The NRC is feeling good about itself.Sounding pumped, like a lean mean nuclear regulatin’ machine on their "blog" where they declare:
“When the NRC says we consider new and significant information, we mean it.”
The story is, errors in recently submitted information were found during a review process for equipment replacement at an existing plant in the Southern US. Based on this new significant information the NRC found that designs for a new Economic Simplified Boiling-Water Reactor (ESBWR) plant might have similar errors. What’s the upshot of these NRC discoveries? It could mean the NRC must revise reports and/or have the applicants make changes to design control documents which will delay their final decision on design certification. New information comes to light, consideration given to the new facts, followed by regulatory action. Has a watchdog stirred?
We've focused recently on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's historic conflict of interest. Although the name and peculiar autonomy the Commission enjoys would both suggest that it is a scrupulous servant of the public good, whose sole function is to ensure that all aspects of nuclear energy production in this country are held to the highest standard of safety; it has long been apparent that the NRC is primarily a servant of the industry it is charged with regulating.
In another example of a regulatory agency that seems to be corrupted by its intimacy with the industry it monitors, we are learning that the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) spied on the personal e-mail of a group of six of its scientists and doctors who raised concerns to Congress about medical devices approved by the FDA, that might cause injury to patients.
All six of the spying victims have experienced harassment or dismissal since their whistleblower status was discovered through the e-mail surveillance.
This revelation, that the FDA mistreated whistleblowers at the possible behest of industry, comes just as a petition is circulating online to once again demand that the President withdraw his appointment (made in 2009) of a former VP and lobbyist for Monsanto, Michael Taylor, to serve as Food Safety "czar" to the FDA.
It was Mr. Taylor's lobbying efforts that were central to allowing Bovine Growth Hormone (rGBH) to enter our milk supply.
With industry so deeply embedded in our federal regulatory agencies, it begs the question: how far can we actually be from the regulation-free landscape that Republicans have been clamoring for for years?
To regulate:
To lay down the law. Begin controlling shit. Often By physical force/restraint.
"If he pulls that shit again, I'm gunna have to REGULATE that muh-fucka." Urban Dictionary
NRC Revising Approach to Japan Lessons-Learned Recommendations. The NRC blog says they have the opportunity to improve implementation of the goals of the Japan Near-Term Task Force recommendations.Congress added specific requirements for the NRC to act “as expeditiously as possible” on these recommendations dealing with earthquakes and flooding. What offers the NRC this opportunity for improved implementation?
Last month the Nuclear Energy Institute laid out the nuclear power industry’s “FLEX” approach to addressing several recommendations. “FLEX” would create a diverse, flexible set of strategies for counteracting the effects of severe natural events that could exceed a plant’s design limits.
With care and great consideration the NEI has thoughtfully laid out a “flexible” (and probably financially painless) strategy for the nuclear power industries own regulation.
The NRC staff believes this approach is a reasonable starting point, although more work is needed on defining these strategies. We also must ensure the NRC can inspect how plants put the strategies in place and that we can hold plants accountable for keeping those strategies ready and available.
I can’t see it but hopefully, for safety sake there is some aggressive regulatory threat of enforcement here in plain sight. However speedy implementation looks unlikely as the NRC just wagged their bureaucratic tail at the thought of a little industry “FLEX” and endless discussion.
Japan plans to scrap nuclear plants after 40 years to beef up safety after Fukushima disaster
But when we read the subtext, we learn that this is wildly overstating the development.
Unlike the U.S., where nuclear reactors for energy production are required to seek renewed licensing after 40-years in operation, no such requirements exist under law in Japan.
As you may recall, the reactors at Fukushima, which belong to the same generation as the one at Vermont Yankee, were several years past their 40-year design life-expectancy when disaster struck.
What the Japanese legislature is now considering is to enact a system similar to that in the U.S., where, after forty years in operation, a twenty year extension must be secured if a reactor is to continue operating.
This relicensing is presumed to involve rigorous safety checks, but as we know from the history of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in the U.S. cronyism "creep" tends to infect the process over time, as the regulators gain intimacy with the industry and their role evolves into a kind of enabling partnership.
