When is a hole not a hole?

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Today’s Reformer has a piece: Hole found in VY pipe could be source of leak.

A hole discovered in a pipe in Vermont Yankee’s off gas building could be partly to blame for the leakage of tritiated water into the ground beneath the nuclear power plant in Vernon, said Bill Irwin, Vermont’s chief of radiological health.

Now, as you may recall, this particular set of pipes, according to Yankee officials during their actual testimony to the public service board did not exist.

But… really… who are we to judge?  Who hasn’t, on occasion, lied to state regulators and accidentally released large amount of radiation into the surrounding environment?

And really– it’s not the pipes that are the problem.  It’s the hole.  What’s a hole?  It’s a part of something that does not exist.  And they did warn us, at least about the part of the pipes that don’t exist, by telling us it didn’t exist.

Honestly, we’ve just got ourselves to blame here.

15 thoughts on “When is a hole not a hole?”

  2. In the past year, Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant in Vernon was operated “in a manner that preserved public health and safety,” stated the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in its annual assessment letter to Yankee’s site vice president.

    (NRC: Yankee operated safely in 2009, Brattleboro Reformer, 03/06/10)

    Let’s not let a non-existent hole in a non-existent pipe get in our way.

    The scariest part for me, however is this tidbit:

    “While the NRC does not have jurisdiction over communications between Entergy and the state of Vermont, the NRC is aware that some of these individuals have responsibilities that involve decision-making communications that are material to NRC and/or involve NRC-regulated materials,” stated the letter.

    (ibid)

    So it is safe for Louisiana Entergy to lie to the state government in pursuit of an extended nuclear plant license at a broken down and failing nuclear plant. Because, after all, the people of Vermont are by federal law proscribed from viewing anything nuclear through the eyes of a concerned neighbor.

    If not for the Vermont Senate, this whole situation would have become a 3 Stooges episode.

  5. When is a hole not a hole?

    Can you hear the sound of one hand clapping or visualize only one VY tower collapsing?

    If a tritium tree falls in the woods, does anyone hear the shitting bear glow?

  6. Give them some credit. After all, anyone can find a hole in a pipe that actually exists. Finding a hole in a pipe that doesn’t exist is the real trick.

    Think of it: they had to find all the parts of the pipe that previously didn’t exist, and then, the last part, the part that they didn’t find, was the hole.

    That’s super-nuclear sleuthing if you ask me.

  8. I was hoping for some tunes with new lyrics for

    the Beatles’ “Fixing A Hole”

    Led Zeppelin’s “Hole Lotta Love”

    (you need coolin…)

    Dylan’s “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Leaking)”

    and of course, there’s “Everything Is Broken”

    Broken hands on broken ploughs,

    Broken treaties, broken vows,

    Broken pipes, broken tools,

    People bending broken rules.

    Hound dog howling, bullfrog croaking,

    Everything is broken.

  9. “There’s a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza!

    There’s a hole in the bucket dear Liza, a hole!”

    “Well fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry, dear Henry!

    So fix it, dear Henry, dear Henry fix IT!”

    “With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, dear Liza?

    With what shall I fix it, dear Liza, with what?”

    With chewing gum, dear Henry, dear Henry dear Henary!

    with chewing gum, dear Henry, with chewing gum fix IT!

    I don’t have no chewing gum, no chewing gum, no chewing gum!

    I don’t have no chewing gum, dear Liza, no gum!

    Well go out and get some, dear Henry, dear Henry!

    Well go out and get some, dear Henry, just go!

    [and on and on for verse after verse about trying to fix the leaky bucket, and after each try, the bucket is still leaking. IIRC (45 years or so ago), they eventually agreed to get a new bucket, that then developed a hole.]

    NanuqFC

    If nuclear power plants are safe, let the commercial insurance industry insure them. Until these most expert judges of risk are willing to gamble with their money, I’m not willing to gamble with the health and safety of my family. ~ Donna Reed

  10. Yankee spokesman reassuring Vermonters:

    “The water coming from the pipe gets collected in a sump drain and doesn’t reach the environment.”

    http://www.timesargus.com/arti…

    ” The ship involved in the oil spill was towed beyond the environment  ,the environment is perfectly safe”

    From :The Front Fell off  



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