a plant up at power in heat wave...the end result of the lying and cheating will damage the safety culture of a plant (and NRC) and that will be the reason why the plant gets into a lot of trouble not related to the heat sink temperatures ("frog boiling"). 

You are giving these utilities under false pretenses unjustified NOEDs and licensing amendments request...it is illegal to submit the falsified documents. You haven't done your jobs through the years with alerting the American public that heat sink temperatures, low flows and levels are becoming a direct threat to our nation...we better act before we all get into trouble! Here are our emerging problems and we better fix them as a nation.

Braidwood and Millstone should have been prepared for this summer and they should have had lots of excess cooling capacity. That would be a great government agency preparing us for this day and you failed miserably! 

And don't get me talking about lying green energy and their electricity... 

You are lying and giving false testimony to the American people through playing word games and rules gaming! You are not helping the American people to deal the with creeping temperatures and thus setting up a future crisis.

You should have told Braidwood and Millstone to drop dead...you guys should have seen this coming. You should have given this signal to the rest of the plants...we won't bail out your stupidity and negligence...we wouldn't tolerate you not protecting and covering your communities... 

Thanks, 
Mike Mulligan 
Hinsdale, NH

...Of course, the climate around Millstone wasn't the hottest since 1895...it was just the 9th hottest summer this July.

I just want everyone to stick to the facts and be truthful, not play pretend to keep you out of trouble and no one has accountability...

You are lying and giving false testimony to the American people through playing word games and rules gaming!


...So this what is going on around the Braidwood plant and I am sure if you cared to look the same thing would be seen on the plant's environmental and heat sink summertime temperatures.

I think all LARs and NOEDs should be completely truthful and complete in all aspects...Braidwood and Millstone should have admitted in their government documents the day of reckoning was knowingly being approached. Exceeding the limits was completely foreseen and knowable....and they failed to act placing them in this completely preventable operational emergency. The NRC should have rejected the LAR and the NOED as being incomplete.
So it is the agency's ethical policy that NOEDs and emergency LARs need only contain incomplete information, which only bolsters the utilities and NRC's actions.
I think the NOED and emergency LAR rules and procedures were intentionally misused on the NRC's and nuclear plant documents!
How you play altruism in the NOEDs and the Emergency LAR is a moral hazard of extreme potency...
"but may also consider the potential impact on public health and safety because of power delivery challenges."
You don't create societal safety by violating important engineering principles and telling half lies in order to prevent power delivery challenges.

Societal safety and security is much broader issue....credibility and nuclear safety is only obtainable if the NRC and utility tells the whole truth of why you want to diverge from tech specs and plant licencing. If  you are covering up why you really need a NOED or emergency LAR...then how can we trust you when you say a plant is safe and this problem is no big deal. Lying and telling only the half truths over a plant event even if technically safe, lends you into destroying the culture of trust and valuable in relationships between humans. I think the culture of trust and relationships...communications...is much more important than all the nuclear emergency diesel generators and emergency core cooling systems. That is the engineer's centric ideation that gadgets are more important  than humans...cheapshakism...I say human relationships, communications, integrity, intelligence and trust are far more important than any gadget.  
 The NRC takes public health and safety very seriously and will only approve a NOED request if the NRC staff finds continued operation of a nuclear power plant safe.
I don't think it is safe for us to have a enormous amouns of electric capacity sitting on the edge of a shutdown in climate change because of inadequate plant investments and insufficient cooling capacity...even if nuclear wise, we are safe. I think it is the NRC's job to help us see this problem.   

...And the highest existential order...I will have faith in government in a national crisis. That I will have a reservoir of a relationship with my government...that I will trust what the government says in a national crisis. If I can't trust my government over talking about nuclear plant issues...how could I trust them in a bigger crisis...


Thursday, August 23, 2012

ASME Corporate Facism and Palisades

Aug 31:


...Basically the ASME code failed to make them check in the right place...

Based on the location of the fault and destructive analysis of CRDM 24, the licensee concluded that CRDM 24 experienced a failure due to TGSCC. The licensee described the extent of condition examination. The licensee reported that the ASME Code In Service Inspection (ISI) requirements did not apply in this case as the weld in question (weld no. 5) was not a pressure retaining weld addressed by the Code. This weld was an overlay located inside the housing. However, they applied the guidance in the ASME Code to inspect 10 percent of the CRDM housings. They stated that although less than five CRDMs (10 percent) were required to be inspected per the ASME Code, they were conservative in selecting eight peripheral CRDMs for additional inspections. Based on their knowledge of the history related to previous CRDM failures (most failures in both the upper housing and seal housing occurred on the peripheral), they selected CRDM 25 (which experienced a seal housing leak), CRDM 22 (which experienced a seal housing crack), CRDM 21 (which experienced the upper housing crack in 2001), CRDM 2 and 26 (which experienced a seal housing leak) and CRDMs 23, 27, and 28...

....Basically they are all guessing where the next crack will show up...they replaced the housing with a different metal in 2001 and its cracking faster than the first metal type...

