This Sounds Exactly Like The Nuclear Industry Today: "Every Lie We Tell Incurs A Debt To The Truth"

Five-Part Miniseries "Chernobyl," An HBO/Sky Co-Production Starring Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgard and Emily Watson, Debuts May 6 on HBO

The project dramatizes the 1986 nuclear accident, one of the worst human-made catastrophes in history, and tells the story of the brave men and women who made incredible sacrifices to save Europe from unimaginable disaster, all the while battling a culture of disinformation.

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[via press release from HBO]FIVE-PART MINISERIES "CHERNOBYL," AN HBO/SKY CO-PRODUCTION STARRING JARED HARRIS, STELLAN SKARSGÅRD AND EMILY WATSON, WRITTEN AND CREATED BY CRAIG MAZIN, AND DIRECTED BY JOHAN RENCK, DEBUTS MAY 6 ON HBO 

Paul Ritter, Jessie Buckley, Adrian Rawlins And Con O'Neill Also Star; Carolyn Strauss, Jane Featherstone And Craig Mazin Executive Produce; Chris Fry And Johan Renck Co-Executive Produce; Sanne Wohlenberg Produces 

"Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth." -- Valery Legasov (Jared Harris)
CHERNOBYL dramatizes the 1986 nuclear accident, one of the worst human-made catastrophes in history, and tells the story of the brave men and women who made incredible sacrifices to save Europe from unimaginable disaster, all the while battling a culture of disinformation.

Read more at http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2019/04/10/five-part-miniseries-chernobyl-an-hbo-sky-co-production-starring-jared-harris-stellan-skarsgard-and-emily-watson-debuts-may-6-on-hbo-494502/20190410hbo01/#Zj8rP85FeOcK4bG8.99

Junk Plant Grand Gulf: Get Ready For A Scram Or Shutdown

Update April 15

Been hovering a 85% to 93% all weekend long. How can you make money like this?  

Update April 11

81%

***The operation of Grand Gulf has been highly erratic for the last four or five days. I wondering if they got fuel failures actually.  You know, something like 60%, 85%, 80%, 80%, 100%, and 80% power. There are having  serous equipment problems. They are always having serous equipment troubles impairing their profits. This continuous erratic up, down and shutdown in power seriously and prematurely wears out equipment. It damages a host of equipment. We all know Grand Gulf power equipment is very delicate. The equipment isn't designed for this harsh environment. This erratic power operation has been going on for many years.    

The Cooper Nuclear Plant Is Now A Economic Threat To The USA

Update April 9

Another bomb cyclone heading to the upper Midwest? Is Cooper a goner? Is this the new normal? 

Reposted from 3/21
update

Risk of flooding remains high into the spring in Nebraska, Iowa due to a mix of threats

Conditions continue to indicate Nebraska has not seen the last of flooding, starting with forecasts for this weekend calling for up to an inch of rain Friday into Saturday across portions of Nebraska.

***Don't forget, and damage viable nuclear plants throughout the world.  

The characteristics of the Missouri River have change since the Cooper plant has been built due to climate change. The plant now is not designed to be safe with a river system running out of control for the foreseeable future.

The Cooper plant now is a ticking nuclear time bomb out to destroy the nuclear industry and horribly damage out economy. The scenario I worry is if the plant melts down in just the right political environment. The meltdown could be so politically ugly it would cause us to shutdown all the nuclear plants in the USA in a extremely short period of time. We would quickly lose 20% of our electricity. The prolonged power shortages and price spikes and elevated cost of electricity would throw us into a depression. This is not a far fetched scenario, Japan shutdown all their nuclear plants in the aftermath of Fukushima. It would take us a decade or more to replace 20% of our electricity.

The Fight to Tame a Swelling River With Dams Outmatched by Climate Change

Along the Missouri, John Remus controls a network of dams that dictates the fate of millions. ‘It was not designed to handle this.’

By Tyler J. Kelley

March 21, 2019

There were no good choices for John Remus, yet he had to choose.

Should he try to hold back the surging Missouri River but risk destroying a major dam, potentially releasing a 45-foot wall of water? Or should he relieve the pressure by opening the spillway, purposefully adding to the flooding of towns, homes and farmland for hundreds of miles.

