Re: Out of the ashes?

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                       MILLSTONE 3 RESTART CLEARS KEY HURDLE

                       Boston Globe, published on 05/06/98.
                       SOURCE: By Brigitte Greenberg, Associated Press

                       WATERFORD, Conn. -- Federal inspectors said yesterday
that
                       Northeast Utilities had made significant improvements
at the idled
                       Millstone 3 nuclear plant, helping clear the way for
its restart.

                       All three reactors at the troubled Millstone power
station have been
                       shut down for more than two years due to a variety of
regulatory and
                       safety concerns, straining NU's finances and
Connecticut power
                       supplies. NU has been working to get Millstone 3, the
newest and
                       biggest unit, back on line first.

==================

May 13, 1998

NOTE TO EDITORS:

                           MILLSTONE COMMISSION MEETING RESCHEDULED

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff, representatives of Northeast
Utilities and Sargent & Lundy, and various public interest groups will brief
the Commission on Tuesday, June 2, on selected issues related to the proposed
restart of Millstone Unit 3. The meeting, which will be held in the
Commissioners' Conference Room at the One White Flint building at NRC
headquarters in Rockville, Md., will be open to the public for observation. It
will begin at 8 a.m.

Both the NRC staff and NU will discuss corrective actions, operational
readiness and the results of the Independent Corrective Action Verification
Program (ICAVP) conducted at Unit 3 by Sargent & Lundy. Sargent & Lundy will
also discuss the ICAVP.

The Millstone units, which are located in Waterford, Conn., and are owned and
operated by NU, require Commission authorization to restart. 

(http://www.nrc.gov/OPA/gmo/nrarcv/98-55i.htm)

==================

LEAKED MEMO ADDS TO MILLSTONE WOES AS NORTHEAST UTILITIES TEETERS ON
BANKRUPTCY

WORK STOPS ON UNIT-1; NIRS/CAN PETITION FOR LICENSE REVOCATION DURING JACKSON
VISIT 

The future of Northeast Utilities (NU) hinges on its ability to restart at
least Unit-3 of its troubled Millstone nuclear complex in the next few months.
The utility had been hoping to receive NRC permission during March to restart
the reactor, but a new memo leaked to the press has thrown that schedule into
jeopardy.

At a February 3 meeting in Waterford, Connecticut, NRC Chairwoman Shirley
Jackson warned that the NRC is not beholden to NU’s schedule and that "there
is an awful lot to be done," before the NRC will consider restart. She also
said that a premature request by NU for a restart decision would rebound badly
for the company, since it could be evidence that the utility still hasn’t
learned its lessons.

An internal company memo, leaked to the New London Day in late January,
provides new evidence that the pattern of intimidation and harassment of
employees and whistleblowers that helped bring NU to the edge of bankruptcy
continues to exist. The memo, signed off by Vice-President for Nuclear
Oversight David Goebel, was distributed to some 35 managers at a January 21
meeting. The memo was dated January 11.

The memo addresses "positive qualities of nuclear oversight" and "areas
needing improvement." In the latter section, the memo complains of an
"inability to ‘isolate’ cynics from group culture," that there remain "pockets
of negativism" among plant workers, and that personnel issues cause "too much
negative energy."

Northeast’s treatment of workers and its willingness to address their concerns
will be a major focus of NRC’s restart review. An independent consulting firm,
Little Harbor Associates, that was hired under NRC order to monitor NU’s
employee programs said it will closely follow the issue. Said former
Government Accountability Project attorney Billie Gade, a member of the firm,
"the language is very troubling."

NIRS and the Citizens Awareness Network prepared a "show cause" petition
demanding that NU’s licenses for all of the Millstone reactors be permanently
revoked. The petition said that "this memorandum represents yet another
example of an incorrigible attitude at the senior management level to chill
the safety conscious workplace at the Millstone units despite two years of
increased regulatory scrutiny of the managerial mistreatment of the
company’s employees safety concerns program."

NIRS and CAN pointed out that instead of confronting the attitude displayed in
the memo, NU tried to cover up its existence. Goebel asked all employees who
received it to return their copies to him, although some did not do so—instead
leaking it to the Day. And while the utility claims the memo does not
represent their current policies, the company failed to inform either the NRC
or Little Harbor Associates about the memo until the Day’s article was
published.

Indeed, NRC Chair Jackson had not seen the memo until Tom McCormick, a CAN
member, gave her a copy at a Waterford press conference. Rosemary Bassilakis
of CAN presented Dr. Jackson with the NIRS/CAN petition at the packed February
3 meeting. Most of the 500 or so people present at the meeting appeared to be
Millstone workers supporting restart of Unit-3, although one worker told the
crowd that he believes that NU is not "morally" ready for restart and that the
reactor is not physically ready for restart.

Meanwhile, Northeast announced in mid-January that it has halted work on
Unit-1, the oldest reactor at the complex, and reassigned most of its
employees to the other two units. Unit-1 recently was removed from NU’s rate
base by Connecticut regulators. The utility said it is not yet permanently
closing the reactor, but said it just doesn’t have the money to work on the
plant and hinted that a restart is unlikely, and certainly will not occur this
year. According to an NU statement, "while there is no guarantee the company
will restart Unit 1, NU will aggressively explore with other companies the
potential for external funding of some portion of the recovery in exchange for
a term sale of capacity and energy once the unit is restarted."

(http://www.nirs.org/mononline/LEAKEDMEMOADDSTOMILLSTONEWOES.html; January
1998)

==================================
In a message dated 98-05-14 07:33:04 EDT, you write:

<< Subj:	 Out of the ashes?
 Date:	98-05-14 07:33:04 EDT
 From:	FLORYCA@GWSMTP.NU.COM (CLAUDE A. FLORY)
 Sender:	radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
 Reply-to:	radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu
 To:	radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu (Multiple recipients of list)
 
Leaders of eight communities surrounding the Millstone Nuclear Power Station
in Waterford, Connecticut signed the statement below on Wednesday, May 13,
1998.  After two years of hard work it is reassuring to see that the public,
especially the neighboring public, have some sense of trust and hope.  You
will continue to see negative publicity as the adamantly opposed remain so.
(A rally against Millstone restart is scheduled for May 23.)   But the
majority of the public will recognized good faith effort to ensure a safe
nuclear operation and to maintain open lines of communication.

[text deleted]

"Statement of Support and Reconciliation" 

[text deleted]

d)  We acknowledge the substantive work and contributions of the
"whistleblowers"; the Nuclear Energy Advisory Council (NEAC)  and various
citizen-action groups (such as Citizens 	Regulatory Commission and the
Friends of a Safe Millstone) in helping to protect the health and safety of
our region;

e)  We strongly agree that within the public discourse on radiation levels and
related health and safety issues, that factual, well-substantiated information
should be used in order to move forward toward solutions, and prevent
unnecessary alarm of the public; 

f)  We strongly agree and acknowledge that differing viewpoints and differing
opinions on the usage (or non-usage)  of nuclear power have a right to be
shared, respected, and listened to in a progressive, open, and civil
manner; and
 
[text deleted]