Reading further, we are reminded that:
Such renewals have been granted to 66 of 104 U.S. nuclear reactors. That process has been so routine that many in the industry are already planning for additional license extensions that could push the plants to operate for 80 years or even 100.
In point of fact, not a single U.S. plant has been denied re-licensing by the NRC.
The Japanese are gaining first-hand knowledge of the faulty economics of nuclear plant operation. The 40-year life-expectancy is ironically juxtaposed with the 40 years that have been estimated to totally decommission the failed reactors at Fukushima...to say nothing of the collateral health risk, delivered exponentially to a population of unknown dimensions.
I think for sheer understatement, the following sentence deserves mention, too.
The government has already decided to scrap six reactors at Fukushima Dai-ichi, where backup generators, some of them in basements, were destroyed by the March 11 tsunami - setting off the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.
Oh really? You mean there's no way Japan can get another twenty years of service from them? Pity.
Vermont Yankee missed the golden opportunity to use their "Friday Flash" model to share their latest misadventure with the public in a more timely manner.
Apparently, this event actually occurred last Friday, December 2; so it will be interesting to see how long it takes for it to grind its way into the Free Press.
"While hanging tags on the 'B' Diesel Generator, which was tagged out for maintenance, the operator mistakenly entered the 'A' Diesel Generator Room and tripped the 'A' Diesel Generator fuel rack, making it inoperable. At this time both diesels were inoperable placing the plant in a 24 Hour LCO.
"When the fuel rack was tripped alarms were received in the control room, the operator was immediately contacted and the problem was identified and corrected. Total LCO time was approximately 2 minutes."
Completely apart from the issue of their meddling on behalf of Entergy in defiance of Vermont's sovereignty on VY, the NRC pattern of repeatedly lowering the bar on safety standards for the benefit of plant operators is sufficient reason to block reappointment of any currently serving members.
As we listen to protestations on the nightly news that, though threatened by flood or fire, this or that U.S. nuclear facility can't possibly fail; how is the public expected to swallow such assurances with any confidence, given all that has been revealed in the wake of Fukushima about the questionable practices of our own nuclear regulatory agency?
It's time for a complete scrub-down of the NRC, a whole lot of daylight, and a totally new roster of independent commissioners who will not approach the job in actuarial fashion, in service to the industry rather than to the public good.
The NRC has never met a relicensing bid they couldn't love, and industry shills have managed to maintain protective cover over its peccadillos for ever so long; but the tide appears at last to be turning.
In the wake of an AP investigation that effectively demonstrates how weakening NRC safety standards have enabled the continued operation of failing nuclear plants, it is nice to see members of Congress finally sitting up and taking notice.
Our own Bernie Sanders is one of three senators who are pressing this issue on behalf of the American people. The other two are Barbara Boxer of California and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
If you wonder why more congress-folk aren't lining up with them to storm the NRC barricades, consider how powerful the nuclear lobby...or any energy lobby...is in this country. With 2012 shaping up to be a real bone-shaker of an election, we are unlikely to see a lot of heroics among the incumbents.
Too bad.
It sounds as if a congressional investigation into safety standards and federal oversight at the NRC, such as Bernie and friends are calling for, could potentially bring to light evidence not only of dereliction of duty but also of criminal conspiracy.
UPDATE: Today the Free Press continues to run the AP IMPACT report. Today's story: tritium leaks, like those found at Yankee, are present in 75% of all U.S. nuke plants.
You have to wonder, though, how many of the plants lied about even having the pipes the way Vermont Yankee did.
If you've been following the stories about Vermont Yankee and Fukushima you will be interested in this story published in today's Burlington Free Press.
We have no information on whether specific changes have been made to the standards for Vermont Yankee, but given the age of the plant it seems quite likely that they have.
Due to space limitations the full story didn't appear in the Free Press, but you should read it. The article discloses a series of failures in virtually every operational or safety system in nuclear plants across the country.
