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Schone writes: "The nation's oldest nuclear plant declared an alert and a second plant just 40 miles from New York City was forced to shut down power."

A cooling tower is seen at the Salem nuclear power plant known as Artificial Island. (photo: Mel Evans/AP)
A cooling tower is seen at the Salem nuclear power plant known as Artificial Island. (photo: Mel Evans/AP)


Hurricane Sandy: Problems at Five Nuke Plants

By Mark Schone, ABC News

31 October 12

he nation's oldest nuclear plant declared an alert and a second plant just 40 miles from New York City was forced to shut down power as five different nuke plants in Hurricane Sandy's path experienced problems during the storm.

Indian Point in Buchanan, New York, on the Hudson River north of New York City, automatically shut power to its unit 3 on Monday night "as a result of an electrical grid disturbance," according to Entergy, the plant's operator.

The connection between the generator and the offsite grid was lost, and the unit is designed to shut down to protect itself from electrical damage. Entergy said there was no release of radioactivity, no damage to equipment, and no threat to the public health.

"At Indian Point yesterday the river level and wind had no impact on plant operation," said a spokesman. Another unit at the plant continues to operate, and the company expects unit 3 to return to service within days.

Operators also declared an alert at the nation's oldest nuclear plant, Oyster Creek in Lacey Township, New Jersey, on Monday evening after the center of Sandy made landfall, "due to water exceeding certain high water level criteria in the plant's water intake structure."

The alert level is the "the second lowest of four action levels," as defined by the NRC.

"Water level is rising in the intake structure due to a combination of a rising tide, wind direction and storm surge," the NRC said Monday. "It is anticipated water levels will begin to abate within the next several hours."

Exelon Corporation, the owner of the plant, said in a statement that there was "no threat to the public health or safety" from the situation.

The plant also lost power, which is critical to keep spent fuel rods from overheating, but "the station's two backup diesel generators activated immediately," and it has two weeks of diesel fuel on site, Exelon said.

A reactor at an Exelon facility outside Philadelphia, Limerick Generating Station, was ramped down to 91 percent power after Sandy caused a problem with its condenser.

A unit at a fourth plant 43 miles from Philadelphia, Salem Nuclear Power Plant on Delaware Bay in southern New Jersey, was manually shut down just after 1 a.m. Tuesday morning "when four of the station's six circulating water pumps were no longer available due to weather impacts from Hurricane Sandy," according to plant co-owner PSEG Nuclear.

"No issues were encountered during the Salem Unit 1 shutdown," said PSEG Nuclear, "and the plant is currently stable. In addition to the operating crews onsite, Salem has designated response teams available."

At the Nine Mile Point plant near Oswego, New York, in what operators say "is likely a storm-related event," unit 1 shut down automatically around 9 p.m. Monday because of an electrical fault, while unit 2 experienced a power loss from an incoming power line because of the same fault. An emergency diesel generator started automatically to supply power to unit 2. The NRC said that the operators are still evaluating the cause of the event. "All plant safety systems responded as designed and the shutdown was safely carried out," said the NRC. Nine Mile Point is owned by CENG, a joint venture of Exelon and a French power company.

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+118 # RCW 2014-12-01 13:15
Could not have been better said, and what you say is demonstrated again and again by remarks made by respondents to articles on line who attack a form of religion that most Christians and Jews I know would reject as well.
 
 
+29 # patrick.wells66 2014-12-01 13:20
 
 
+58 # Dust 2014-12-01 13:20
Most excellently well-said!!

All religious groups should gain converts and support by their example, not by religious law.
 
 
+59 # fredboy 2014-12-01 13:24
Beautiful. Been trying to explain this to twisted relatives for two decades. They drank the Kool-Aid.
 
 
+49 # Sisddwg 2014-12-01 13:25
Jay, I think that you nailed it. Nuff said.
 
 
+55 # Regina 2014-12-01 13:26
Rebbe, we're ALL being "had." The ultra-right has politicized religion to a far greater extreme in the 21st century than previously, and their political gamesmanship belies their "faith" speak, by far. Just look at Colorado Springs, CO, as the well-spring of super-evangelis m. Their ultra-evangelic al stranglehold on the military, their invasion of public education, and their demands for their version of Christian allegiance in public forums have poisoned all appeals to the Constitution for the salvage of the crumbling wall of separation. Yehoshve (Jesus) would not approve!
 
 
+24 # anntares 2014-12-01 13:46
Desmond Tutu's book "No Future Without Forgiveness" shows how some South African white torturers and murderers and the families of the young black men they killed for standing up for democratic self-government and found ways to make amends and find forgiveness.

