"We Need A Counselor For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission?!"
That's what one congressman asked, incredulous, about the bickering at the agency that's supposed to safeguard our nation's 104 nuclear power plants.
In yet another story revealing how similar government is to nursery school, Mike M. Ahlers writes at CNN of a "rift" at the NRC:
All four commissioners of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission -- charged with safeguarding the nation's 104 nuclear power plants -- assailed their leader Wednesday, testifying to Congress that NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko had "bullied" senior officials at the agency, restricted access to information and concealed the fact he had seized executive powers during the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in Japan early this year.The commissioners, demure in style and soft-spoken in words, were effusive in their criticism.
Jaczko (pronounced Yaz-koh) had engaged in "outbursts of abusive rage" against subordinates, said Commissioner Kristine Svinicki.
The "chilled" work environment was like a "growing cancer," said Commissioner William Magwood.
If nuclear industry executives had exhibited similar behavior, said Commissioner William Ostendorff, they would be "subject to investigation and potential enforcement action."
Now now now... Raddy has promised us that everything's under control.
Let's all just pay our taxes (and their retirements) and keep our noses out of it, OK?
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 15, 2011 11:35 AM
Christmas is coming. How else are they supposed to get Rudolph's nose to glow in the dark?
If you click through the links on your knoxnews post, you'll get to the Oak Ridge Deer Hunt Radiation Monitoring Guidelines, in pdf format:
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/rmal/deer_hunt_procedure.pdf
Using the precautionary principle, the DOE has established a dose limit of 100 mrem/year to the general public from nuclear facilities. This is a fraction of the average annual background dose, and orders of magnitude below the level at which any health effects whatsoever have been observed. As a further precaution, the EDE (effective dose equivalent) limit for the consumption of a whole deer has been set at 25 mrem/year. As a yet further precaution, the limits of the radionuclides of greatest concern, Cesium 137 (from soft tissues) and Strontium 90 (from bone) have been set at 5 picocuries and 20 picocuries per gram, corresponding to EDEs of 1.6 and 5 mrem, respectively. As a final precaution, if a bone sample consistently reads 1.5 times the natural background level, the deer is also retained.
After all these precautions were taken, 318 out of 321 deer went home with the hunters who bagged them. Feel free to panic.
Martin at December 15, 2011 5:06 PM
who can fire him? oh, wait...
SwiaaArmyD at December 15, 2011 5:39 PM
> Feel free to panic.
Our government is doing all sorts of things nowadays –in finance, communications, transportation, international relations, education, warfare and on and on– that demonstrate abject incompetence.
To add another to the list is not to incite panic, and you should be ashamed for suggesting it is... Or you should be identified as an apologist.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 15, 2011 7:41 PM
There are still a lot of diligent people (like the ones at Oak Ridge) standing between the likes of Mr. Jaczko and threats to public safety.
Martin at December 15, 2011 9:15 PM
Good to know! Glad to hear that! Reassurance! Lots of diligent-types!
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 15, 2011 9:39 PM
There's a loose cannon in the NRC. Everyone has noticed, and they're doing what they can to get rid of him. Meanwhile, the people operating nuclear facilities are carrying on despite his antics. What more do you want?
Martin at December 15, 2011 10:31 PM
Excellence commensurate with both the seriousness of their responsibilities and the cost of their employment. When "executive powers" have been seized in a time of crisis, that excellence has been shown as absent.
"Diligent"
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at December 15, 2011 10:38 PM
"Now now now... Raddy has promised us that everything's under control.
Let's all just pay our taxes (and their retirements) and keep our noses out of it, OK?"
Wow. Mr. Ignorant is making more shit up.
Not only am I not under the purview of the NRC, I can prove what I say - and have done so. The link to SRS.gov, should you ever think about looking something up, not only offers access to the SRS safety analysis but to management of the Site and its programs.
I'm an employee of URS, as I've pointed out. Its stockholders and board members have the legal duty to determine contractual matters, including those of employment. Not you. Sorry. You'll note that I have advocated FOR public scrutiny of Federal contracts. Somehow, you're against this?
Apparently, being told you're not in charge prevents you from reason. Maybe your current job affords you no sense of purpose. Maybe the free clinic said, "That's not going to work any more."
But you should actually learn something. I bet it's fun reading this though.
Radwaste at December 17, 2011 2:35 PM
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