Two separate items in the “it would be funny but …” category:

First, according to Susan Smallheeer over at the Rutland Herald, the new NRC resident inspector at the Vernon nuke plant should fit in easily to the Entergy corporate culture: he is one of its own former employees:

The new senior resident inspector from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission worked for Entergy Nuclear, the owner of Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor, until 2006, before he left to become a federal inspector.

But a spokesman for the NRC said David Spindler stopped working for Entergy Nuclear in 2006, well beyond the two-year hiatus federal regulations call for.

Oh, well, then, that’s okay. Especially since the NRC spokesman, Neil Sheehan, added this admonishment:

“If an NRC employee faces a conflict of interest, we expect them to discuss it with their supervisors in a timely manner,” he said.

Just like the NRC responded to the tritium leak “in a timely manner.” Don’t we all feel safer now?

Second, Ed Shamy, publisher and editor of The County Courier, a weekly paper out of Enosburg in Franklin County, has editorialized eloquently on a request for bids for a private contractor to make Vermont’s license plates … which are currently made by Vermont prisoners.

Shamy researched the Vermont prison hourly pay rate: 25 cents an hour ranging up to a max of $1.35 an hour:

The state is asking private vendors if they want to make our license plates, and how much they would charge. There could be cost savings to be had, and Vermont is looking beneath every rock and cow pie for cost savings these days.

Well, don’t forget that these prisoners also get room and board, not reflected in the hourly wage.

Perhaps hiring a non-jailed Vermonter could be cheaper. Lots of us can only dream of 25 cents per hour. Another option could be a few thousand school-aged children from mainland China who are looking for work outside the fireworks factory.

Shamy’s editorial was well done, and includes an explanation of what makes Vermont  license plates special: debossing.

(Note: The Courier has limited online access without subscription, but Ed is working on providing a link for us to this editorial, which I’ll add later if it works out. Otherwise you can read this week’s free content at www.countycourier.com)