If they can do it, US citizens can come back together as fellow Americans. I know some Evangelicals who are true to the values of Jesus Christ - they help the poor, feed the homeless, care for the drug addicted or alcoholic.

They do not let political positions influence their connections with people. They also show compassion for both Israelis and Palestinians instead of wanting Jerusalem for themselves - and when they get it, will give Jews 48 hours to convert or else. Unfortunately some have become the spokespeople for politicians funded by corporate interests and issue-focused political organizations like ALE and, AIPAC.
 
 
+14 # anntares 2014-12-01 13:47
ALEC not ALE - American Legislative Exchange Council
 
 
+3 # anntares 2014-12-01 19:47
 
 
+45 # JLischin 2014-12-01 13:48
Nicely stated. I'm an agnostic, Buddhist influenced, married, heterosexual Jew. Politically I'm pretty left wing. My work is as a social service, education and medical consultant grantwriter. It gives me an interesting perspective on religious Christians. Many, many colleagues and clients are very religious Christians determined to help the needy. Dedicated. Loving. I work with mostly minority serving organizations where Christian faith is a primary pillar. Yet in the ying/yang of life so many haters also draw their strength from Christianity. The KKK saw themselves as defenders of Protestantism. Hated Jews and Catholics almost as much as Blacks. It's a complex world. Today's republicans would fiercely attack the Sermon On The Mount if it was distributed today and or reworded as an act of legislation. An articulate gay Rabbi gives me hope. My multi-faith, multi-race, multinational family gives me joy.
 
 
+3 # babalu 2014-12-03 07:29
Sounds like a good experiment: the Sermon on the Mount as a bill before states and US congress.
 
 
+63 # jon 2014-12-01 13:57
It is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.

Mark Twain
 
 
+17 # kevenwood 2014-12-01 14:14
Very well said -- I agree with this article. And now the question is, how are progressives being had by the Democratic Party? Who wants to step up and write that one.
 
 
+11 # reiverpacific 2014-12-01 14:24
"Oh Thou, who Man of baser Earth didn't make,
And who with Eden disds't devise the Snake;
For all the Sin wherewith the Face of man
Is blacken'd,
Man's forgiveness give -and take!"
A wise Persian.
 
 
+17 # davidr 2014-12-01 14:24
 
 
+7 # jon 2014-12-01 16:06
Very well stated, davidr!

"they are unprepared to accept a duality between their spiritual inner lives and their membership in a worldly society among people with their own private minds & hearts."

They are not concerned with their own spiritual inner lives. They think religion is something other than that - a means for subjugating their women first, and the "others", second.

This syndrome is not limited to Christian fundamentalists . It is the same with ALL fundamentalist sects of the world Religions.
 
 
+8 # JJS 2014-12-01 16:47
"...the culture of a liberal society is anathema to religious fundamentalism and vice versa. ..."-davidr

I think you have stated a key concept the US tried to establish with the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

A liberal society, pillared by laws, is accepting that the fundamentalist has a right to exist, participate in society, believe and practice their religion to the extent it does not infringe on the rights of other members of that society. A fundamentalist should respect the rights a liberal society would bestow on them and abide by the laws that guarantee the rights of everyone. A more perfect union is the path we should be on, not the winner take all, as you describe. Unfortunately, the US has slaughtered many fundamentalists and just plain old "other" religious members in it's history, too.
 
 
+22 # cakhuxel 2014-12-01 16:25
I keep telling my very nice ultra-Conservat ive friend- you have let the lunatics own the asylum. In the Democratic media, we shun the crazy voices, the people who are too extreme to be given a pulpit. But the Republican media gives their crazy voices a national platform.
 
 
+16 # Farafalla 2014-12-01 16:33
At the risk of getting thumbs down, I think this well-intended article is quite naive with respect to evangelical Christians. While I have not researched this deeply, I think there is enough journalism and scholarship to reveal the real reasons why rational secular liberals and left wing people reject the religious right. The GOP has them by the balls because it's the only political group ready to endorse the repugnant theology of the Christian Right.

What evangelicals believe:
that the world was made in seven days and is not older than 5,000 years.
That science that questions "faith" is satanic.
That Jesus had a role in the writing of the Constitution, especially the second amendment.
That Jesus wil come at the end of times (any day now) with a sword and not peace, that he will rapture a chosen few from the whole species, the rest will be left behind.
That the United States is chosen by God to rule the world.
That the founding of the state of Israel is a sign of the coming end times
That Jesus was muscular and not meek
That the rapture happens on the first (or is it third?) day of the tribulation (big theological question for Fundies)
That homosexuals should be killed (see advances made by white evangelicals in their "missions" to African countries).
That all other kinds of Christians are heretics and apostates and will go to hell.
That non-Christians go to hell.
That women should serve their husbands.

