Fermi Had Employee Safety Intimidation Issues In the Same Outage They Falsified Inside The Torus Paint Inspection?

Technically they didn't falsify documents. It is a much more sophisticated corruption than that. It is systemic and widespread ethics and morality corruption on a grand scale. Everyone knows how to play the rules to not piss off their bosses at Fermi and higher levels at the NRC to appease them. Bury them in paperwork complexity to the higher managers so they blinded them...make them better than they should be.  There is plausible deniability all around here. I am sure there is a host of rule and code violations all around here. But everyone know nothing not much will happen even if caught. I'll bet they played the complexity of the plant and paperwork figuring the NRC would never dig deep into the paperwork. 

There are millions of components and parts in this plant. They amount of procedures, rules, engineering          


CARD 18-27984

May 9, 2019

SUBJECT: FERMI POWER PLANT, UNIT 2—NRC INTEGRATED INSPECTION REPORT 05000341/2019001 

 On October 8, 2018, a plant employee generated condition assessment resolution document (CARD) 18-27984, which detailed a potential safety conscious work environment (SCWE) issue where an AECOM contractor working at the plant stated he was told that he would be laid off if he wrote a CARD.  In response to the issue, the licensee initiated various actions that included, but were not limited to:

• On October 10, 2018, the licensee convened an emergent Nuclear Safety Culture Monitoring Panel (NSCMP) meeting to discuss the concerns outlined in CARD 18-27984 and to ensure that the proper investigation, actions, and communications were being conducted. • The Plant Manager held numerous meetings with AECOM and licensee craft employees at the plant to reinforce the importance of raising nuclear safety concerns and to emphasize the importance of a healthy SCWE. • The Employee Concerns Program (ECP) Coordinator conducted an investigation into the incident and performed an assessment of the nuclear safety culture at the plant, specifically focused on the AECOM contractor workforce. • The licensee performed a study of the number and types of CARDs initiated by the AECOM organization to confirm CARDs were being generated and that issues were being documented. • The Chief Nuclear Officer (CNO) discussed the licensee’s expectation in the area of problem identification with AECOM senior management.
 On January 18, 2019, the inspectors completed a review of the actions taken by the licensee associated with CARD 18-27984.
 The inspectors interviewed the ECP Coordinator and reviewed documents pertaining to the investigation of the events surrounding the CARD, which included written statements from individuals at the scene when the comment in question was made.  The inspectors also reviewed ECP records and performed a corrective action program (CAP) document search for issues relevant to SCWE for the previous 3 months leading up to the inspection.  In addition, the inspectors reviewed CARD initiation data from previous refueling outages at the plant and compared them to RFO 19 when CARD 18-27984 was written.
 The inspectors reviewed training material provided to new employees arriving at the plant to ensure that all personnel, particularly supplemental personnel brought in for refueling outages, were made aware of their responsibilities for raising nuclear safety concerns and the licensee’s expectation for maintaining a healthy SCWE.
 The inspectors conducted one focus group, consisting of seven AECOM craft personnel, and five individual interviews, comprised of three AECOM craft personnel and two AECOM supervisors, to assess the SCWE fostered by AECOM.  Additionally, the inspectors interviewed the Plant Manager and CNO regarding the actions taken in response to CARD 18-27984 and discussed any feedback that they received concerning those actions.
 Overall, the inspectors did not identify an environment where AECOM craft personnel at the plant were reluctant to raise nuclear safety concerns for fear of retaliation.  During the inspection, all of the individuals that participated in the focus group and interviews stated that they did not fear raising nuclear safety concerns and, in general, felt supported by their supervisors to do so.  None of the individuals who were interviewed identified with the comment

