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After years of false starts and legal fights, state environmental officials are moving forward with plans designed to stem pollution from the Millstone Nuclear Power Complex. The plan is supposed to cut the amount of heated water that the plant pumps into Long Island Sound each day - a plan that has the backing of a cross section of environmentalists. But not all. One longtime foe of Millstone is charging that the state Department of Environmental Protection has failed to stop the facility from polluting and is asking the state's courts to remove the agency from the case.

Funds set aside to pay for the eventual shutdown and cleanup of Millstone Power Station are taking a hit as the stock market continues to lose value. How much of a hit, however, is hard to gauge, since Millstone owner Dominion's third-quarter earnings report does not provide a breakdown of how much money is in each individual fund.

"Millstone Power Station should take steps over the next two years to substantially reduce the water it uses for cooling and help restore populations of winter flounder and other marine life in Niantic Bay, but for now it is allowed to continue discharging more than 2 billion gallons of water per day into Long Island Sound. A state environmental regulator made the recommendations that were released Wednesday. Janis Deshais, hearing officer for the state Department of Environmental Protection, included the provisions as part of her decision to recommend with specific conditions the renewal of a permit allowing Millstone to withdraw and discharge water into the bay and the Sound. "

"Sitting in Bill Richardson's office while he was Secretary of Energy under President Clinton was an opportunity that my colleagues and I from Standing for Truth About Radiation had worked hard to obtain. We wanted Richardson to not only close the research reactor at Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, but also to shut down the Millstone plant in Waterford, Connecticut, which we asserted had been killing enormous amounts of fish with its water intake system for cooling. Local groups had been charging Millstone with destroying millions of pounds of local fish and with pumping superheated water back into the Long Island Sound, the temperatures of which had negatively impacted fish and shellfish habitat for decades. Richardson, like any DOE Secretary before or after him, wasn't all that interested in closing Millstone. Everywhere we went, government officials like Richardson invoked the figure "20 percent." Twenty percent of domestic power in the US is derived from nuclear energy. The clean and safe source of power."

State officials and environmental groups have reached an agreement with the Millstone nuclear power complex to expedite plans aimed at reducing the facility's effect on Long Island Sound. Virginia-based Dominion, Millstone's owner, agreed Monday to immediately begin studying technologies and measures that would better protect fish and other sea creatures from Millstone's water-based system for cooling its reactors.

"Federal regulators are investigating allegations by a retired Millstone Power Station worker that plant owner Dominion puts profits ahead of safety and that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not thoroughly managing safety issues. David Collins of Old Lyme, a pro-nuclear retiree who took a company buyout in March, says the way Dominion has handled staffing cuts in key areas at the nuclear complex, along with an electrical mishap that forced a manual shutdown at the plant and the monitoring of fire doors, contribute to a "cover-up culture" that could compromise public safety just the way it was compromised in the late 1990s at the Waterford plant and in 2002 at the Davis-Besse reactor in Ohio. Dominion officials deny the allegations about lax safety at the plant or that profits are motivating cutbacks in staffing."

Federal inspectors begin assessing how power plant dealt with the problem Waterford - A special team of federal inspectors arrived Monday at Millstone Power Station to verify how the owner is addressing a recent situation in which gas was trapped in piping for a reactor safety system. The trapped gas was discovered when the Unit 3 reactor owned by Dominion was shut down for refueling in October, and was corrected by inserting a valve in the pipe, according to Neil Sheehan, a spokesman for Region 1 of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Nancy Burton sought Monday to expand the number of health issues to be considered as the state weighs a water-discharge permit for the Millstone nuclear power plants in Waterford. Burton, a resident of Redding Ridge who has seasonal property on Masons Island, indicated in a petition for intervenor status that she wants a Department of Environmental Protection hearing officer to consider the potential health effects of toxic materials and radiation, among other issues.

The Millstone nuclear power complex in Waterford has won federal approval to increase the generating capacity at one of its reactors by 7 percent. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved the plan Tuesday. Millstone's owner, Virginia-based Dominion, plans to increase the Unit 3 reactor's capacity from 1,150 megawatts to 1,230 megawatts in the fall.

A federal regulator has authorized the owner of Millstone Power Station in Waterford to adopt a new method for measuring radiation exposure to workers. The decision by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission also applies to Dominion's fleet of reactors around the country. The approach, established by the Health Physics Society, uses gauges known as dosimeters to measure the dose of radiation a worker has been exposed to in seven different areas of the body, said Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman. The measurements are taken in plant locations where higher exposure is likely, he said.