Feel free to add your own points...
 
 
+4 # babalu 2014-12-03 07:32
That women should serve their husbands... AND husbands rule over the family, which cannot question the authority of the "father."
 
 
0 # LAellie33 2014-12-18 15:02
Agricanto: Very well said, and I totally concur!
 
 
+16 # reiverpacific 2014-12-01 16:48
Wonder if ol' "JoeConserve" read this?
When pushed for an argument, he always backs up into the "Your Latte is getting cold" cliche or some such banality -and he once, in a giant but typically reactionary leap of presumptuousnes s, told me I "--obviously knew nothing about spirituality".
My wife's older brother is one of these "Born-again" Evangelicals who at one time told his own ailing, lovely, classy and spiritual mother that she'd go to Hell just because she kept her own beliefs to herself and didn't go to HIS church. We cut off all contact with he and his humorless, God-bothering alleged friends some years ago; he altered their dad's will to pretty much cut my wife out; -so VERY Christian, innit?! And he's a devotee of Rush Limpballs, so go figure.
On the other hand and to be fair, the leader of our local cat rescue organization, which I also volunteer to and support as best I can, is a deeply sincere Christian believer who actually walks the talk but you'd never know it as it's very personal to her; and there are many happy kitties with good homes or being fostered by virtue of this good, loving woman.
 
 
-27 # moafu@yahoo.com 2014-12-01 17:19
Dear Jay,

I'm going to make an effort to dialog with you. We have a lot to discuss since I have been a Pentecostal Pastor for 51 years and have stood firm in support of Israel and Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

You make some good points that I would like to discuss since I'm fine w/ the term "marriage" for same sex unions.

what I don't understand is your personal inconsistency. You sing the praises of the Democratic party. This is the party that illegally removed the words "God" and "Jerusalem" from is 2012 Presidential Platform in a verbal vote that was clearly NOT a majority.

Your thoughts pls.
 
 
+26 # Ken Halt 2014-12-01 17:40
A sure sign that you didn't read the article is this sentence from said article "Now I'm not saying that you should jump aboard with the Democrats agenda either." Not exactly singing praises, is it? To point out the obvious disconnect between the interests of the 1% and the so called Christian evangelicals is not an endorsement of the D party. Conservatives have such poor critical-thinki ng skills.
 
 
+4 # reiverpacific 2014-12-02 19:16
Quoting Ken Halt:
A sure sign that you didn't read the article is this sentence from said article "Now I'm not saying that you should jump aboard with the Democrats agenda either." Not exactly singing praises, is it? To point out the obvious disconnect between the interests of the 1% and the so called Christian evangelicals is not an endorsement of the D party. Conservatives have such poor critical-thinking skills.

That's 'cause himself is probably speaking' in tongues as Pentecostalists tend to do. If you've never witnessed this, it's quite trip -and Pentecostalists aren't the only denomination that do it. I was at a Catholic "Charismatic" service with my late ex-wife (one time only) and many of these seemingly rational Middle Class White people started yattering in all kinds of sounds which didn't equate to any language I've ever heard and must have come from a Galaxy far, far away -and they saw Angels hovering over us all too.
Now I've had some strange, Shaman-guided hallucinogenic experiences in different Andean "Oriente" and North African locations but these people had been drinking only coffee before this sudden onset of the "Spirit".
All this experience should make me open to almost any spiritual occurrence but I was a bit apprehensive rather than moved by these gibbering antics.
Explains a lot; the Tea-Thugs have their own language too, which is all to easy to comprehend -"Fuck everybody who isn't white, rich and Protestant Christian!"
 
 
+12 # ericlipps 2014-12-01 21:39
How was anything about either party's 2012 platform "legal" rather than merely political?

As for that verbal vote being "clearly NOT a majority," surely if that were so the majority would have stepped up to complain? If you were watching on TV, you may simply have gotten a false impression.
 
 
0 # humanmancalvin 2014-12-02 11:25
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/democrats-reinstate-god-and-jerusalem-language-in-party-platform/
This site along with 10's of thousands more dispute your assertions. There was talk about the removal but Prez. Obama vetoed that idea & yes any conversation about God & Jerusalem were open for any & all discussion.
If you are going to write, perform a tad more research unless you enjoy being seen as totally fact wrong in a public forum.
 
 
+5 # mmcmanus 2014-12-02 14:37
You apparently completely missed the point about the separation of church and state/politics.
 