Mr. Remus controls an extraordinary machine — the dams built decades ago to tame a river system that drains parts of 10 states and two Canadian provinces. But it was designed for a different era, a time before climate change and the extreme weather it can bring.

“It’s human nature to think we are masters of our environment, the lords of creation,” said Mr. Remus, who works for the United States Army Corps of Engineers. But there are limits, he said. And the storm last week that caused him so much trouble was beyond what his network of dams can control.

“It was not designed to handle this,” he said.

The storm, the “bomb cyclone” that struck the upper Midwest, dumped its rain onto frozen soil, which acted less like dirt and more like concrete. Instead of being absorbed, water from the rain and melted snow raced straight into the Missouri River and its tributaries…

     

River Bend: More Massive Nuclear Paperwork Falsification At Entergy

NRC investigation

The NRC screwed up by copy protection of this document.

It is interesting the NRC frames this as several non licensed operators at the front end of the inspection report and later identifies it as nine non licensed operator.

Hmm, the NRC justified searching River Bend paperwork based on issues discovered at another plant. Entergy found it on their own based on similar violations at another plant.

Jesus, they were falsifying logs from 2013 till 2017. This minimizing the size of this by the reporting on this so late to the public is very troublesome. Where was inspectors and licensee employees. It sounds like the NRC and licensees processes and ROP are defective  This is huge and everyone knew about it. This isn't one violation for each of the nine employees...it is close to 10,000 separate violations over four years. The NRC says River Bend fired those who falsified deliberately and gave the rest one day off without pay. Basically seven got fire. Believe me, these guys are so stupid they never should have been hired in the first place. You have to be really smart to attempt to falsify paperwork. The non licensed operators seemed to be disillusioned with their pitifully low level jobs and poorly treated. The period of the violation was for four years, the NRC's period of investigation could be a lot less. Say the arbitrary four years the licensee's chose as the violation period, while the NRC might only go back a year or two.    

Troy Pruett's Grand Gulf 2.206

Grand Gulf 2.206

Inbox

x

Mike Mulligan <steamshovel2002@gmail.com>	Thu, Mar 7, 10:32 AM
to Troy

Mr. Pruett,

I am a nuclear safety advocate. Here is my blog: http://steamshovel2002.blogspot.com/ and http://steamshovel2002.blogspot.com/2019/02/grand-gulf-most-explosive-nrc-high.html.

You are welcome to publish anything nuclear related on my blog. We can work out the details. I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn. 

I have been watching Grand Gulf and Entergy for years now. I call Entergy a outlaw corporation. It has just been unbelievable what the NRC has allowed at GG from my experience.

A few friends have been talking about your petition. You have no chance of effecting change within the NRC. You know that. I believe you need protection from the NRC. The Wall Street Journal wants to interview you for a article on your petition. It will be the top WSJ reporter on the nuclear industry issues and he specializes risk perspectives. It could change the arc of history by telling the WSJ what you know. You might be able to reform the NRC and prevent a another meltdown. The greater public needs to understand what you know. I can't begin to tell the perilous condition the industry is in. You will ruin nuclear power for 75 years if you don't speak in a wider venue.  

I am the nuts case who left you a message on your telephone recently.

Sincerely,

Mike Mulligan

Hinsdale, NH 

cell: 16032094206   

Pruett, Troy	Fri, Mar 8, 12:18 PM
to me

Mike:

I did receive your voice message and emails.  Thank you for reaching out.  I also skimmed your recent posts to the blog page.  While some of the commentary is accurate, the portions regarding my involvement with Fort Calhoun and covering up violations are not correct.  I have filed several Differing Professional Opinions (DPOs), all of which are or will become public.  Several of the DPOs were posted to the Union of Concerned Scientists website.

It is true that many years ago 1, or maybe 2, employees filed a joint anonymous letter asserting I downplayed compliance issues.  After a 1.3 year investigation by the Office of Inspector General, I was cleared and no adverse actions were taken.  I returned to my position and was promoted soon thereafter.