It is great to read that several environmental groups are getting on board with the idea that more nuclear power construction has to be part of the mix if the nation is going to meet future energy needs while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. This newspaper is on record as supporting a revival of nuclear power, noting there is room for more reactors at Millstone Power Station in Waterford. An Environmental Protection Agency analysis of the Waxman-Markey energy bill passed in the House shows nuclear energy generation more than doubling by 2050, if it becomes law. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing 22 nuclear-plant applications.

It is great to read that several environmental groups are getting on board with the idea that more nuclear power construction has to be part of the mix if the nation is going to meet future energy needs while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. This newspaper is on record as supporting a revival of nuclear power, noting there is room for more reactors at Millstone Power Station in Waterford. An Environmental Protection Agency analysis of the Waxman-Markey energy bill passed in the House shows nuclear energy generation more than doubling by 2050, if it becomes law. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing 22 nuclear-plant applications.

It is great to read that several environmental groups are getting on board with the idea that more nuclear power construction has to be part of the mix if the nation is going to meet future energy needs while lowering greenhouse gas emissions. This newspaper is on record as supporting a revival of nuclear power, noting there is room for more reactors at Millstone Power Station in Waterford. An Environmental Protection Agency analysis of the Waxman-Markey energy bill passed in the House shows nuclear energy generation more than doubling by 2050, if it becomes law. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing 22 nuclear-plant applications.

"Operators starting up the Millstone Unit 1 reactor in Connecticut on September 1, 1972, had their efforts complicated by a problem with a demineralizer intended to clean up water from the main condenser before sending it to the reactor vessel to be turned into steam. Despite having been only recently placed in service, the demineralizer exhibited signs that its capacity to purify water had been nearly fully consumed. The workers took the troublesome demineralizer out of service and replaced it with another demineralizer. Half an hour later, the second demineralizer exhibited similar signs. The operators began shutting down the reactor. About an hour later, the chloride level of the reactor water increased above maximum allowable limits. The operators scrammed the reactor (i.e., shut it down rapidly). The main condenser was located directly beneath the turbine. Steam entered the main condenser after spinning the turbine blades to rotate the generator and make electricity. The steam is condensed back into water by flowing past thousands of metal tubes containing cool water - in this case, sea water from Long Island Sound."

Fasteners made for spent fuel storage devices at Oyster Creek Generation Station and several other power plants did not meet standards, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC Web site lists information by Transnuclear Inc. that reported "a potential Part 21 violation and has reason to believe that Hwa Shin Bolt Ind. Co. provided unsubstantiated certified material." Transnuclear is performing an evaluation and does not believe the issue has safety significance. However, the company is reporting this issue because Hwa Shin may have supplied parts that may have safety significance, the report stated. The firm also reported that in addition to Oyster Creek, affected plants include Millstone Power Station in Connecticut, Susquehanna in Pennsylvania, Ginna in New York, Brunswick in North Carolina and Cooper Nuclear Station in Nebraska. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said that initial reviews by Exelon Nuclear, owners of Oyster Creek, have determined Oyster Creek is in possession of the fasteners in question. "However, none are in casks currently in use, that is, in casks loaded with spent fuel," he said.

Fasteners made for spent fuel storage devices at Oyster Creek Generation Station and several other power plants did not meet standards, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC Web site lists information by Transnuclear Inc. that reported "a potential Part 21 violation and has reason to believe that Hwa Shin Bolt Ind. Co. provided unsubstantiated certified material." Transnuclear is performing an evaluation and does not believe the issue has safety significance. However, the company is reporting this issue because Hwa Shin may have supplied parts that may have safety significance, the report stated. The firm also reported that in addition to Oyster Creek, affected plants include Millstone Power Station in Connecticut, Susquehanna in Pennsylvania, Ginna in New York, Brunswick in North Carolina and Cooper Nuclear Station in Nebraska. NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said that initial reviews by Exelon Nuclear, owners of Oyster Creek, have determined Oyster Creek is in possession of the fasteners in question. "However, none are in casks currently in use, that is, in casks loaded with spent fuel," he said.

Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc.; Notice of Issuance of Amendment to Facility Operating License and Final Determination of No Significant Hazards Consideration

"A nuclear power expert who briefed state legislators on the operation of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant last week recommended they vote no Wednesday on continued operation of the plant. Paul Blanch, who has 45 years in the industry, including working or consulting at Millstone, Connecticut Yankee, Maine Yankee and Indian Point nuclear power plants and the Electric Power Research Institute and the Nuclear Energy Institute, said there are two major reasons for closing down the plant -- Entergy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "Entergy is certainly the worst of the worst," Blanch told the Reformer one day after his testimony at the Statehouse. The company is nothing but a "carpetbagger coming up here (with the) only goal to extract as much money as possible," he said. "They're milking every dime out of it that they possibly can." "