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Re: Norm's New Year Resolution may come true: DB may close
HI Mitchell,
I'm confused. DB is off line now, and everyone's lights work just fine. How will
de-commissioning one aging and dangerous
nuclear power plant plunge us into the dark?
Just so you know, I am not in favor of shutting down all nukes at the same time.
Obviously that would be impossible to do.
I am in favor of phasing them out over a period of perhaps 20 years, as we phase
in alternatives. I am in favor of shutting down the most dangerous and most
vulnerable first.
bleedingly heartily yours, ;-)
norm
Mitchell Davis wrote:
> Norm...I hope it does come true...Then you, and the rest of your ridiculous
> bleeding heart liberal friends, can spend the rest of your miserable,
> useless and uninformed lives in the DARK!!!....
>
> Mitchell W. Davis, RRPT
> Health Physicist
> 915-697-3523
> 915-349-4824 Cell
> radiation@cox.net
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Norman Cohen" <ncohen12@comcast.net>
> To: <Know_Nukes@yahoogroups.com>; <radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu>; "nukenet"
> <nukenet@envirolink.org>; "NRC CONCERNS" <nrc_concerns@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Thursday, January 02, 2003 2:28 PM
> Subject: Norm's New Year Resolution may come true: DB may close
>
> > I'd say - good riddence to a bad nuke.
> > norm
> >
> > Bill Corcoran wrote:
> >
> > > Have a safe and thoughtful New Year.
> > >
> > > Scroll down for today's update.
> > >
> > > Best Regards,
> > >
> > > Bill Corcoran
> > >
> > > W. R. Corcoran, Ph.D., P.E.
> > > Nuclear Safety Review Concepts
> > > 21 Broadleaf Circle
> > > Windsor, CT 06095-1634
> > > 860-285-8779 Fax: 702-993-2408
> > > Mission: Saving lives, pain, assets, and careers through thoughtful
> inquiry.
> > >
> > > Check out our e-groups at
> > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Root_Cause_State_of_the_Practice/
> > > where you will find all back issues of "The Firebird Forum" and at
> > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DBRVH_LTBL/
> > > where you will find a dialogue on the Davis-Besse near miss LOCA.,
> including photos, polls, files, tables, and links.
> > >
> > > For a complimentary subscription to our e-newsletter on root cause,
> organizational learning, and safety send a message to
> firebird.one@alum.MIT.edu
> > > Visit our web site at http://pages.prodigy.net/corcoran.nsrc/index.html
> > >
> ??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
> > >
> > > Akron, Ohio-Based FirstEnergy Considers Closing Aging Oak Harbor Nuclear
> Plant
> > >
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------
> > > Chicago Tribune
> > > Dec. 30--OAK HARBOR, Ohio--For most of its 170 years, this little town
> on the Portage River lived off the local labors of farming and, later,
> manufacturing. When the nuclear power plant was built a few miles from here
> in 1978, Oak Harbor, population 2,600, struck the mother lode of prosperity.
> > >
> > > The Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station bankrolled a new high school and
> an Olympic-size swimming pool. It provided 1,000 jobs. Today it is the
> heartbeat of Oak Harbor and the biggest employer in tourism-oriented Ottawa
> County, on Lake Erie's shoreline.
> > >
> > > Whether it will be for much longer is a matter of growing concern.
> > >
> > > Plagued by operational troubles for much of its 24 years, the plant was
> shut down in February for a routine inspection during which a brick-size,
> acid-created hole that had gone undetected for four years was discovered in
> the nuclear reactor lid.
> > >
> > > The owner of Davis-Besse, the Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp., hoped to
> restart the reactor this month but new problems and unresolved questions
> about the plant's safety have delayed that at least until late winter.
> > >
> > > Anxiety over the future of the plant increased this month when
> FirstEnergy Chief Executive Peter Burg, pointing to the $400 million the
> company has spent to repair the site, raised the prospect of closing it
> permanently.
> > >
> > > Davis-Besse has become the national focal point of the nuclear power
> safety debate, with its problems generating questions about the safety of
> many of the nation's older nuclear plants. FirstEnergy and the Nuclear
> Regulatory Commission, the government's chief regulator of the industry,
> have been criticized for not discovering the hole sooner.
> > >
> > > Some members of Congress, including Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D) , whose
> district includes the plant, have called for an independent investigation of
> the Davis-Besse matter. The NRC, which has the final say on whether and when
> Davis-Besse can reopen, is conducting a criminal investigation to determine
> whether the company deliberately withheld information about the plant's
> flaws.
> > >
> > > Unexpectedly, the NRC's chairman, Richard Meserve, announced this month
> that he would resign, more than a year before his term is to expire. Meserve
> had come under fire for the agency's handling of Davis-Besse.
> > >
> > > When Burg told financial analysts in New York that he would not allow
> Davis-Besse "to become a black hole for FirstEnergy," the remark sent a
> shudder through Oak Harbor, where most residents have a relative or a close
> friend who work at the plant, which has retained its staff to make repairs.