18

made by the individual in CARD 18-27984 stating that they would be fired for writing a CARD.  None of the individuals interviewed had witnessed or heard of anyone in their organization being told not to write a CARD or being retaliated against for writing a CARD.  Pertaining to the ECP Coordinator’s investigation into CARD 18-27984, given the information that was available, the inspectors concluded that the investigation was reasonable in depth and scope and was sufficiently thorough to conclude that there was not a SCWE issue within the craft in the AECOM organization.
 The inspectors did not identify any additional issues pertaining to SCWE in their record review of the ECP and CAP.  The inspectors noted that the rate of CARD generation for contractors during the outage was consistent with previous outages indicating that conditions adverse to quality were being identified and documented in the CAP by AECOM personnel at an expected level.  Additionally, the inspectors did not identify any issues with the content of the training provided to new plant employees concerning their responsibilities for raising nuclear safety concerns or the licensee’s expectation for maintaining a healthy SCWE.
 The inspectors provided observations from the inspection to licensee management regarding opportunities for improving the knowledge retention of SCWE training received by new employees being processed into the plant as well as opportunities for licensee management to raise the level of understanding among the craft on how the CAP system functions to address issues.  These observations were documented by the licensee in CARD 19-20652.

Fermi Probably Lost All Containment and Core Cooling Pumps?

- WO 48693770; Extensive Coating Defects Identified During Torus Underwater Inspection; 09/22/2018 - WO 48693800; Inspect and Repair Torus Coating, Above Water; 09/18/2017
 

Update July 13

At the bottom of this all, do you want to be certain you are safe or certain you are unsafe??? 

I believe they did a regularly scheduled inspection of the Torus interior during the outage. They discovered the unexpected interior paint deterioration. They soon realized they would need a complete paint job. This would prolong the outage by many weeks. In the best light, they were going to schedule the next outage. The worst case scenario, this did this over many cycles. The discovered the    
deteriorated paint over many interior inspection cycles. Promised everyone next outage we will get to the paint job. As the next outage was approaching, Fermi discovered they had too many jobs for the length of the outage. They had to prioritize jobs for the new outage, meaning they were going to have cancelled scheduled jobs. This happens most outages. So the paint job just kept being put off outage after outage because of the crazy job prioritization system.

So why did the paint job fail? Could be age related. An improper application. Wrong kind of paint. The surface wasn't prepared right. It would be critical to scape away samples all through the torus and have them samples analyzed. I doubt they did that. These guys are really smart people. If they did the wide test scaping, found wide spread degradation...they would be forced into an immediate paint job. They now have no absolute proof the deterioration wouldn't clog the strainer. It is a hell of a environment in the torus in a LOCA. Large quantities of high temperate water would enter the torus. It would heat up very fast to some 160 degrees.

They got a large personal hatch for people to enter the torus. They commonly hoist a small boat into the water and paddle around the drywell for inspections. But you can't do they at power. In the drywell and torus, they fill them up for nitrogen. They will have to shutdown the reactor and take out the nitrogen for a inspection.    

Update July 12 at 1pm.

In line with everyone else: DTE stock price went down substantially more the rest of the nuke plants Friday. Fermi is very fragile because it is a single owner plant and DTE is rather a small utility.

Called the Fermi inspectors and spoke to the senior resident for about 45 minutes. He knew my name from the Palisades issues. He was very open to me, but staying within the rules of the NRC. I liked the guy.

I believed it is much worst than I first thought. Fermi inspected the torus, both above water and below water during Sept 2018 outage. That was the last time the Torus has been opened. The NRC did a engineering inspection in April of 2019. Through significant amounts of picturing up and videoing up the Torus in 2018 by the licensee, the NRC engineering inspectors went over the videos and pictures during the April 2019 inspection.

I contend both the licensee and NRC sat and didn't act on the very serous safety issue.

Why didn't the licensee see and act on the torus paint deterioration in in Oct 2018? 

Why didn't the NRC look over the license's torus paint videos and pictures? I get the feeling the NRC internal processes, schedules and procedures trumps emediately uncovering serious safety system deficiencies and quickly fixing them. The bureaucrats think safety is following the processes, schedules and procedures.           

Why didn't the NRC emediately launch a special surprise inspection in the engineering inspection in April of this year.

I requested the NRC order Fermi to shutdown emediately and comprehensively inspect all painted surfaces inside the Torus and fully repaint the Torus.

I asked the NRC when was the last time the torus was repainted. The inspector didn't know. 

