Incredible as it may seem, the Brattleboro Reformer is reporting that the NRC may allow Entergy to drop the Emergency Plan for Vermont Yankee as early as sixteen months after the plant ceases operations.

In requesting release from this obligation, Entergy asserted the following:

“Within 15.4 months after shutdown, no credible accident at VY will result in radiological releases requiring offsite protective actions…The potential for a release of a large radiological source term to the environment from the high pressures and the temperatures associated with reactor operation will no longer exist.”

And if you believe that, may I interest you in a slightly used bridge?

To back-up their request for exemption, Entergy has created a best-case narrative that is one part fact, one part wishful thinking, and one part fairy story. You can read some of their assertions in the Reformer story, but be prepared to groan and strike your forehead repeatedly.

Entergy’s sunny forecast does not appear to have availed itself of the cautionary message in the 2000 Technical Study of Spent Fuel Pool Accident Risk at Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants.  As the document came from the NRC, one would hope that it will inform their decision.

One salient bit is the following:

“In its thermal-hydraulic analysis, documented in Appendix 1A, the staff concluded that it was not feasible, without numerous constraints, to establish a generic decay heat level (and therefore a decay time) beyond which a zirconium fire is physically impossible. ” (p.x)

In other words, Entergy cannot possibly know that,  after just sixteen months there will be no further potential for a radioactive release from the spent fuel pool.

Not surprisingly, the assumptions employed by Entergy in its optimistic math formulas appear to support its request for exemption.

Spokesman for the NRC, Neil Sheehan says they are reviewing the figures.

“They show that the spent fuel will have decayed to the extent that the requested exemption can be implemented without compensatory actions,” he said. “The heat load starts to drop off pretty dramatically after it’s moved into the spent fuel pool.”

No doubt; but let us hope that the NRC reviews their own homework from 2000.

Apparently the state is totally powerless to compel Entergy to mantain an emergency plan if the NRC releases them from that obligation.

So get your cards and letters into the NRC before it’s too late.  Tell them we deserve their continued protection. If they fail us now, there will be yet another cautionary tale to share with any community that might be considering a nuclear power plant in their energy future.

Incredible as it may seem, the Brattleboro Reformer is reporting that the NRC may allow Entergy to drop the Emergency Plan for Vermont Yankee as early as sixteen months after the plant ceases operations.

In requesting release from this obligation, Entergy asserted the following:

“Within 15.4 months after shutdown, no credible accident at VY will result in radiological releases requiring offsite protective actions…The potential for a release of a large radiological source term to the environment from the high pressures and the temperatures associated with reactor operation will no longer exist.”

And if you believe that, may I interest you in a slightly used bridge?

To back-up their request for exemption, Entergy has created a best-case narrative that is one part fact, one part wishful thinking, and one part fairytale. You can read some of their assertions in the Reformer story, but be prepared to groan and strike your forehead repeatedly.

Entergy’s sunny forecast does not appear to have availed itself of the cautionary message in the 2000 Technical Study of Spent Fuel Pool Accident Risk at Decommissioning Nuclear Power Plants.  As the document came from the NRC, one would hope that it will inform their decision.

One salient bit is the following:

“In its thermal-hydraulic analysis, documented in Appendix 1A, the staff concluded that it was not feasible, without numerous constraints, to establish a generic decay heat level (and therefore a decay time) beyond which a zirconium fire is physically impossible. ” (p.x)

In other words, Entergy cannot possibly know that,  after just sixteen months there will be no further potential for a radioactive release from the spent fuel pool.

Not surprisingly, the assumptions employed by Entergy in its optimistic math formulas appear to support its request for exemption.

Spokesman for the NRC, Neil Sheehan says they are reviewing the figures.

“They show that the spent fuel will have decayed to the extent that the requested exemption can be implemented without compensatory actions,” he said. “The heat load starts to drop off pretty dramatically after it’s moved into the spent fuel pool.”

