Statements contained in a January 21, 2010 report by WCAX about Entergy's Vernon Nuclear Plant raised so many disconnections surrounding the nuclear power issue that I am drawn to comment, as follows:

Vermont Yankee officials and federal regulators are quoted saying the tritium leak at the plant is not a reason for public concern.”

The public is concerned! The public should be concerned. What has occurred is a lack of attention on the part of capitalist, market oriented, Vermont Yankee officials.

Federal regulators are obviously more concerned with covering their butts than addressing public concerns. Yankee officials care for their bottom line, not the public.

Public officials should have sufficient experience to comprehend the current extent of corporate corruption of public due process.

Public concern must be dissuaded rather than declared not.

What has occurred is exactly what I feared about commercial nuclear power when Westinghouse and General Electric first began promoting “turn-key,” commercial, nuclear powered electrical generating power plants, in the mid-1960s.

At the time, I had assembled six of those firms first nuclear reactors for submarines and knew that marketing people should have nothing to do with nuclear power. Success in the marketing profession is too seldom the result of honesty and admitted understanding of what is being sold.

Nuclear power plants, managed by persons who are “from away,” who are not living the real-time of operation, maintenance and safety of such a plant, are unobservant of plant conditions. They will not order inspection of cooling towers and trenches when it will cost them profits to discover maintenance issues the cost of which they would like to avoid.

“Yankee officials revealed Wednesday that the radioactive isotope Tritium was found in standing water inside a concrete tunnel at the plant. The tunnel is the conduit for pipes that carry radioactive waste to the plant's waste processing facility.”

Why did Yankee officials not know about it? Why did they not presume a trench carrying radioactive waste might have loose radioactive materials and inspect it regularly. Why are they not inspecting the entire plant regularly to learn if the plant has issues? Did they hide the facts? Or did they not look because the more they and the public do not know about what might cost them, the better? Everyone understands 'bean counter' logic and money draws lawyers to cover bean counters' asses like a dead body draws maggot flies.

“Yankee officials say the standing water should not be in the tunnel but it is not a cause for public alarm.”

No shit! What else would anyone expect them to say? If there is anyone breathing who believes what corporate officials say to the public, they are either idiots or sycophants.

Yankee officials stated this the tritium containing water that is not out in the environment. It is contained in a locked room within the plant.

Where did they get the water that does not evaporate? Since when does a lock on a door contain vapors?

“It's a below-grade room within the plant in a confined space,” said Neil Sheehan of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.”

It is not in a confined space if it reached radiological test wells, Below grade did not keep it out of the test wells. Sorry, Sheehan, you would not have made the grade with Admiral Rickover.

Neil Sheehan of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission also is quoted as saying that the standing water was not expected to be found there in the trench.

What a terrible statement! Is it OK if persons who manage Vernon do not slow down when driving through your neighborhood and kill a two-year old girl because they did not expect the child to run from behind a parked car? The key to successfully working with power, is to always try to anticipate the unexpected.

“One positive that could come out of this is that this helps them trace back the source of any groundwater contamination. That would be a very good thing.”

The best example of 'spin' that I have read. Sheehan should work on Wall Street. Can he turn feces into honey?

“So far the amount of tritium found in groundwater outside the plant is below federal reporting standards. Sheehan says it's a mere fraction of the amount found in an illuminated Exit sign.”

Most illuminating bulbs, these days, must be discarded as waste hazardous to human health.

Gov. Jim Douglas, R-Vermont, was quoted as saying the state health department is monitoring the situation.

Yup! That covers his ass.

“This is a test well that has been placed near the nuclear plant. So the health department, I have complete confidence in, and I'm sure they'll let the people of Vermont or anyone else know if there's a reason for a public health concern,” Douglas said.”

Jim Douglas will say anything to benefit a corporation.

“Of greater concern to the governor is the revelation last week that Yankee officials had made misstatements to state regulators about the very existence of these underground pipes.”

Being out of the loop sucks.

“Douglas says he's still waiting to hear back from company executives with an explanation. But even though his trust in the company has been shaken, Douglas says he still supports relicensing the plant.”

Douglas can be bought much too cheaply to be a governor!

Now!

 

Nuclear Power should not be a commercial enterprise!

Public officials must learn to talk about the details of the nuclear process if they desire to educate the public and dispel its fears.

Nuclear reactors are not black magic. While nuclear reactors have a larger scale, they essentially have fewer moving parts than an automobile engine.

The Vernon plant should not be re-licensed. It should be taken out of service. Vernon is not the place to perform destructive testing of how long the first GE commercial nuclear power plant design will last. Only gamblers to take chances like that.

Profit and nuclear power do not mix!

Profit and power do not mix!

If Vermont is unable to operate a nuclear plant to produce the power it needs, with its own citizens, at the risk of its own citizens, it should turn off its lights and snow-making.

I recommend that a Public Power Commission be established to replace the Vernon plant with a new reactor in order to take advantage of extremely valuable tradesmen, permits, procedures and site improvements. The commission should also replace the statewide corporate production and distribution of power.

A functioning public power infrastructure is more important than private profits.

Whether overly paranoid or cowardly people like it or not, nuclear power is here to stay. The oppositions to nuclear weaponry espoused by the pickets whose lines I crossed when building early nuclear reactors in submarines, 53 years ago, were appreciated. I would remind you that as a result of the efforts many people, war between the Soviet Union and the United States did not happen.

It was unthinkable! Today, persons opposed to nuclear energy plants cause me to think of a person screaming 'Don't do it! Don't do it!' at the first human attempting to stand on his or her hind legs. They are losers!

Nuclear power is here! We must learn to operate it with control!

As much as we cannot environmentally sustain the standard of living to which the citizens of the United States have become accustomed, if this nation fails to learn to control nuclear power, that will put our country behind the rest of the nations of the world, economically.

Witchcat