From April of this year until yesterday,  the NRC allowed Fermi to intensify and deepen their paperwork falsification efforts surrounding the failing paint job. It allowed everyone at the plant to get their "story straight" before the announced special inspection yesterday.

For the licensee, it is so easy for them to play the NRC...     

Update July 12

May 9, 2019

SUBJECT: FERMI POWER PLANT, UNIT 2—NRC INTEGRATED INSPECTION REPORT 05000341/2019001 

A finding of very low safety significance (i.e., Green) and an associated NCV of 10 CFR 26.205(c) and (d) was identified by the inspectors when the licensee failed to appropriately schedule and control the work hours of eight workers that performed or directed onsite maintenance activities on the safety-related torus during Refueling Outage 19 (RFO 19).  Specifically, the Nuclear Projects Group inappropriately determined that planned torus coating maintenance activities did not have the potential to impact any risk significant functions of primary containment.  As a result, workers performing planned torus maintenance activities were inappropriately excluded from the work hour limits specified in 10 CFR 26.205(d)(1), (d)(2), and (d)(4) and exceeded these limits during torus maintenance activities. Description:
 Title 10 CFR Part 26, “Fitness for Duty Programs,” describes NRC requirements associated with the implementation of a Fitness for Duty (FFD) program at nuclear power plants.  These requirements include work hour restrictions associated with safety-related work.
 During RFO 19, which was conducted from September 22, 2018, to October 27, 2018, coating inspections and repairs were performed inside the torus, which is a safety-related structure within primary containment.  One of the functions of the torus is to provide a large volume of water to supply the emergency core cooling system (ECCS).  As discussed in industry operating experience, if torus coatings are improperly applied and maintained, coating delamination and plugging of ECCS suction strainers could occur.  The inspectors identified that the licensee classified coating work inside the torus as uncovered work and therefore the work hours of those individuals were not tracked to ensure that 10 CFR 26, “Fitness for Duty Programs,” work hour rules were followed in accordance with Procedure MGA 17, “Working Hour Limits.”
 Prior to the start of RFO 19, the Nuclear Projects Group utilized Fermi Procedure MGA 17, “Working Hour Limits,” to identify workers that were subject to 10 CFR 26 work hour rule limits based on the prescribed work activity impact on structures, systems, or components (SSCs) and whether or not the SCC was considered risk significant.  The torus coating maintenance work was inappropriately screened to not have any potential SSC impact based on a misinterpretation of the safety function descriptions referenced in Fermi Procedure MMR Appendix E, “Maintenance Rule SSC Specific Functions,” for primary containment.  In particular,  the Nuclear Projects Group independently determined there was no potential adverse impact on the torus to provide a source of water as a suction supply for ECCS equipment.  Therefore, the torus coating maintenance activities were scheduled as uncovered work.

 Following RFO 19, the inspectors reviewed the work hours for workers who performed covered work and questioned whether the torus coating inspection and repair work that had been performed by workers and not identified by the licensee to be subject to the work hour rule limits of 10 CFR Part 26 should have been included.
 The licensee evaluated the classification of the work and determined that the torus coating inspection and repair work in the safety-related torus should have been categorized as work that was subject to 10 CFR Part 26 limitations.
 A licensee follow-up evaluation determined that eight individuals assigned to torus maintenance activities worked 8 or more consecutive days with a 12-hour shift and that this exceeded the allowable work hour rules specified in 10 CFR Part 26.
 Corrective Action:  Torus coating work was reclassified as covered work for future outages and incorporation of an Operations department review of Nuclear Projects Group work activities to determine the impacts on SSCs for appropriate work hour rule screening was implemented. 

Ok, these guys had paint potentially plating off the inside of the Torus for years. You got to assume the suction strainers would have clogged. How would you verify the magnitude of the filter clogging? The only way to accurately verify the magnitude of the strainer clogging is to throw a full scale worst LOCA at the torus. I know you can't do that. So the utility and NRC just guess get at it. Nobody really knows how bad the clogging could have been. What was the true risk of a terrible accident, really what would be the offsite dose? You know the insiders scam the extent of the potential clogging. Paint sheeting of the torus happens over and over again in the industry because of cheap and poor maintenance. 