No doubt; but let us hope that the NRC reviews their own homework from 2000.

Apparently the state is totally powerless to compel Entergy to mantain an emergency plan if the NRC releases them from that obligation.

So get your cards and letters into the NRC before it’s too late.  Tell them we deserve their continued protection. If they fail us now, there will be yet another cautionary tale to share with any community that might be considering a nuclear power plant in their energy future.

As with whistleblower protections, sometimes creating safer environments in which to seek justice is as important as enshrining fair values in the letter of the law.

Today, President Obama acted to provide some of that additional support to women who seek to claim their right to equal pay, as it was upheld in his very first Executive Order as President: the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

While the right to equal pay was theoretically reinforced through the Fair Pay Act, women were still, for the most part, unable to ascertain whether or not they had been the victims of discrimination.  That’s because any business that did not want its compensation inequities discovered could simply make it a firing offense for workers to disclose the amount of their compensation to another worker.  And many of them did just that.  

With unreasonable time limits established as to how much time could elapse following an incident of discriminatory pay before the victim could no longer claim compensation, the system still seemed rigged to protect the victimizers rather than the victims.

Happily, the “rigging” was somewhat undone by the President’s action today.  While employers still cannot be compelled to reveal to a female employee how a male doing the same job is compensated; if one employee chooses to reveal the level of his compensation to another, he (or she) cannot be punished for doing so.

Furthermore, some of the time restrictions governing how much time a victim has, in which to file a claim of inequity, have been liberalized.

It will still take pluck and more than a little cooperation from a female worker’s male counterpart to force lasting change in the jurassic practices of wage discrimination, but it’s a healthy step in the right direction, which we can all celebrate.

Compensation “secrets” have long protected the world’s largest retailer, Wal Mart, from the kind of cold-eyed scrutiny that might make many a community turn them away when they come knocking at the permit door.

While trying to organize resistance to the location of the St. Albans Walmart, we who opposed the store found it very difficult to get any hard figures with which to challenge the retail giant’s rosy predictions of prosperity for the hosting town.  

We learned that Walmart does not share its sales figures for individual stores; nor does it reveal precise numbers of employees, their status or their compensation; and employees are naturally forbidden to reveal these figures themselves.

Nevertheless, their discriminatory wage practices rose to such a level that nearly 2,000 female “associates” managed to gather enough data to file a massive class action lawsuit against the company.

I  look forward to the opportunity provided by President Obama’s historic act to learn a great deal more about Walmart’s employment practices; particularly close to home in St. Albans.  These new protections should mean that Walmart employees will be more inclined to share and compare the specifics of their individual compensations.

…and I’ll be all ears.

In the aftermath of this week’s Supreme Court decision, unleashing an unlimited flow of cash and influence on our political system, the concerns of Vermont State Auditor Doug Hoffer that “whistleblowers” be insulated against reprisals, gain particular prescience.

It is no secret that Hoffer is held in high regard amongst the admins and regulars on GMD; and this is an example of why.

Hoffer joins Jed Guertin and others in asking lawmakers to strengthen the protections for individuals who bring to light wrongdoing in their government workplace.

Guertin was a computer systems specialist at what was then (1994) the Department of Travel and Tourism. Guertin’s supervisor had sought to steer a valuable software contract toward a firm that had no business winning the bid…

Unable to solve the problem internally, Guertin blew the whistle publicly. And when his supervisor learned of his breach, Guertin quickly found himself frozen out at the government agency he’d spent 12 years climbing the ladder…(He) went on to win a small cash settlement for his treatment at the hands of his superiors – along with an official letter praising his accomplishments on behalf of the department

But the somewhat positive outcome for Guertin came at great personal cost, which would discourage most ordinary citizens from going down the same road to justice.

Recognizing the benefit to the state as a whole and to taxpayers in particular when workers have no fear of calling attention to corruption in governmental departments, Hoffer believes existing protections are insufficient and require reinforcement.  