> > >
> > > "When he said that, I kind of went ballistic. It'll kill the economy,"
> said Bob Cook, a clerk at the downtown hardware store. "I can't believe
> they'll take it and say `We're done.'"
> > >
> > > Residents in the Oak Harbor area are accustomed to problems at
> Davis-Besse, but they remained confident that the company would make things
> right. Pictures of the corrosion damage at the reactor, though, and
> disclosures that it went on for so long have shaken some of that confidence.
> > >
> > > Pam Winters, a deputy registrar for the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles in
> Oak Harbor, said she worries that people will "pass the buck" about problems
> at the plant. Winters lives about 2 miles from the plant and said the
> discovery of the hole in the reactor lid is breeding skepticism about the
> plant's safety.
> > >
> > > Asked if she believes Davis-Besse can be safe, Winters said, "I don't
> know."
> > >
> > > While FirstEnergy officials say they remain optimistic about fixing the
> plant, the uncertainty over what the NRC, Congress and FirstEnergy will do
> is unsettling for residents such as Darrell Opfer, a former high school
> teacher, state representative and now chief economic development director
> for Ottawa County.
> > >
> > > "The reactor situation has been disquieting. I'm most concerned that
> after the safety concerns are addressed that the politics of the anti-
> versus pro-nuclear power community would do something to prevent the
> restart." Opfer said.
> > >
> > > Jere Witt, the Ottawa County administrator, said closing Davis-Besse
> "would be a major blow to us."
> > >
> > > "I think there were mistakes made ... but I do not think they were
> intentional, and I do not think there was an effort to cover it up," Witt
> said.
> > >
> > > The hole that inspectors discovered in early March was caused by a
> buildup of boric acid. The chemical ate through nearly 70 pounds of carbon
> steel protecting the reactor.
> > >
> > > The hole had grown over the years, with the corrosion reaching within
> one-eighth of an inch of the reactor. Nuclear industry experts say adequate
> safeguards were in place to contain the damage if the acid had reached the
> reactor, but the broader and more troublesome issue is why the erosion
> escaped detection by the company and the NRC for so long.
> > >
> > > "I'm not comfortable with the NRC's explanations," said Kaptur. "The
> burden of proof is on the NRC and the company, and they have not passed the
> threshold of confidence."
> > >
> > > Ohio Citizen Action, a public interest group, wants the plant to be
> closed permanently.
> > >
> > > "I think FirstEnergy has lost its privilege to run the plant. What
> they're doing now is too little, too late," said Amy Ryder, the group's
> Cleveland area director.
> > >
> > > In a 100-page report, the NRC said part of the blame rests with the
> agency itself, which had too few inspectors and missed several opportunities
> to find the problem.
> > >
> > > In a recent speech, Meserve said Davis-Besse was a "direct result of a
> degraded safety culture" at FirstEnergy. He also said the NRC "must
> acknowledge its own shortcomings in connection with the event."
> > >
> > > Since the release of the report, inspectors have found rust on the
> bottom of the nuclear reactor. The extent and cause of that damage will be
> determined through tests next month, the NRC and FirstEnergy said.
> > >
> > > "Every time you turn around now there's something new they discover,"
> said Sandy Fillmore, a former Davis-Besse employee who manages a pizza shop.
> "I don't think it should be reopened again."
> > >
> > > Todd Schneider, a spokesman for FirstEnergy, said the company has made
> great progress this month.
> > >
> > > "We certainly expect to see it returned to safe and reliable service
> early next year," Schneider said.
> > >
> > > He added, though, that costs cannot be dismissed. "You have to make a
> business decision."
> > >
> > > Shirley Reif, who helps her daughter run a fitness shop in Oak Harbor,
> said she understands that. People in town have always been divided: In one
> camp are those who are skeptical about the safety issues and, in the other,
> those who are confident the company will do the right thing.
> > >
> > > The balancing act goes on, Reif said. "They [FirstEnergy] have put so
> much into it and it doesn't seem like they wouldn't reopen it."
> > >
> > > "But I don't know," Reif added.
> > >
> > > -----
> > >
> > > To see more of the Chicago Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go
> to http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
> > >
> > > (c) 2002, Chicago Tribune. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business
> News.
> > >
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> > >
> > >
> > >
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> >
> > --
> > Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr
> Ave., Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8583 or 609-601-8537; ncohen12@comcast.net
> UNPLUG SALEM WEBSITE: http://www.unplugsalem.org/ COALITION FOR PEACE AND
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> for Peace and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action.
> > "First they ignore you; Then they laugh at you; Then they fight you; Then
> you win. (Gandhi) "Why walk when you can fly?" (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
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Coalition for Peace and Justice and the UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr Ave.,
Linwood, NJ 08221; 609-601-8583 or 609-601-8537; ncohen12@comcast.net UNPLUG
SALEM WEBSITE: http://www.unplugsalem.org/ COALITION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
WEBSITE: http://www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org The Coalition for Peace
and Justice is a chapter of Peace Action.
"First they ignore you; Then they laugh at you; Then they fight you; Then you
win. (Gandhi) "Why walk when you can fly?" (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
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