What's our experience in Vermont: collapsing and leaking cooling towers, valve failures, leaks from pipes that the management claimed didn't even exist, yet we are told that state regulators have no authority to even look at the safety of the plant that directly imperils residents of Vermont and New Hampshire.
Read the story, think about what's happening in Japan, and think about what you want to see here in Vermont.
Sometimes you've just got to re-state the obvious. Entergy doesn't understand the meaning of the word "no" and the NRC seems to be suffering from short-term memory loss.
In light of the Fukushima crisis, our "DC-3" (Leahy, Sanders and Welch) have issued the following joint statement:
"It is hard to understand how the NRC could move forward with a license extension for Vermont Yankee at exactly the same time as a nuclear reactor of similar design is in partial meltdown in Japan. We believe that Entergy should respect and abide by Vermont's laws and the MOU signed with the state in 2002, which require approval by the Vermont Legislature, and then the Vermont Public Service Board, for the plant to continue to operate beyond 2012."
I've fixed the link. It seems to have been my error in coding. It should work now.
According to this morning's Free Press, the NRC is poised to relicense Vermont Yankee as early as next week. It's time to flood the NRC with calls and e-mails expressing alarm and opposition to continued operation of the plant.
Telephone numbers are given on their website:
Public Affairs 301-415-8200
Safety or Security Concerns 1-800-695-7403
I decided an e-mail was in order, but there is no e-mail address given. You have to go to this page. You'll find an embedded submission form which you fill-out and send.
With an emboldened plutocracy flexing its muscles all over the country, it's good to have another reminder that our DC delegation continues to look out for the poor "step-children" who have been generally cut-adrift in the current round of economic blackmail. In this case, those "step-children" are the twin causes of environmental and human safety, both of which Entergy apologists would willingly sacrifice on the altar of "cheap" energy, just to keep VY burbling away well past its sell-by date.
Our own "DC 3" have all signed onto a letter drafted by Bernie Sanders, who sits on the panel charged with oversight of the NRC, urging that regulatory body to ensure that clean-up of Vermont Yankee is undertaken immediately following closure of the plant.
The lawmakers called it "unacceptable" that Entergy, which owns the Vermont plant, could engage in "decades of delay" before cleaning up the site along the Connecticut River at Vernon, Vt. "Immediate decommissioning will assure Vermonters that the plant is being disassembled safely," the delegation wrote. An immediate cleanup and shutdown of the site also would allow the plant operator to take advantage of the skills of many long-term Yankee employees who otherwise would lose their jobs.
In the letter to Commission Chairman Gregory Jaczko, the delegation requests a meeting with the full commission; and that the meeting should include Governor Shumlin,
because of the "enormous consequences" for Vermont and the state's "vital interest" in the plant's safe shutdown.
Tying swift decommissioning to job retention is a brilliant and entirely legitimate strategy, which should steal some thunder from one of VY's dwindling arguments against closure.
As we know all too well,
Entergy has indicated it favors a so-called "SAFSTOR" decommissioning method, a process that the delegation letter said "would let Entergy off the hook" for cleanup and waste disposal for years or even decades. "While Entergy may prefer leaving the plant to sit like an abandoned factory because it has not saved the necessary funds to fully decommission the plant, this is not the safest option for Vermonters," Leahy, Sanders and Welch wrote.
Yesterday NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko made an unprecedented trip to Vermont to meet with seven intervenor and environmental groups to discuss ongoing safety and aging management issues at Vermont Yankee.
Jaczko had a 90-minute discussion with representatives from the New England Coalition, Citizens Awareness Network, Conservation Law Foundation, Vermont Public Interest Research group, Safe and Green, Nuclear Free in 2012, and the Vermont Yankee Decommissioning Alliance in Brattleboro followed by a private tour of Vermont Yankee and meeting with Entergy officials.
While I had a meeting and could not listen to the whole event on the phone bridge provided by NRC, I did hear the first few minutes during which Chairman Jaczko thanked Vermont State Representative Sarah Edwards for setting up this meeting with the representatives of the seven groups. This statement received a round of applause from a majority of the group in attendance. In addition to the seven groups given time to speak, there were a myriad of observers from the press, the Congressional Delegations, state employees like Department of Health health physicist Dr. Bill Irwin, various elected officials, and concerned individuals. I have asked for a transcript and will post it when it is available. In the meantime Nuclear Free Vermont and VPIRG have sent me copies of their statements which are posted in their entirety below the fold.
