Bellefonte, A Continuing Saga of Abuse, Neglect and Bad Government

        $8-10 billion dollars the cost of one nuclear reactor.

Vultures await the final disposition of Bellefonte. It seems as if the vultures know death is in the air at this zombie reactor.

Local reports indicate layoffs abound for the contractors at Bellefonte as the TVA runs short on money. The cash strapped TVA apparently is transferring funds to Watts Bar from Bellefonte in the attempt to complete that troubled reactor up river in Tennessee. One nuclear reactor costs between $8-10 billion dollars. With cost overruns it will be more.

Bellefonte Unit 1 reactor tubines. Note the heavy corrosion present.
Laid off Union contractors report severe corrosion of metal parts and a general state of ill repair of the stripped, reactor at Bellefonte. Pipe fitters, electricians and carpenters report serious degraded conditions at Bellefonte. The nuclear plant's quality control lapsed during the period of the cancelled construction permit where unskilled laborers literally ripped the guts from the nuclear reactor. There have also been reactor containment retaining tendons which have broken due to corrosion.

An antiquated nuclear construction permit which was reinstated by the NRC without one vote of approval from the NRC-1 vote disapproved and 3 votes jointly approved/disapproved. That breach of nuclear safety law landed the NRC and the TVA with their cadre of lobbyists from the Nuclear Energy Institute, NEI, in the Washington D.C. Federal Court of Appeals, where we await the decision of the court.

THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY IS THE WATCHDOG OVER THE NRC. It has been discovered the NEI, the nuclear industry lobby, has staff working at the NRC's new reactor licensing division. Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry's lobby, prepares policy, trains and participates in nuclear planing; including safety and security planning and new plant licensing. Reference: http://www.nrc.gov/site-help/search.cfm?q=Mr.+Russell+Bell+NEI&s=+

Power struggle in the NRC: http://timesfreepress.com/news/2011/dec/19/power-struggle-racks-nuclear-regulatory-agency/ Note the picture of the Bellefonte unit 1 turbine cover and the heavy corrosion present in the picture depicted at the Times Free Press link.


Local politicians and the Chamber of Commerce clamor to acquire the money from additional tax revenue and TVA-in-lieu-of-taxes. Failing to consider unsafe conditions at the stripped Bellefonte nuclear plant site. The local politicians are more concerned about their bureaucratic existence and how much of your money they may spend rather than be concerned about public safety and a dangerous nuclear power plant within 6 miles of downtown Scottsboro.