Right, the NRC has reduced transparency and the punishment of coloring outside the lines with these plants. It is a grand experiment.  Are we heading into seeing more significant events at the plants because there is no or little incentives not to have them.  

When was the last time we've seen a NRC special inspection at the plants? Has it been years? The NRC has drastically cut back having special inspection by weakening the requirements based on phony risk assumptions.

You know another indicator of weaker regulations and requirments? Fermi 2 is still at 100% power. They are not shutdown by the NRC.        

RC Launches Special Inspection at Fermi Nuclear Power Plant 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has launched a special inspection at the Fermi nuclear power plant to determine if degraded paint inside a portion of the reactor containment could impact certain safety systems in accident conditions. During a recent engineering inspection, the NRC noted a degradation in the paint inside the torus, a donut-shaped component of the reactor containment located below the reactor vessel. Filled with water, the torus is designed to absorb energy from the reactor or supply water to safety systems during an accident. Loose paint chips from the torus could potentially impede the flow of water to safety-related equipment. NRC’s five-person inspection team will focus on establishing a sequence of events related to degraded paint in the torus; reviewing the plant’s maintenance practices; and assessing the overall response since the discovery of the condition.  The inspectors will provide their preliminary conclusions regarding the significance of the issue in a publicly available report to be released approximately 45 days following completion of the inspection. The plant continues to operate safely. The plant, operated by DTE Electric Company, is located in Newport, Mich., approximately 25 miles northeast of Toledo. Graphic by General Electric

Hurricane Heading Towards New Orleans And The Associated Entergy Nukes

Update July 12

New Orleans faces a never-before-seen problem with Tropical Storm Barry

By Dakin Andone, Paul P. Murphy and Brandon Miller, CNN

Updated 5:40 AM ET, Fri July 12, 2019 

***I am going to be watching the four nuclear plants in the River Bend and Waterford. The four plants aren't designed for this level precipitations...we can have roof collapses and puddling of outside water leaking into the plant. Big outside electrical conduits flooding water into the plants.

 "Overlapping extreme-weather events aren't just a New Orleans problem."   

Is this the year when Entergy nuclear plants, especially the Louisiana plants will be deluded by hurricanes. 

Look at what is going on here!!! The Mississippi River is heading for historic flooding and over topping of New Orleans levees before the hurricane hits the city. 10 inches of rain yesterday and flooding in the street of the city today.  This is because of the all the rain in the mid west in recent months. This guy hitting New Orleans next week is going to be a tremendous rain maker.  Wha 

***The National Weather Service is now predicting the Mississippi River to crest at 20 feet at the Carrollton gauge near Uptown New Orleans. This would put the river at the top of the levee in some areas, but still more than a foot below the recorded all-time high of 21.3 feet.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards says the greatest risk of river flooding is in Plaquemines Parish.

"There could be a considerable amount of overtopping of the Mississippi River levees in Plaquemines Parish on both the Eastbank and the Westbank," said Gov. Edwards. "We are targeting areas south of Oakville on the Westbank and south of Caernarvon on the Eastbank as being most likely to be at risk for flooding due to overtopping of the levees."

***Days Before Hurricane Expected to Hit New Orleans, City Endures 10 Inches of Rain as Mississippi River Swells

"Overlapping extreme-weather events aren't just a New Orleans problem."

by

Eoin Higgins, staff writer

While the Louisiana coast braces for what's expected to be the first formed hurricane of the 2019 season, predicted to make landfall Saturday, New Orleans on Wednesday endured torrential downpours of up to 10 inches in parts of the city.

The Mississippi River is predicted to crest at 20 feet on Saturday, which, as meteorologist Eric Holthaus pointed out, is the height of New Orleans' levees. 

***National Hurricane Center

Eric Holthaus

✔ @EricHolthaus

UPDATE: The NHC has just issued a storm surge watch and tropical storm watch for coastal Louisiana, in anticipation of #Barry.

NHC expects storm surge of 3-5 feet, and total rainfall as much as 18 inches. (Parts of New Orleans have already received more than 10 inches today.)