James Moore of VPIRG was the last to speak and closed with the following points agreed upon by the seven groups. Moore said,
To that end I have been asked by the group to share four requests with you:
1. Cease consideration of ENVY's relicensing application promptly, and turn all regulatory focus toward ensuring safety during the transition to closure of the Vernon reactor, and implementation of comprehensive waste storage procedures. NRC should act with transparency to enforce its regulations and maintain strict vigilance so as to ensure against accidents, mishaps, and accidental releases in the interim.
2. Compile and disseminate a detailed plan for closure of Vermont Yankee. This plan should include a list of tasks and a timeline for their completion, in anticipation of closure in 2012. This plan should reflect NRC staff expertise, lessons learned from other reactors, and the particular expertise of people who have worked at Vermont Yankee or who have relevant knowledge of its operations.
3. Work with the licensee, state and local government officials, Entergy workers, independent experts and affected citizenry to form an advisory panel to advise and monitor activities directed toward a safe transition to closure.
4. Prepare and distribute monthly reports to update the public and elected officials about the closure process.
Ed Anthes of Nuclear Free Vermont, who posts often on Green Mountain Daily had the most detailed comments regarding Vermont Yankee's key safety and reliability issues due to its age and condition. He quoted specifically from the Legislature's oversight of VY and its reliability issues. See these and more information regarding Entergy's response below the fold.
In a press release issued today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said it
will conduct additional inspections at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, operated by Entergy Nuclear and located in Vernon, Vt. Through enhanced specialized inspections, the NRC will oversee Entergy's efforts to address groundwater contamination at the site and to review and assess the company's response to an NRC Demand for Information (DFI) issued in early March.
In January, Entergy notified the NRC that it had received positive sample results for tritium from a groundwater well at Vermont Yankee. The NRC has been closely monitoring Entergy's actions to identify, mitigate, characterize and remediate the source of the contamination. The NRC's Resident Inspectors and regional specialists continue to provide oversight of the company's actions through direct observations and independent assessments.
Both NRC and Entergy continue to maintain that the "tritium contamination does not pose any health or safety concern for members of the public or plant workers".
NRC has continued this stance in spite of the extensive release of thousands of gallons of tritiated water and research by reputable scientists who contend that NRC does not adequately address the health effects of tritium.
California and Colorado have set significantly more stringent tritium release standards of 400 pico curies per liter in California and 500 pico curies per liter in Colorado compared with the NRC standard of 30,000 pico curies per liter before even requiring reporting of tritium, and EPA requires a limit of 20,000 pico curies per liter for drinking water. See original document below:
Entergy's Rob Williams just sent out the attached press release announcing that the recently labeled NRC workshop has been changed to an Entergy hosted tritium information night.
Brattleboro, Vt. -- Entergy Vermont Yankee will host a tritium information session for the local community at the Ramada Inn on Putney Road on Monday, April 12 from, 4 p.m., to 7:30 p.m. Vermont Yankee engineers who conducted the investigation will be available on a one-on-one basis for discussion of all aspects of how the tritium leak at the plant site occurred as well as how it was identified and stopped.
Jim Matteau, Executive Director of the Windham Regional Commission said he was invited and does intend to attend. Matteau said,
It's going to be Entergy telling its side of the story, and I want to hear it.
Some people have told me that they are confused since the NRC already canceled this April 12 meeting, but an NRC spokesperson informed me that this meeting
is something separate that they were already planning. We are still reviewing our public interactions and venue going forward.
Another public figure said,
I love the irony: Learn more about the leak of radioactive material at WWW.safecleanreliable. com
For me, I guess it is a matter of framing. At least that is what I call it. How many ways does one spin the fact that the underground pipes that were not buried actually began leaking at least one year before the leak was discovered. This information according to Dr. David Ahfeld, an expert in buried pipe and tank corrosion and leakage, who wrote to the state legislature just prior to the February Senate vote that the leak had been ongoing for at least one-year.