 CONTROL ROD DRIVE MECHANISM (CRDM) 24

The licensee shut down the plant on August 12, 2012, due to unidentified leakage exceeding 0.3 gallons per minute. After the shut down, the licensee identified the CRDM 24 upper housing as the source of the leakage with a pinhole leak of 1/8”x1/16” rough dimensions and located approximately 2 feet above the reactor head.

Based on the location of the fault and destructive analysis of CRDM 24, the licensee concluded that CRDM 24 experienced a failure due to TGSCC. The licensee described the extent of condition examination. The licensee reported that the ASME Code In Service Inspection (ISI) requirements did not apply in this case as the weld in question (weld no. 5) was not a pressure retaining weld addressed by the Code. This weld was an overlay located inside the housing. However, they applied the guidance in the ASME Code to inspect 10 percent of the CRDM housings. They stated that although less than five CRDMs (10 percent) were required to be inspected per the ASME Code, they were conservative in selecting eight peripheral CRDMs for additional inspections. Based on their knowledge of the history related to previous CRDM failures (most failures in both the upper housing and seal housing occurred on the peripheral), they selected CRDM 25 (which experienced a seal housing leak), CRDM 22 (which experienced a seal housing crack), CRDM 21 (which experienced the upper housing crack in 2001), CRDM 2 and 26 (which experienced a seal housing leak) and CRDMs 23, 27, and 28.



Palisades from the May 12 outage start-up to now has a horrendous capacity factor of 59%...they were only operating 59% of the time since the last outage...

American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Code Case N-705

Code Case N-705 “Evaluation Criteria for Temporary Acceptance of Degradation in Moderate Energy Class 2 or 3 Vessels and Tanks” and defer repair of this flaw until the next refueling outage.
Class 1 primary system
Class 2 Components (III, Subsection NC) Those components that are part of various important to safety emergency core cooling systems
Class 3 Components (III, Subsection ND)Those components that are part of the various systems needed for plant operation
You get that engineer's word smith corporatese engineer under ethical obligations...moderate energy...there is no distinction between class 2 and 3?  Is the SIRWT a class 2 or 3, or does it matter. Don't we got a new plain language NRC chairwomen...
In order to apply the provision of the ASME Code Case N-705 for a tank leak from a hidden flaw and allow plant start-up with the leak, conservative assumptions regarding flaw characteristics and locations were made. Engineering calculation documents a critical flaw size of 1.2 inches and an allowable flaw size of 0.33 inches.
So why couldn't the agency link the N-705 directly to the actual code?

I get this right off the bat in a meeting with four NRC official...Mike, the codes are propriety to the ASME. We can't send then to you. He goes on saying you can purchase the code off ASME for $81.00 or something.

I tell them these are the kind of sickening codes that drives the organization mad. The good guys know this is wrong and management comes back saying the codes allow us to do this. This is corporate insiders going behind closed door making engineering codes...they are paying ASME to administer a private corporate engineering code system.

The NRC told me, well mike, this is a low pressure system. I asked them how long does the codes allow a unknown flaw to be in a reactor cooling system. They say the codes allow 26 months of operation like this. I ask, from when the leak begins or when it is discovered. They discover it in 2011 something. So Palisades gets to start the clock in a outage at there connivance...they can carry a unknown leak though two or more outages without knowing why the core cooling system is leaking or repairing it. This is object insanity!

You know, is ASME god...it is to them.

I mean, did high level engineers writing this code envision their codes could be twisted in such a manner?

How does this private code authority enforce their codes?

The NRC says they got a got a NRC official on their board of directors or something...

You got a highly secretive private corporate code authority overseeing the standards of this nuclear industry...utterly disconnected from participating in our democratic transparency and our Constitution Ideals. You got a bunch of arrogant senior engineers who hates government and our Democracy running this show...

And i will tell you what, nothing in the world drives good employees into the safety culture ditch, as crazy rules built on leveraging corporate profits...

And if a plant gets into bad trouble as a meltdown....we will be talking about the fascist corporate ASME engineering codes...
Standard can be defined as a set of technical definitions and guidelines that function as instructions for designers, manufacturers, operators, or users of equipment. 
A standard becomes a Code when it has been adopted by one or more governmental bodies and is enforceable by law, or when it has been incorporated into a business contract

The largest ASME standard, both in size and in the number of volunteers involved in its preparation, is the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (BPVC).
You know, if you don't pay a employee and he doesn't works for the ideals of his organization...then who does he really serve?

I'll bet you they got a exemption from a legal suit?


I 'll give you the straight skinny, the corporations get to write their/our engineering codes and laws, while the congressionally dis-empowered "independent" NRC enforces the weak or non existent corporate rules. Does anyone wonder why all these employees are disillusioned with the world?

Yep, there has been a lot of talk about making the NRC a private corporate regulator...


I 'll give you the straight skinny, the corporations get to write their/our codes and laws, while the congressionally disempowered NRC enforces the weak or non existent corporate rules. Does anyone wonder why all these employees are disillusioned with the world?

I would call it my polite meeting with these NRC officials as the hour of Palisades-Entergy cheerleading section...not a tell me all the vulnerabilities of the NRC and Palisades hour so I could effectively interact with the 2.206 process. I just never can get a cold blooded independent and objective evaluation of what is going on at Palisades and the NRC...it all ends up about protecting self interest.