Where Oh Where is Arkansas Nuclear 2 In The Critical Summer Months

ANO 2: What Happened To This Guy Since May 28

So they were at the end of a outage when they had this short? 

Either they had a short in the wiring or the pump? You get it, big piece of equipment fails, over and over again, that is how you get this long repair period.


Just saying, they got the all clear from the column 4 fiasco. 

INSPECTION SCOPES In accordance with Inspection Manual Chapter (IMC) 0305, Section 10.02.d.7, this inspection report is a follow-up inspection of your improvement initiatives completed since the Confirmatory Action Letter (CAL) (EA 16-124) was closed to verify that performance improvement was sustained in selected areas.  Inspections were conducted using the appropriate portions of the inspection procedures (IPs) in effect at the beginning of the inspection unless otherwise noted.  Currently approved IPs with their attached revision histories are located on the public website at  http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/insp-manual/inspection-procedure/index.html.  Samples were declared complete when the IP requirements most appropriate to the inspection activity were met consistent with IMC 2515, “Light-Water Reactor Inspection Program - Operations Phase.”  The inspectors reviewed selected procedures and records, observed activities, and interviewed personnel to assess licensee performance and compliance with Commission rules and regulations, license conditions, site procedures, and standards.

Unit

SCRAM Code

RX Crit

Initial PWR

Initial RX Mode

Current PWR

Current RX Mode

2

A/R

Y

100

Power Operation

0

Hot Standby

Event Text

AUTOMATIC REACTOR TRIP DUE TO A REACTOR COOLANT PUMP TRIP ON GROUND FAULT "This is a 4-hour Non-Emergency 10 CFR 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B) notification due to a Plant Protection System (PPS) actuation. Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 2, automatically tripped from 100 percent power at 0512 CDT. The reactor automatically tripped due to 2P-32B Reactor Coolant Pump tripping as a result of grounding. "No additional equipment issues were noted. All control rods fully inserted. Emergency Feedwater (EFW) actuated and was utilized to maintain Steam Generator (SG) levels. The EFW actuation meets the 8-hour Non-Emergency Immediate Notification Criteria of 10 CFR 50.72(b)(3)(iv)(A). No Primary safety valves lifted. Main Steam Safety Valves (MSSVs) did lift initially after the trip. "The NRC Resident Inspector has been notified. "Decay heat is being removed via the steam dump valves to the main condenser. Unit 2 is in a normal shutdown electrical lineup. Unit 1 was not affected by the transient on Unit 2. The licensee notified the State of Arkansas."

The Operation Of River Bend Is A Disgrace

Check all the preventable fuel failures? 

June 25, 2019

SUBJECT: RIVER BEND STATION – REVISED NRC BASELINE INSPECTION REPORT 05000458/2018012  

The Russians Are Back?

?

What I mean is I am getting a lot more Russian hits on my blog.

Cooper Plant Cyberly Attacked By The Russians

Ok, obsolete plants like this generally got a ancient mainframe covered by a airgap. But all it takes in one disgruntle computer guy to override this. And we know Americans are highly susceptible to economic blackmail. Who even knows what off site contractors could bring into a plant. Outsides have no idea how prevalent this is because of so much secrecy. There is no doubt the transmission breakers around the plant are effected and ISOs in the systems.    

U.S. Escalates Online Attacks on Russia’s Power Grid

When General Nakasone took over both Cyber Command and the N.S.A. a year ago, his staff was assessing Russian hackings on targets that included the Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation, which runs a nuclear power plant near Burlington, Kan., as well as previously unreported attempts to infiltrate Nebraska Public Power District’s Cooper Nuclear Station, near Brownville. The hackers got into communications networks, but never took over control systems.

Heroin Drug Den Hinsdale NH: Police Department In A Unsolvable Crisis

Update June 7

New- like mike said, he will have to cycle this through a few committees to figure out what is going on and fix it. This is a emergency, the town is in a extraordinary fragile state. The remaining cops know how untrustworthy the chief is and the selectman. We could have 1, 2 or 3 cops emediately resign. If I was a chief, I figure out what kind of bonus would it take to keep the rest of the cops working for the next year and make the cops sign a contract. Money is the only thing that is going to work now we dug the hole so deep. More sweet words with nothing to show for it, is just going to piss them all off more.    