“You don’t want people to think, ‘Oh, I have to hire a lawyer, and go through the process before I can just find some safe place and tell someone what I know,'” Hoffer says. “And that’s what I want to do, is create a safe place.”

Legislation that would protect whistleblower’s anonymity is currently making its way from the Vermont House to the Senate. The Vermont ACLU has questions about possible impacts of that legislation on open government.  

It’s not a simple issue, on either side of the fence, but now is the time to endeavor to get it right.  

On Capitol Hill, the floodgates of corruption are about to be opened and it won’t take long for that trickle-down to reach Vermont.

So much for the infallibility of the founding fathers.

Today’s Supreme Court decision on campaign finance pretty much makes a mockery of our democratic illusions, and in so doing, points the finger of blame directly at our most sacrosanct document: the U.S. Constitution.

We are now at an extremely dangerous juncture.  There is no precedent for a new Constitutional Convention, but perhaps that is what should have been planned for in the original framing.

It is doubtful that, in the spirit of newborn patriotism, the founders could have imagined a country at once so big and so polarized as is the case today.

Frankly, I am not optimistic about the future of U.S. democracy if it remains chained to the unravelling precedents set by this Supreme Court.

It remains to be seen whether the American people will allow themselves to be bamboozled by a cash-fired media blitz into supporting a party so fundamentally opposed to their best interests as is today’s Republican party; but we will get the chance to see, in short order.

The Republicans are counting on stupidity and disengagement to win the day for them; and they just may be right. There are clear indications that they have become emboldened in their scorn for the working man by successes through gerrymandering and packing the bench.

When before has anyone had the temerity to publicly suggest that rich people ought to get more votes?

I have heard over and over again that the amendments to the Constitution collectively known as the “Bill of Rights” should be unassailable.  But the rigidity of that position now threatens the underlying democratic principles that are even closer to the core of who we are as a nation.

If we are unable to adapt to the times by bending the Constitution to serve those democratic principles; we will simply snap from the strain.

Our political leaders are bought and paid for by the highest bidder.  Our middle class has all but disappeared and the vast underclass has been plunged deeper into poverty; but it’s never been better on Wall Street.  

Gun violence has provoked an irrational response, stoked by corporate and political cynicsm.  The availability of firearms has grown exponentially, concentrating them in the hands of the overheated.

Some might say that we are ripe for a revolution, if those whose hands hold the throttle don’t apply the brakes pretty soon.

But like Climate Change, the will simply isn’t there and it may already be too late.

It was a good run while it lasted.

If ever there was an editorial that sums up the destructive potential of a Republican controlled Congress it is this that appears in today’s New York Times.   It should get as wide circulation as possible, so I am doing my bit to bring it to our GMD readership, who will vote, so they can pass it along to their friends, who might not .

Bullet point by bullet point, it itemizes the ways in which Paul Ryan’s budget plan would destroy the economy while brutalizing the poor and taking a final wrecking ball to the middle class.

As disappointed as progressives may be with the Democrats’ failure to deliver on many of the expectations that carried Obama to the White House, this is no time to throw in the towel and not show up to vote.

It is predicted that a characteristic lack of voting enthusiasm on the part of Democrats and liberals in general may very well carry Republicans to control of the Senate as well as the House.  

How can we let that happen in a country that, according to most polls, has a majority who disagree with Republicans on almost every issue?  

It is highly unlikely that a Republican will be elected president in 2016; but with a Republican controlled Congress, for all intents and purposes, the majority of Americans will have, essentially, no representation on the Hill.  

A Democratic president will be powerless to affect policy initiatives other than by executive order, which amounts to fiat.  This is the stuff that banana republics are known for; and it doesn’t ever end well.

We may find ourselves having more in common with the failed nation states in whose dissolutions we routinely meddle than with the model of democracy we hold ourselves to be.