When Fairewinds Associates, Inc brought the matter of the allegedly non-existent buried underground pipes to the Legislature's attention last fall, our report was hotly criticized by Entergy. I guess it is a matter of framing because Rob Williams wrote,
While on the subject, we take issue with the entire tone of the consultant's report which leaves the impression that plant reliability is lacking at VY. Issues cited as "significant" are really routine maintenance/repair issues that are routinely handled in the normal course of business in running a steam generating plant. One fact that didn't appear at all in the reliability report was that Vermont Yankee's three-year rolling average of plant reliability is now in the top nine percent among all nuclear plants in the world.
According to the press release,
state and federal agencies that oversaw the tritium investigation have been invited to participate. Refreshments and handouts will be available.
Wow, it almost sounds like a party, except that I imagine the latest tritium science data will be missing, surely they could send some of the allegedly not unhealthful tritiated water home with guests. "Dilution is the solution to pollution," they say.
Dave Gram of the AP has the scoop on that Cesium-37 found at Vermont Yankee in February, which Entergy had tried to fob off on background radiation from 1950s nuclear tests, or Chernobyl, or anything other than that oh-so-reliable plant on the banks of the CT River (enphasis mine). Well, all I can say is "Surprise, surprise, surprise!":
The Health Department statement on Tuesday said the cesium-137 found in the Vermont Yankee soil samples was three to 12 times as high as the background levels attributed to the other causes, meaning it "appears likely the Cs-137 comes from Vermont Yankee reactor related sources."
Vermont Yankee spokesman Larry Smith said he was not surprised by the finding, and that plant officials believe the cesium can be cleaned up as part of their already planned effort to remove some of the soil around plant buildings and ship it off for treatment as low-level radioactive waste.
Today, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) called on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to reconsider its plans to hold a private meeting regarding NRC oversight of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee (ENVY), ENVY's tritium releases, and other issues questions from attendees. The closed meeting for invitees the NRC deemed to be stakeholders is scheduled for April 14 at the Keene Country Club in Keene, NH.
March 30, 2010
The Honorable Gregory B. Jaczko
Chairman
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Washington, D.C. 20555-0001
Dear Chairman Jaczko:
We write to follow up on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's invitation to participate in a closed-door "Government-to-Government" meeting on April 14 in Keene, New Hampshire.
We are committed to open and transparent government and to honoring both the letter and spirit of Vermont's open meeting laws. Avoiding Vermont's open meeting laws by holding this meeting in New Hampshire will only add to the growing public skepticism about the handling of oversight at Vermont Yankee, and could curtail participation from Vermont officials.
While we recognize that the discussion of information relating to security considerations often requires confidential briefings, the discussion of broader issues surrounding this facility is of great interest to Vermonters and is a discussion that should be conducted in a public setting.
We urge you to reconsider, and to hold the April 14 meeting in Vermont so that Vermont's federal, state and local officials can fully participate. We look forward to hearing from you regarding this request.
Sincerely,
Patrick Leahy Bernard Sanders Peter Welch
U.S. Senator U.S. Senator U.S. Representative
I deeply appreciate this letter from our Congressional Delegation. Safe and reliable nuclear power are not issues to be discussed behind closed doors. Entergy has not met its burden of proof on ENVY's reliability to the State of Vermont or its burden of proof on safety issues to the NRC, now matter what public claims are made by NRC spokespersons.
More on this and on Secretary of State Deb Markowitz's comments will be added below the fold.
UPDATE #1: NRC has basically verified all this. Listen to this phone call.
* * *
Once again the NRC is up to its old antics of creating secret meetings for the privileged few it deems as stakeholders. NRC's alleged Government-to-Government meeting is in direct violation of federal and state Sunshine Laws, the NRC Chair's commitment to NRC transparency and inclusiveness, and President Obama's promise for Change to the electorate to usher in a new era of openness in our federal democracy.