Personally I think the Hinsdale select-people hate the police department...they are sabotaging public safety and their aim is to keep the police as weak as possible and in a total state of object chaos. This is a policy of the selectman's office maliciously and intentionally weakening the police department for a unseen agenda. 

Come on, why hasn't the selectman's office been keeping up to the conditions of the Hinsdale police department? It is the most important office the Selectman have. This has been going on for years. And the selectman just discovered it. What kind of show you got going on here!!!   

Update

There is no doubt I agitated to Darcy and to selective police officers about the funding problems surrounding the police department. I set this meeting in motion. I even advocated to Darcy the police department is in such bad shape they need to be put into state receivership or in direct supervision. When all is said and done, this problem fixed, we will discover this shortage in police funding comes from a agenda of the selectman. In hindsight, there never was a legitimate reason for this shortage of police funding.      

Rereading this, basically it is a revolt by the police force against police managnement and the selectman. 

***As far as the police chief, if he don't have the gravitas to get the selectmen to pay the police officers what they are worth and keeping the police force in tip top shape, then the police chief should have long ago resigned on conscience. There is something wrong with the police chief if he is not independent from the selectmen and act on in a way that = is in the best interest of the police force and the community they serve

And lets face it, what legitimate company would want to move to a small community with systemic and uncontrollable police department problems. An area with a weak and non functioning police department just draws the scumbags of the earth drug dealers and other corrupt entities to the poorly policed area. Then the businesses start to leave for greener pastures and new ones won't move in. It is a police department and town's revenues death spiral. How much town's revenues have we lost with this weak and dysfunctional police department so far? Much worst yet, how much town revenues are going to be lost in the future with a ever declining police force. We are just screaming for all the scumbags to move to Hinsdale. Then the housing property values decline, taxes increase, people move out...then we get into these repeating cycles of lost tax revenues declines, decreasing housing values and the reputation of the town in a continuous decline. 

Who is to say the great exodus of homeowners and renters out of town isn't about the lawlessness within the town? They don't want to deal with dangerous racism at the schools and the sense they are unsafe on our streets. Dead bodies all over the place. Who is to say this is about taxes, not safety and security in the street with a high performance police department.          

The police chief should be fired emediately for allowing his police department to get into this shape. You see the black hole we are in? Lets say he quits or gets fired, who is going to replace him? What kind of hot shot police official would want become our police chief in the horrible shape of the police department and selectman. You'd have to be insane to come to work as the police chief in this town. You got to know the pay sucks. Are we just stuck with this guy and his philosophy??? You are not going to get a replacement for months. The next guy or lady police chief then is going to have less police quality than a MacDonald's table washer. Just like the regular police offers. 

Ok, say you have a police officer taking shortcuts or is just plain lazy, not the proper alignment to be a good officer? Are you going to fire him on a hint of a improper police alignment like you should? The chief is going to weigh the consequences of having three or two officers on the force against the possibility of a loose cannon police officer on the force. Sometimes a warm body is better than none. It is the slippery slope. You are effectively giving too much power to the bottom of the barrel police officers. The officers are going to sense they are not being managed and watched as they should. Then they are going to takes chances and do stuff they normally won't do. It usually ends up as a runaway police department.               

So in recent times we had the killing and murdering of three people in Hinsdale and the potential high felony crimes in the grammar school.

We are right in the middle of a heroin apocalypse and the dealers are in control of our town.  

Think about this. This is a free market state, so they say. The Hinsdale police department just can't pay the going market rate for a police officer. And we got weak police departments all over the place. And you know for a fact, with this horrible pay, we are getting the bottom of the barrel quality with the police officers. Honestly, you get what you pay for. Basically in a humongous crisis like this, that have been for many years, you got to know training and police career development goes right out the door (It is just day to day survival, and this makes the officers just want to leave.) It is just too expensive.  