At the time of the Fort Calhoun events I was assigned to the NRC Headquarters Office.  I had no involvement in the fire or flooding events.  This item, as well as most of the information in the anonymous complaint was false.  Additionally, it was my proposal and recommendation that the NRC adopted to transition Fort Calhoun to the NRC’s Manual Chapter 0350 process to ensure the correct level of oversight and inspection occurred. 

I have an impeccable safety record.  I value my role as a public servant and make regulatory decisions based on protecting the public and environment.  I have personally taken on some of the most safety significant oversight roles in the agency.  These include Waterford (SALP 3), Clinton (Manual Chapter 0350 oversight), Cooper (Group Lead for 95003), Post 9-11 Compensatory Order implementation and Mitigative Strategies implementation, Palo Verde (95003 Team Leader), Fort Calhoun (Initial Oversight Executive for Manual Chapter 0350), Arkansas Nuclear One (95003 Executive Oversight), and now San Onofre (ISFSI issues).  I have not, and will not, sacrifice safety oversight.

Sincerely

NRC Senate Hearing: Clouds On The Horrizon

update

So Burns is heading towards door. He is a democrat nominee. Anyways, all the democrat commissioners are duds and the democrats on the sub-committee are weak on nuclear safety. There are just enough weak big mouth democrats on the sub committee to give the appearance we are strongly pro safety. 

Who even cares about anything nuclear safety in Trump's America? The Trump show drowns out everything nuclear safety. The system is weakening regulations and safety on a broad scale and our political chaos is putting nuclear safety way way on back burner. The trends are a recipe for disaster. It is the happyland Titanic just before they hit the iceberg.  

The democrats are more captured by the industry as the republican's Trump nominated two commissioner leading to a full set of commissioner since 2016. The republicans denied those nominees to Obama. The NRC recently has gone hard core deregulation and government weakening as a result of Trump's nominees. But you have seen nothing yet. So Burns is heading out the door this summer. There is no reason for Trump to replace Burns...what is the purpose for another democrat on the commission. That position won't be filled until after the next presidential election. That will make the NRC commission MORE hard core regulation weakenors in the worst financial in the history of the Nuclear industry. The commissioners and sub committee politicians are systemically blinding our government from seeing the true conditions in the industry. The decline of the quality with NRC employees identified in this hearing are going intensified the blindness of US government with seeing the real conditions in the nuclear industry. Our world is going increasingly dark on us!!! 

I like Senator Whitehouse. He makes the case the industry has been fiddling with the comissionors nominees in order to weaken regulations...

"Annie Caputo and David A. Wright, nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the US Senate last week, were sworn in on May 30 as commissioners of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Ms. Caputo will serve the remainder of a five-year term ending June 30, 2021, and Mr. Wright will serve the remainder of a five-year term ending June 30, 2020. The Senate also reconfirmed Jeffrey Baran to serve a second term as commissioner, with the new term expiring on June 30, 2023. He will be sworn in at a later date."

***Senate Hearing

What say the House and where do they sit on nuclear safety horizon?

Senator Asks NRC for ‘Game Plan’ on Workforce Stabilization

Sen Ben Cardin, D-Md., today asked leadership of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a “game plan” on workforce stabilization and recruiting after discussing with agency officials the steady reduction of headcount at NRC as the agency’s budget has declined in recent years.

At a hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Cardin said NRC’s employee headcount had fallen by 23 percent since FY2010, and agency officials testified that efforts to fill the hiring pipeline with younger people have not borne much fruit.

Kristine Svinicki, chairman of the NRC, said the agency has a “very senior workforce,” with barely two percent of the workforce under the age of 30. “It is a growing concern, the front end of the pipeline,” she said.

NRC Commissioner Jeff Baran said the agency needs to focus on “stabilizing” its workforce, and that it was “harder to retain folks” because NRC is a smaller Federal agency and is unable to offer a larger number of promotion opportunities.

He said NRC staff was “working very hard” on the workforce problem, but added, “as long as our budget keeps declining, it will be very difficult.”

Sen. Cardin said he worried that “attacks” on the Federal government workforce in the form of budget and benefits reductions at some agencies were contributing to the workforce problem at NRC and crimping its ability to attract younger workers.

“We have to pay a little bit of attention to this,” he declared. “We understand size is one thing,” but not having the brightest minds in the field of nuclear safety “is a challenge for us,” the senator said. 