As the Times editorial observes:

Mr. Ryan hopes to be promoted to the helm of the Ways and Means Committee now that its chairman, Dave Camp, has announced his retirement. That would put a man with very dangerous ideas in a position to do serious damage to the tax code and the safety net, which Ways and Means controls. His budget is mostly an exercise in grandstanding right now, but, in a short time, it could become a pathway to something far worse.

If the mid-term elections hand the Senate over to the Republicans there will be nothing to stop them from delivering the entire country to the radical right who have bought and paid for that privilege.

At least for now, the formula is still one citizen = one vote.

This is no time to say “what’s the difference?” and abandon the ballot box!  

We’ll find out what the difference is!

The people of Franklin County should have the choice to send a truly progressive voice to Montpelier.  At the very least, they deserve the opportunity to weigh it against other contenders.

After serious consideration and with the full consent of my family, I have decided to offer myself as a candidate for the Vermont Senate.

This seems particularly fitting, since my next door neighbor, Republican Dustin Degree, has also announced his candidacy.  Perhaps we can arrange some front porch debates, inviting the two sitting senators to pull up a rocker and join us.

My platform will include legalization and regulation of recreational marijuana, rapid progress toward a single payer model for healthcare in Vermont, strengthening citizen access in the permit system; a more progressive tax structure so that the wealthiest Vermonters may enjoy the privilege of helping their less fortunate neighbors; routine increases in the minimum wage to track the cost of living; paid sick leave to improve worker health and morale; and protection for shoreline ecosystems.  I will also advocate for a statewide vision to link communities across the state and reduce emissions through public transportation corridors for bus and rail.  

Number one on my list of personal priorities will be a tireless effort to see effective conflict of interest policy adopted at the state level in the hope that this will influence municipalities to do likewise.

And while we’re at it, how about trying to return female prisoners to the St. Albans facility that was especially modified to accommodate their needs and those of their children before the women were abruptly switched-out so that the facility could house male prisoners?

I certainly don’t claim to have all the answers, but I have a heck of a lot of questions!

I am sure there will be plenty to talk about and hope that I can look forward to monthly public forums with the other senate candidates.

Fasten your seatbelts, fellas; it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!

The Report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, discussed in today’s New York Times confirms that the worst will come.  

There is no real movement to address the coming crisis from any of the large players that could actually affect meaningful change; so the worst will come.

Where is the 24/7 coverage of this, the biggest catastrophe story ever?

Four weeks and no clue later, major broadcast media still obsess over every single detail of Malaysian Flight 370,  with endless panels of armchair experts speculating on what “might have happened.”  They’ve barely broken the blanket coverage to bring us bits about the Ukraine, mudslides in the Pacific Northwest and (today) Korea.

With all this bread and circus driving primetime news, the very real collapse of the climate system and all the attendant calamities we will unfortunately live to see, barely get the occasional weary nod from mainstream media.

Instead, we are treated to montages of crying relatives and interviews with people on the other side of the world, who once knew someone who was on Flight 370.  

I haven’t heard a single voice questioning whether Flight 370 is a hoax; yet, somehow, despite the overwhelming consensus on climate change, it is still politic to give change doubters and deniers almost equal time in the very limited media that is devoted to the topic.

And worse, it is still commonly assumed that indefinite growth is the correct model for every human endeavor.

It is that impossible and toxic assumption that has even President Obama harnessed to fossil fuels and nuclear energy!

We can make no meaningful progress on conservation and sustainable living until our leaders acknowledge that sustainability, and not growth, is the number one priority of the twenty first century if it is not to be our last.

That and that alone should be the lead story of every news cycle going forward.

More evidence has emerged that the Japanese government has deliberately manipulated data in order to give the impression that radiation doses in three evacuated Fukushima Prefecture municipalities are significantly lower than has been recorded.

The Mainichi Times  is reporting that the “Cabinet Office” team was concerned that releasing the data as recorded would discourage evacuees from making plans to return to their homes.  It would obviously be extremely disadvantageous to Prime Minister Abe’s plans for resumption of Japan’s dependence on nuclear energy if it became generally known that the evacuated towns continue to be uninhabitable, three full years after the critical event.