 
+2 # babalu 2014-12-03 07:45
1) It was not ILLEGAL for the Democrats to remove God and Jerusalem from the Presidential Platform. Because there are no LAWS on it, it is not illegal. Was this derived from Republican talk which is always - what's the Christian way to say this - loose? Was it against the rules ? I was not there. Were you?
2) If you support Israeli, do you support Israeli's using Palestinian for target practice? Jesus would not countenance that, but the Old Testament god would - do you ignore Jesus's teaching of love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek, etc.? Are you a Jesus-following Christian, or a picker-and-choo ser? OT when it supports you, picking four words that supposedly prohibit homosexuality out of hundreds of other proscriptions you ignore? Sure they have "bombs' - mostly rocks and duds.

Why should not the imprisoned (ghettoized) Palestinians have a way to protest sufficiently to get the Israelis and the world's attention?
 
 
+7 # LizR 2014-12-01 18:39
Agreed with most of that except your use of Ellen - the person who said on TV that "books are boring". I can never forgive her for that, as though dumbing down wasn't already a big enough problem. As irresponsible as our very own Mike Hosking saying there can't be anything in climate science because "they can't even get the weather right."
 
 
+15 # Texas Aggie 2014-12-01 21:17
 
 
+3 # Rain17 2014-12-02 13:07
I will say this much. I get the intent of this article; but, if the goal is to get them to reconsider their viewpoints, this piece is an utter failure. It's great for the already-convert ed, but a failure for everyone else.
 
 
+3 # rayb-baby 2014-12-02 13:23
"They are well aware that they are being victimized ....."

The only thing is that they are NOT aware of who they're being victimized by. They can start by looking at their own evangelical leaders
 
 
+1 # Rain17 2014-12-02 13:30
But do you think calling them stupid, as this piece implies, is going to get them to reassess their viewpoints?
 
 
+11 # Keep up the good work 2014-12-01 22:03
 
 
+2 # Rain17 2014-12-02 12:28
Many of them also believe in the idea that "those who shall not work shall not eat" and that "the Lord rewards those who help themselves." A lot of it is also due to the idea of "predestination " from the Puritans.
 
 
+1 # babalu 2014-12-03 07:51
Love the phrase! Will use it!
 
 
-6 # Rain17 2014-12-01 23:51
If the goal here is to preach to the already-convert ed, sound self-righteous, and project moral superiority, then this piece is an an overwhelming success. If the goal here is to change peoples' minds and get them to reconsider their viewpoints, then this piece is an utter failure.

"Voting against their own interests" is just as toxic to the left as the "47%" is to the right. It has same the toxic effect in alienating people.

Calling people stupid and dumb isn't going to get them to change their minds. I get the point that the piece is trying to make, but I don't think it's effective.
 
 
+1 # bcoomber 2014-12-02 22:35
Rain17,
I agree with you. But I'm at a loss to see how the piece could have been written in order to have been more effective. Can you offer a couple hints?
 
 
+1 # Rain17 2014-12-03 21:30
I guess that the first thing not to do is imply that they are stupid. I would also probably frame it more by asking questions like, "What has voting Republican done for you?" "Has it improved your standard of living" and so forth?
 
 
+1 # babalu 2014-12-03 07:52
I understand you want to blame "voting against their own interests." Could you explain why? Honestly I don't understand.
 
 
+13 # ericlane 2014-12-02 03:37
We need to be aware that there are radical religious right groups like the Dominionists who believe they need to take 'dominion' of everything including the government. In their theology taking over government would help bring in their type of theocracy. There is C Street and many Republican politicians, especially Southern, are connected to virulent religious strands. The Southern Baptist Convention, the third largest 'denomination' after Catholics and non-believers, wouldn't know how not to be political. Their entire theology is based on the more you have the closer you are to god. A sort of spinoff from King worshiping. You need to live in the South for awhile to understand how far to the right many Southerners are.
 
 
+4 # kyzipster 2014-12-03 07:52
There's a reason Democrats dominated Washington for 50 years prior to Reagan, the Republican economic agenda only caters to a very small percentage of voters.

Republicans have become completely dependent on their culture war to maintain power because they still have nothing to offer middle class, working people. It's just a continuation of their racist Southern Strategy, reaching all 50 states. They have managed to convince these same culture warriors that the very rich need to benefit more than the rest of us and that government is evil and anti-American. I'm not sure how much longer they can sustain this myth with no facts to support it.

I think the only thing keeping them in power today after all that's happened over the last decade is the failure of the Democratic Party. They can't define themselves and shy away from the progressive agenda, in fear of these culture warriors. Bought off by the same corporate powers as the Republicans. The conservative movement has won and reshaped our country. Both parties are pushing the same agenda in too many ways. What a mess and what a shame, we had so much potential.
 
 
+2 # Skeeziks 2014-12-03 11:38
Well said. I agree and espouse your sentiments, although not as efficiently explanatory as you have written. Thank you.
 

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