Chairman Svinicki said NRC is making a lot of IT investments “to give people the tools to do things more efficiently,” and added, “we have a lot of mid-career employees who are bringing a lot of energy” to the agency.

Troy Pruett's 2.206

Well, we know risk perspectives is solely a political instrument paid by the powerful utilities. Guys like you have been undermined all your careers. Basically risk perspectives is about deep insiders making assumptions not even connected by science and engineering. Basically no evidence risk perspectives can quickly turn a bad plant into a good one The risk guys are uncontestable. 

I personally think the technical implementation of the nuclear industry has been the worst disaster for the nation associated with power generation equipment or any new technology.  

Can't you yet see the winds of a great national turning point coming? 

I give you an example. Why didn't the politicians in the recent NRC senate hearing bring up your Grand Gulf 2.206? I'll tell you why, the senators are terrified of the political power of the utilities.

I'll tell you want your highest priority is bar nothing else. Itis to feed, house and take care of your family. That is soley why our conuntry is the way it is today. Serving a higher cause and our greater national interest is never about our lives today.   
    

 Grand Gulf 2.206

Inbox 



Mike Mulligan <steamshovel2002@gmail.com>

Thu, Mar 7, 10:32 AM

to Troy

Mr. Pruett,

I am a nuclear safety advocate. Here is my blog: http://steamshovel2002.blogspot.com/ and http://steamshovel2002.blogspot.com/2019/02/grand-gulf-most-explosive-nrc-high.html.

You are welcome to publish anything nuclear related on my blog. We can work out the details. I spend a lot of time on LinkedIn.

I have been watching Grand Gulf and Entergy for years now. I call Entergy a outlaw corporation. It has just been unbelievable what the NRC has allowed at GG from my experience.

A few friends have been talking about your petition. You have no chance of effecting change within the NRC. You know that. I believe you need protection from the NRC. The Wall Street Journal wants to interview you for a article on your petition. It will be the top WSJ reporter on the nuclear industry issues and he specializes risk perspectives. It could change the arc of history by telling the WSJ what you know. You might be able to reform the NRC and prevent a another meltdown. The greater public needs to understand what you know. I can't begin to tell the perilous condition the industry is in. You will ruin nuclear power for 75 years if you don't speak in a wider venue. 

I am the nuts case who left you a message on your telephone recently.

Sincerely,

Mike Mulligan
Hinsdale, NH 
cell: 16032094206


Pruett, Troy 
Fri, Mar 8, 12:18 PM

to me 

Mike:

I did receive your voice message and emails. Thank you for reaching out. I also skimmed your recent posts to the blog page. While some of the commentary is accurate, the portions regarding my involvement with Fort Calhoun and covering up violations are not correct. I have filed several Differing Professional Opinions (DPOs), all of which are or will become public. Several of the DPOs were posted to the Union of Concerned Scientists website.

It is true that many years ago 1, or maybe 2, employees filed a joint anonymous letter asserting I downplayed compliance issues. After a 1.3 year investigation by the Office of Inspector General, I was cleared and no adverse actions were taken. I returned to my position and was promoted soon thereafter. 

At the time of the Fort Calhoun events I was assigned to the NRC Headquarters Office. I had no involvement in the fire or flooding events. This item, as well as most of the information in the anonymous complaint was false. Additionally, it was my proposal and recommendation that the NRC adopted to transition Fort Calhoun to the NRC’s Manual Chapter 0350 process to ensure the correct level of oversight and inspection occurred.

I have an impeccable safety record. I value my role as a public servant and make regulatory decisions based on protecting the public and environment. I have personally taken on some of the most safety significant oversight roles in the agency. These include Waterford (SALP 3), Clinton (Manual Chapter 0350 oversight), Cooper (Group Lead for 95003), Post 9-11 Compensatory Order implementation and Mitigative Strategies implementation, Palo Verde (95003 Team Leader), Fort Calhoun (Initial Oversight Executive for Manual Chapter 0350), Arkansas Nuclear One (95003 Executive Oversight), and now San Onofre (ISFSI issues). I have not, and will not, sacrifice safety oversight.

Sincerely