Tag Archives: LAKE

Potential defects shipped to Farley reactors and four others

No worries about this reactor coolant system defect; Westinghouse says so, and didn’t even list Vogtle or Diablo Canyon, where Southern Company and PG&E said they were going to install these shields. Nevermind a reactor operator warned us back in January. Westinghouse did list “Beaver Valley Unit 2, Callaway, D.C. Cook Unit 1, Farley Units 1 and 2, and Wolf Creek”.

NRC Event Notification Report for July 29, 2013 Event Number 49217:

POTENTIAL EXISTENCE OF DEFECTS IN SHIELD PASSIVE THERMAL SHUTDOWN SEAL SYSTEM

“The defect being reported concerns an identified inconsistency between the intended design functionality of the SHIELD passive thermal shutdown seal (SDS) and that observed during post-service testing.

“The purpose of the SDS is to reduce current reactor coolant system inventory losses to very small leakage rates for a plant that results in the loss of all reactor coolant pump (RCP) seal cooling. The SDS is a Continue reading →

Callaway nuke down since Friday near Kansas City, MO

Where there was black smoke in the turbine building there was fire that shut down a nuclear plant Friday. It’s still down today, with no estimate on uptime. This is after Callaway was shut down most of April and May due to an electrical fault that “injured or affected” four people. It’s only been up most of 4 months out of the past 6. Not so reliable, this baseload nuclear, is it?

Callaway down 2 out of 6 months

Margaret Gillerman wrote for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch 27 July 2013, Callaway nuclear plant shut down after a small fire,

FULTON, MO. • Callaway County’s nuclear plant has been shut down since shortly before midnight Friday when a small fire broke out in the turbine building, authorities said.

No one was injured.

“No personnel were hurt, and no radioactivity was released” above normal operating limits, Barry Cox, senior director of nuclear operations at Callaway, said Saturday. Cox said the fire was in Continue reading →

Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline letters to Lowndes County

No letters from Lowndes County back to Sabal Trail were included in the open records response of last week, so should we conclude the county has not authorized surveys on any of its properties? The request to Lowndes County was for correspondence with Sabal Trail Transmission LLC about the proposed natural gas pipeline from Anniston, Alabama to Orlando, Florida, and the response included survey authorization forms for a list of parcels owned by Lowndes County, plus assorted descriptions and maps with very little detail. Sabal Trail still didn’t have a contract with Florida Power and Light, yet expected:

“Field survey work is scheduled to begin in September 2013.”

It looks like Sabal Trail sent letters about a bunch of parcels and then more about another one later. First they sent an introduction 19 June 2013 listing parcels 0146A-074-A, 0171 178, 0172 119, 0204 001, including a map. This appears to be the same map we’ve seen before posted by various news media:

[Map: 36" Greenfield Pipeline Approx. 465 Miles]
Map: 36" Greenfield Pipeline Approx. 465 Miles

Then they sent a letter 22 June 2013 with a survey authorization form for the same parcels. Then they sent separate letters 25 June 2013 for parcels 0146A-074-A, 0171 178, and 0172 119, 0204 001.

Also on 25 June 2013 Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter informed us:

Lowndes County does not benefit from this proposal and has no responsibility for the approval other than that of a property owner potentially impacted by the proposed route as any other property owner in Lowndes County would be.

Apparently Sabal Trail thought of another one, because a few weeks later they sent a cover letter 15 July 2013 for Parcels 0098 003, 0098 004 with a slightly more detailed map, followed a few days later by a survey authorization form 19 July 2013.

[Map of Options A and B]
Map of Options A and B

Scans of all these letters are on the LAKE website.

-jsq

Nuke supervisor arrested for falsifying safety records at Indian Point

A single person risked 50 million lives at Indian Point, 24 miles north of New York City. And it’s Entergy again, the company that couldn’t keep the power on during the Super Bowl, that can’t keep Pilgrim 1 running in a Massachusetts snowstorm, or summer heat, or the spring, either, that still has Arkansas Nuclear 1 down since a fatal accident in March. Meanwhile, how many fatal solar accidents have you heard of?

Lucas W Hixson wrote for Enformable Nuclear News, Indian Point supervisor arrested for deliberately falsifying critical safety records,

Entergy announced on Tuesday that a former supervisor, who worked at the Indian Point nuclear power plant north of New York City for twenty-nine years, had been arrested for deliberately falsifying critical safety records and lying to federal regulators last year. The utility said that Daniel Wilson, age 57, who was in charge of ensuring compliance in critical safety areas, falsified tests and records related to the quality of fuel in back-up tanks for the emergency diesel generators installed at the nuclear power plant which are necessary to prevent core damage in the event of a loss of power. Federal charges have been brought against the former employee by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, who was released on bail and could be sentenced up to 7 years in prison.