According to the private email sent by the NRC to selected public officials:
The meeting is closed to members of the public and the media and it will not be publically noticed. The meeting is open to elected State/Town officials or a member of their staff and selected representatives from your State agencies. The purpose of the meeting being closed is to provide you an opportunity to have an open and frank discussion, ask questions and express your concerns. Our goal is for the invitees to feel comfortable in an environment that won't lead to possible misquotes in the media or misunderstandings with your constituents.
The initial email sent out by NRC included a PDF document detailing the meeting. I have pasted the entire PDF at the bottom of this post.
SUBJECT: U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION, REGION I
VERMONT YANKEE GOVERNMENT-TO-GOVERNMENT MEETING
Dear:
You are cordially invited to attend a government-to-government meeting among the U. S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC); representatives of various Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts state agencies; and Federal and local government officials from the communities surrounding the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant. At this meeting, NRC will discuss its independent inspection of Entergy's groundwater initiative program and the NRC's review, to date, of the activities related to the recent tritium leak at the Vermont Yankee site.
The NRC is providing this information in advance of the public release of its inspection report on
this subject to better equip government stakeholders to answer questions they may receive from their constituents. The meeting will be limited to elected officials, or their staff, to best facilitate an open and courteous discussion and will not be open to the public or the media.
At a minimum . . .
. . . I expect the Democratic candidates for Governor with the exception of Matt Dunne who is not an elected official to send staff to this meeting. Why should Dubie get a pass? He should be there with a tape recorder too.
This meeting must be recorded in accordance with Vermont's Open Meeting laws. If these four Vermont government officials send their staff, then all records. . . are public documents. . .
I want to see all four elected candidates commit to upholding open government on one of the biggest liabilities the Douglas administration is hoisting on Vermont's taxpayers and all of us rate payers.
This is a really good idea!
Do you want to know what is happening? Time to get on the phone to Susan Bartlett, Deb Markowitz, Doug Racine & Peter Shumlin. There is no excuse for them, or someone representing them, not to be at that meeting protecting Vermont's interests.
These entities have proven that they can never be trusted behind closed doors. Can we trust our elected representatives to attend and give a full accounting? Let's find out.
* * *
UPDATE #3: The Times Argus has now picked up this story:
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)
FITNESS FOR DUTY - SUPERVISOR TESTED POSITIVE FOR ALCOHOL was today's posting on the NRC Website for current event notifications.
A non-licensed employee supervisor had a confirmed positive for alcohol during a random fitness-for-duty test. The employee's unescorted access to the plant has been revoked. Contact the Headquarters Operations Officer for additional details.
What is a non-licensed employee supervisor? Well, that means he was not one of the plant operators, but is a supervisor of another group, like engineering, maintenance, purchasing, or even health physics meaning dose measurement.
Not only is Vermont Yankee on a hiring freeze on orders from parent company Entergy, but the VT Legislature's appointed oversight panel (VYOP) noted that staffing problems were endemic throughout the organization. In some departments 80% of the employees had been at VY less than three years, which according to VYOP is an indication of high turnover and inexperience.
Last spring, VY informed the Legislature that it would meet the VYOP recommendations, yet with an Entergy hiring freeze at a plant that already had staff shortages, how will that be possible? Now on top of failing cooling towers, equipment degradation and dose miscalculations we have supervisors arriving to work drunk.
(Ed has the latest with the new NRC report... and it ain't good. - promoted by Christian Avard)
That's the best way I can describe the NRC report released today on the cleanup fund for Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee.
The report ignores the fact that with the falling stock market, the amount in the fund has dropped by 20% since 2007. NRC staff take no notice of the drastic decline in the value of the cleanup fund.
While the report states
Should there be a material decline in the Decommissioning Trust Fund balance, the staff's analysis and preliminary findings may no longer be valid
Entergy has not yet been required to officially report the dramatic loss in the fund to the NRC. So the NRC pretends that the fund has as much money as before the crash.
250-1
55-1
The NRC is feeling good about itself.Sounding pumped, like a lean mean nuclear regulatin’ machine 
To regulate:
