JAMES MADISON QUOTE - 1822

"A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy; or, perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives."

SCOTTSBORO WEATHER - SUN & MOON RISE

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Critics blast contract for Bellefonte generators.--Nuclear fuels process, sickness and death.

<>
COPY OF THE COMPLAINT LETTER .
To The Office of the Tenneesse Valley Authority Inspector General;
.
Complaint: Regarding the design and construction by contract of 2 steam generators for the Bellefonte Nuclear Power Plant prior to TVA Board approval of construction.
.
Per news article, "Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy, Inc., has been notified of a contract award from Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) to design and manufacture two steam generators for the Bellefonte Unit 1 Plant as a part of the Bellefonte completion project." link:http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bw-to-design-and-manufacture-steam-generators-for-tvas-bellefonte-unit-1-plant-2010-10-14?reflink=MW_news_stmp
.
The purchase by contract is being made prior to the approval of the construction phase of the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant. The "letting" of this contract prior to approval by the TVA Board could result in a financial loss to the TVA. As a minimum the approval of "letting" contracts of this nature relating to the construction of the nuclear plant places the "cart before the horse" and circumvents the approval process of the TVA Board. Unless the TVA is now saying the Board is insignificant and subordinate to the executive decision making of the TVA's executive officers. Surely the TVA Board is not engaged in a secret "star chamber exercise" in violation of the Federal Sunshine Laws?
.
Request: 1) Determine if law or policy has been violated due to the letting of this contract prior to the official approval of the TVA Board concerning construction outcome of the Bellefonte Nuclear Plant Unit 1. 2) Was there a violation of the Federal Sunshine law or Federal contract requirement law or policy concerning this purchase in lieu of no formal approval of the TVA Board concerning construction of Bellefonte Nuclear Plant Unit 1. 3) Does this contract undermine the legal process of the TVA Act and the approvals of such matters of construction prior to formal action of the TVA Board?
.
Please notify the undersigned of the receipt of this complaint and outcome. END OF COMPLAINT.
<<>>
Research discloses it will cost in excess of $300 million dollars. (Not considering the additional transportation costs involved in transport to Alabama). Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) article, http://neinuclearnotes.blogspot.com/2009/09/news-video-of-three-mile-islands-steam.html The TVA Board authorized $248 million for "study and engineering feasibility" for the Bellefonte Nuclear project. Note in the NEI article about the tubing to be replaced at Three Mile Island nuclear plant, the same type of tubing was removed from the Bellefonte plant during its cannibalization 4 years ago. Scrap of Bellefonte sold for $49 million in 2006, http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2009/mar/29/alabama-salvaging-bellefonte/ not very cost effective. THE CANILIBAZATION INCLUDED THE STEAM GENERATORS, an integral component of the reactor power generation system.
.
UPDATE: The TVA's actions in this matter appears to violate the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA) as there is no authority or funds to purchase the steam generators without the specific approval of the TVA Board. 31 U.S.C. § 1341. The ADA prohibits the Federal Government from entering into a contract that is not "fully funded" because doing so would obligate the government in the absence of an appropriation adequate to the needs of the contract. http://www.gao.gov/ada/antideficiency.htm
<<<>>>
THE TRUTH OF THE NUCLEAR FUELS PROCESS, IT KILLS. FACTS AND VIDEO LINKS.
"No member of the American public has ever been killed by commercial nuclear power — a record unmatched by other fuels." by Lamar Alexander
.
My Reply TO "POLITIFACT": NOT TRUE. (Politifact or Sen. Lamar Alexander refuses to answer my charge they are not telling the truth in support of the multinational nuclear corporations. Alexander receives PAC and corporate contributions from the nuclear industry or their representatives.)
.
Nuclear Industry workers have been killed by commercial nuclear power. The nuclear fuel processing facilities are the nuclear industry's dirty little secret. If there was no commercial nuclear power the fuel fabrication facilities would not be in operation. Nuclear fuel workers sickness and deaths http://vimeo.com/1792087 {note the number of claims at 1min 57 sec into video, also note 7min 10 sec thru 7mim 20 sec into the video how difficult it is to acquire claims approval for the exposed workers "radiation is not a toxic substance." ) NOTE BELOW THE CURRENT CLAIMS, benefits paid.
.
.
Three Mile Island (TMI), Killer of Babies- http://www.ratical.org/radiation/KillingOurOwn/KOO14.html "But in fact, said Sternglass, these "preliminary" figures showed an infant-death rate within that ten-mile radius of 7.2 per 1000 live births in 1978; in 1979, after the accident, the number had risen to 15.7 per 1000--a more than doubling. The numbers for infant-death rates within a five-mile radius of TMI--though small--were even more damning. In 1978 the rate had been 2.3 infant deaths per 1000 live births; in 1979, after the accident, it was 16.2--a jump by a factor of seven."
.
Benefits paid including death benefits to survivors at: Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant http://www.dol.gov/owcp/energy/regs/compliance/charts/paducah.htm
Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion
Stats: (billions of $$ in claims) Part B&E summary- http://www.dol.gov/owcp/energy/regs/compliance/weeklystats.htm#1
.
.
"People in power who produce within the nuclear fuel chain count costs more than people and thus people become contaminated in deadly ways -- then the contaminated people are finessed or lied to, and suffer in sickness and death as do those they are intimately associated with.
* People who should be holding the producers accountable in the public interest don't, or won't, or don't know how to, or try to but run into obstacles and are discredited or don't have the resources to carry on their struggle.
* People who are sick, dying, and their survivors, have extreme difficulty in finding out how they got that way, then when they do, in finding remedies that will help them, in whatever arena and labyrinth.
* People who struggle against this betrayal each and all have a story that ought to be heard and taken to heart. The film and posted video clips aim to be a way their stories can be heeded.
* In particular, one of the supposed remedies, the EEOICPA (Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act), is flawed, and for many represents just another betrayal.
.
Lamar Alexander is a politician who is more concerned with the nuclear corporations bottom line, he is a pawn to the nuclear power brokers. I would hope the folks at "PolitiFact" do not follow in his foot steps demonstrating loyalty to the corporation instead of concern for the people being sickened and dying from the nuclear fuels process. In the statistics and video stories I have listed for you there are many facts which will demonstrate thousands are currently sick, dying and dead as a result of commercial nuclear power. This tragedy has not occurred in the commercial reactor facility itself but as a result of the nuclear fuels process. As the old saying goes, "6 of one, half a dozen of the other;" the results are the same.
.
You may discover more about the dangers of nuclear power at http://www.matrr.org/

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Garry, one correction, the tubing is gone but the steam generators are still there. they won't be replaced for another 4-5 years.

Garry said...

Please explain why the TVA is ordering new steam generators if the old ones are still on site? Why does the TVA say the original steam generators were sold along with the other scrapped parts?

List your name, affiliation and you might have some credibility. Otherwise you are attempting to confuse a simple issue. The issue-that of waste and abuse of the TVA. Scrapping of the 2 steam generators in 2006 and now the ordering of new ones in 2010.

Surely you are aware the $4.5 billion nuclear plant has never operated and the reason it was cannibalized in 2006 was due to the TVA requesting the cancellation of the Construction License of which the NRC granted the cancellation of the Construction License. Read the links provided.