The story says co-workers caught him (good for them): Continue reading →

County setting parks legacy –April Huntley

LTE in the VDT today. -jsq

I would like to inform the community that the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners has announced their “Consideration of Proposed List” for Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax VII on July 22-23, 2013. It can be viewed on LowndesCounty.com.

The part of the budget that is most impressive to me is the allocation to Parks & Recreation. Its allocation is 3.5 million dollars. We need good recreation for our families in Lowndes County and to me this number sounds like our county commissioners take it serious.

I would also like to send out a big thank you to the commissioners for putting a Community Center in Naylor and a boat ramp on the Alapaha River as part of the purpose for the Parks and Recreation allocation.

Lowndes County needs public access to the beautiful Alapaha River as residents have enjoyed the river for generations. I hope the community will come together over this project and create a legacy for generations to come. Please send thank yous, ideas and comments to the commission about the Naylor project:

Continue reading →

2013 Southern Hospitality Workcamp was a huge success –Tim Carroll

Received today. -jsq

All,

I want to share some good news from our recent Mayor Council public hearing —

The 2013 Southern Hospitality Workcamp was a huge success. This program, now in its’ 8th year brought 212 young “campers” from around the country into our community.

They made badly needed repairs to 18 owner occupied homes. This brings the total number of homes repaired to 275. Lowes RDC once again stepped up and provided all the materials for which we are truly grateful.

The value of the labor and materials now is in excess of $1.5M. I also want to say thank you to the Valdosta City School system for once again opening up Valdosta Middle to house the campers during their stay.

The joy I witnessed in these home owners faces was especially touching. The hard work of Continue reading →

Directors and Officers Insurance: ACCG IRMA for Lowndes County

With almost $22 million in liability coverage, why do Lowndes County Commissioners and staff express such apprehension about lawsuits? This is what Lowndes County returned in response to an open records request for its contract for Directors and Officers insurance: paperwork about its ACCG IRMA subscription. IRMA is Interlocal Risk Management Agency, and ACCG is Association of County Commissioners of Georgia.

ACCG IRMA as D&O Insurance for Lowndes County
[Open Records Request]
Open Records Request 		[Summary of Insurance]
Summary of Insurance 		[Contribution Breakdown]
Contribution Breakdown 		[Contributions by Coverage]
Contributions by Coverage 		[Renewal Contribution Worksheet]
Renewal Contribution Worksheet

Copies of these documents are on the LAKE website.

-jsq

Local hospital opens 1950s-style diesel power plant

And still not a single solar panel at South Georgia Medical Center. Yes, I know that won’t work for emergency power during the night, but it would do fine for peak load during the afternoon. Plus, did anybody see a request for bids for that new power plant?

Valdosta Electric always parked across the street from SGMC; google streetview Eames Yates posted SGMC PR for WCTV Friday 19 July 2013 verbatim including the title, plus a smoking smokestack image, State-Of-The-Art Power Plant Opens At SGMC, while WALB posted a slightly shortened version, S. GA Medical boasts brand new power plant. Here’s the SGMC PR; I’ve added a few links: Continue reading →

Ginna nuke down near Rochester, NY

We still don’t know what tripped the control rods on Constellation Energy’s Ginna nuclear reactor on the shores of Lake Ontario near Rochester, NY on Wednesday; the nuke remains down.

Ginna nuke down since 25 July 2013 Staff reports for Democrat and Chronicle.com yesterday, No estimate on when Ginna nuclear plant will be back online,

The Ginna nuclear power plant in Wayne County remained shut down Friday afternoon, 48 hours after it went off line unexpectedly due to a generator problem.

No estimate was available of when the plant would go back into service, said Maria Hudson, spokeswoman for Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, the plant’s Baltimore-based owner.

“We’re continuing with our repairs,” she said.

The 581-megawatt plant on the Lake Ontario shoreline, the largest in the Rochester area, ceased producing electricity Wednesday afternoon when Continue reading →

Flooding again at Valdosta’s Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant

Third major spill this year, after March by Valdosta and April by Lowndes County. Or did I forget some? Lookout, Florida!

Eames Yates wrote for WCTV today, Nearly Eight Million Gallons Of Raw Sewage… Straight Into Area River,

Almost eight million gallons of raw sewage flooded here at the plant and made it’s way directly into the Withlacoochee River. Which is about a half mile away. Which makes the city’s plans to relocate this plant all the more relevant.

Since the beginning of this year more than Continue reading →