Problems with the resettlement plan arose when recent airborne measurements, which the government had expected to show significant declines in radiation, returned results much higher than anticipated.

The new results, however, were significantly higher than expected, with the largest gap coming in Kawauchi. There, the Cabinet Office team had predicted radiation doses of 1-2 millisieverts per year, but the data showed doses at between 2.6 and 6.6 millisieverts. Cabinet Office team members apparently said that the numbers would “have a huge impact” and “we will need to explain them to the local municipalities,” and release of the results was put off.

How to “fix” the uncooperative figures?  Simply change the number of hours that people are assumed to spend outside where their exposure to radiation will be greatest!  Now, instead of assuming people will average eight hours per day in the open, number crunchers are allowing only six hours for outdoor activity.  

‘Probably works just fine in a couple of winter months, but where do you think this nature loving population can be expected to spend much of its time throughout the remainder of the year?

Now that the numbers can be presented in a more palatable manner, evacuation orders will begin to be lifted, this coming month.  

The Miyakoji district of Tamura is set to have its evacuation order lifted on April 1, and the eastern part of Kawauchi is expected to have its evacuation order lifted sometime during the 2014 fiscal year.

Charming.

Tomorrow, look for a streamed presentation of Fairewinds Associates’ Arne Gundersen delivering the keynote address at Penn State’s TMI@35 Symposium.

“35 Years and Three Meltdowns Later: The REAL Lessons from Three Mile Island” will examine the nuclear industry’s persistent practice of manipulating dose calculations in order to support the myth of “harmless” radiation.

To quote Arne:

Don’t like the answer?  Change the assumptions!

If the account of a Vermont Yankee employee attempting amateur bomb disposal isn’t enough to persuade you that “Elvis has left the building,” there is an incident report filed yesterday that reinforces the picture of wreckless abandonment.

It seems that on March 19, a random fitness-for-duty test identified an employee non-licensed supervisor with alcohol in his or her bloodstream.  

We are assured in the report that that supervisor has no further access to the plant; but the fact that the test was “random” begs the question of how many other employees might be working similarly impaired; and what the hell might  the amateur bomb cracker  have been on at the time of his infraction?

One might further speculate that the imminent shut-down of Yankee may have given rise to a dangerous culture of personal irresponsibility among the managers and employees who no longer see a future at VY.

But if you would expect the people who know best about the cost of nuclear plant folly, the Japanese, to hold the line against irresponsible decisions, you might be sadly disappointed.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has strong ties to the nuclear power industry, has made it his priority to bring Japan’s nuclear power plants back on line as quickly as he can.

One of the first locations where this is likely to happen is at the Ikata Nuclear Power Station, a facility built in 1977.  Under Japanese rules, the town of Ikata must first approve the restart; but this is almost assured to happen even though surrounding communities oppose the move.  The Power Station is the principle employer in the town, and despite misgivings about the risks associated with operating the plant, the Mayor  says the town will endorse a restart if they can be assured of the plant’s safety.  

Like the majority of Japanese, people in neighboring communities which do not depend on the plant for employment are distinctly less enthusiastic about the prospect of reopening the plant; but there is little they can do to prevent the Power Station from resuming its output if the town of Ikata gives it the nod.

Depending upon official assurances of safety has its problems, as well.  Mr. Abe’s government and the entire Japanese regulatory system are more or less captive to the industry.  What they deem “safe” ain’t necessarily so.

Reminding us  that officials have severely underestimated the threat of future cancers amongst children who lived under the invisible canopy of Fukushima exposure during  the early months of the unfolding event, Fairewinds Associates has re-released its video exploration of the evidence as documented in 2013.

Watch it again and ask yourself whether Japanese nuclear industry authorities can be trusted to tell the truth.