Do you get it, the Brattleboro rag and all of the locale newspapers have been throwing at us for many years now, that the general poor economic conditions of the community is causing the low pay for the police officers and the dysfunction of the police departments. All you are hearing about this is from the selectmen and the police department in the newspapers. These police and town officials for their own self interest have been saying for many years now, the problems are intractable and unsolvable through the newspapers. Basically there is no hope for your community, just like our newspapers. It is mono thinking by everyone. Nobody talks about a solution to this. It is just hopeless. 

Pay cited for Hinsdale Police Department vacancies

Posted Wednesday, June 5, 2019 7:51 pm

By Bob Audette, Brattleboro Reformer

HINSDALE, N.H. — The town of Hinsdale has 10 slots designated for its police department, counting the chief of police. But at this moment, it only has four officers and its chief.

"Our department is currently in crisis mode," said Corp. Adam Belville, reading from a statement during the Monday evening meeting of the Hinsdale Board of Selectmen. "Often times there is only one officer working at a time who is responsible for responding to calls and handling investigations."

After reading from his statement, Belville went on to describe the situation as "a boiling point."

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't have the best interests of the town and department in mind," said Belville, who noted many small-town departments get rookie cops who stay on board for a year or two for experience before hopping to a bigger city with better pay.

All four officers on the town's payroll went to Monday night's meeting, but Chief Todd Faulkner stayed away.

"They didn't tell the board anything that I haven't told the board before," said Faulkner, and most of that is about how much pay he can offer new recruits to the department.

"Every year I have expressed to the town that pay is an issue," said Faulkner. "I am sympathetic about how the budget works and how much the people of Hinsdale are paying in taxes, but the hiring pool that's out there is not sustainable and my officers will do what's right for them and their families, regardless of how dedicated they might be to Hinsdale."

Starting pay in Hinsdale is about $19 an hour, or $39,520 a year, for applicants with no certification. With prior experience, the starting pay is a little less than $22 an hour, or about $45,760 a year.

"Do you feel one of the biggest factors in the retention of officers has to do with pay?" asked Selectmen Mike Carrier during the Monday night meeting. Carrier himself is a police officer with the Winchester Police Department and a former member of both the Hinsdale and Brattleboro police departments.

Belville said there are a lot of factors weighing against Hinsdale and other small-town police departments, but pay is one of the major factors.

"Larger departments ... are definitely dangling the pay in front of them," he said. In addition, he noted, officers can work at a larger department and have a smaller caseload because there are more officers on staff.

Sgt. Joshua Murray put it more bluntly.

"Would you go to the town that pays less to do more or go to the town that pays you more to do less?" asked Murray.

Up until about two years ago, said Faulkner, the town guaranteed all of its employees a 3 percent pay raise each year, dependent on a performance review, in addition to cost-of-living increases, amounting to about 5 percent a year.

The town went to performance-based pay raises for two years, he said, but this year has placed a freeze on all pay raises.

The Hinsdale police budget for fiscal year 2019, which ends June 30, is $1,390,493.

Both Belville and Faulkner acknowledged that all the departments in the region are fighting over the best applicants, but only the ones, like Keene, that offer a better starting pay, are winning.

The Keene Police Department is currently hiring, with a starting pay between $43,992 and $55,681, depending no experience.

Pay in nearby Winchester is similar to what is offered in Hinsdale, said Chief Mike Tollett, who has eight full-time slots, counting himself, all of which are filled. However, noted Tollett, one of his officers is leaving on Saturday. Pay starts at about $19 an hour for non-certified officers and $21 to $22 per hour depending on experience.

"Winchester is horrible with pay," said Tollett. And that's not just in his department. "No town employees get annual raises or cost of living increases."

In the past, said Tollett, the way to get a pay raise in the Winchester Police Department was to get promoted.
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"I try to look for folks who are going to fit in the department and who have a sense of loyalty," he said.

He also asks new hires to sign a contract, promising they will stay for three years, but even that doesn't guarantee an officer will stay the full three years.

"Other departments such as in Keene and Swanzey will buy out the contract," said Tollett. "Recently, Swanzey paid Winchester $16,000 to buy out a contract."

Chesterfield, which offers a slightly higher introductory pay rate, also has no openings, said Chief Duane Chickering.

"We have five full-time officers, including myself, and three part-time officers," he said.

Starting pay for non-certified officers in Chesterfield is $21.14 and $21.92 for certified officers. Chesterfield also has eight pay steps for its officers, meaning they can earn up to $27.22 an hour.

"Even though we are fully staffed, we are always looking," said Chickering, who noted during the last hiring process he received more than 50 applications, of which only three who passed all the tests.

Chesterfield doesn't require that its new hires sign a contract, but they must live in town, he said.

"If you live in the town, you have a vested interest," said Chickering, who noted two of his current officers are approaching their three-year mark, and their experience makes them a valuable asset to any department.

"Outside agencies are salivating over the amount of work we put into our officers," he said.

Belville noted that between March and May of this year, the Hinsdale Police Department received nearly 40 resumes.

"Only 10 applicants showed up ... to begin the hiring process," he said. "Of those applicants, the majority couldn't pass the physical fitness test. The ones who could, either couldn't pass the next step i the hiring process or backed out altogether."

"Recruitment is the same for us as for everybody else," said Tollett. "We get applications. We set up physical fitness tests. Some don't show up and some don't pass the test."

Faulkner said that the officers who have remained on staff in Hinsdale have done so because they are dedicated to the town and to its police department. But that dedication is no match for better pay somewhere else when someone's life situation changes.

"I had an officer leave because he wanted to start a family and buy a house," he said. "You can't do that on the pay we offer. Any one of my current officers could walk away today for the same reason."

"We have a great group of people now who work well together," said Belville during the Monday night meeting. "The downside is, we are getting absolutely swamped with calls."

According to numbers compiled by Jerod Tier, a Hinsdale resident, seven officers responded to or worked 6,842 incidents, or 977 incidents per officer.

If the same call volume holds steady in 2019, that's 1,710 incidents per each of the department's four officers, not counting the chief, who said he is currently working 20 cases he would normally assign to a detective.

"Everyone is tired," said Faulkner.

"All of the town departments are feeling the same issue," said board member Bernie Rideout.

Board Chairman Mike Darcy thanked Belville and the other officers for bringing the situation to their attention and promised they would "start working on it" as soon as possible.

Perminentaly Shutdown Fort Calhoun Is A Risk Of Flooding This Spring And Others.

It would be interesting if the permanently shutdown Fort Calhoun had a building flooding issue. I don't think there is anything to worry as far as the used fuel in the plant today or the cast. But the Cooper plant is about 75 miles downstream of the Fort Calhoun plant. A big flooding event has got their eyes on the Cooper plant. The Cooper plant has the highest meltdown risk this spring. But the flooding is so widespread, you can't rule out any other flooding risk. The Mississippi river got me concerned with their massive and historic flooding...

Fort Calhoun prepares for more flooding

Posted: 9:52 AM, May 31, 2019

Updated: 10:53 AM

By: Jake Wasikowski

"As you can see we're about level with what the river level is right now," Danielle Cram said, Project Manager at the Fort Calhoun Station. She says they have been reinforcing flood measures that have been out since March.
They have Hesco barriers around the switch yard, and thousands of sand bangs protecting transformers.
"We will test our barriers we are very confident we will be able to protect the plants," Cram said.
Crews are also building a scaffolding walk way to the nuclear station.
The plant was shut down in 2011 before the floods started, and stayed dry through a long flood emergency surrounded by water.
Since the station is in the process of deconstruction, one main priority is to make sure no hazardous materials end up in flood waters.
"So as we start to dismantle buildings and work towards the demolition process it's making sure that we have positive control of all of that demolition material so that we're not inadvertantly releasing something to the environment that we don't want to," Cram said.
Isabelle Thomas has lived a short distance away from the nuclear station, and says she's glad OPPD is putting the public's safety first.
"i think that's very important because of the fact of the contamination and getting rid of the nuclear waste in the proper way, that also was a concern to me," Thomas said.
OPPD anticipates having their flood protection system out at least until Mid-July as the river may continue to fluctuate throughout the season.