30 April 2003
K. writes:
You ought to eyeball Norris Dam in TN. It has the highest elevation and if it went so would the other dams down river, about 4 or 5 of them down river (imagine the scene from the movie "Oh, Brother Where Art Thou"). These dams are built and maintained by TVA (a quasi-federal agency that when it suits its interest is federal but when otherwise claims exemption) You should also note that at two of the TVA Nuclear Plants, Sequoyah and Watts Bar in particular, the guards went to CNN and made claims that the security force and training was inept. As I hear it, they are still making these claims but no one is listening.You should also note that recently TVA awarded itself $7.4 million dollar bonuses for its top managers. There were only about 10 or 12 people on the award list, so you can figure the math. Hypocritically, TVA has been ignoring a recent DOL/ARB ruling (see www.dol.gov/arb and tag on recent decisions by date -- look at March, WHD v. TVA ARB case no. 01-024) in which the DOL/ARB made clear that TVA owes the guards at its Nuclear Plants five years worth of backpay and benefits. You take 3 Nuclear Plants with about 100 guards each give or take, multiply 5 years by about $30,000 per year of back pay/benefits, times 100 guards and you have $15,000,000. Well, if you ask me it looks like TVA is pulling a governmental Enron here. If they give themselves $7.4 mil this year and do the same next year, well, they will have effectively spent what they owe the guards on themselves. Hmmmm, pretty shitty if you ask me.
Anyway, just a few insights from down here in the TN Valley.
Norris Dam, Norris, TN
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 5:32 p.m. ET, 30 April 2003
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Operators of the nation's nuclear power plants should remain vigilant about suspicious activity that could signal a potential terrorist attack, the FBI says in its latest terrorism bulletin.
Things to watch out for include people who are seen photographing the plants or aircraft that fly too close to them, says the bulletin circulated Wednesday to about 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies.
The FBI has no specific intelligence that an attack is planned against any of the nation's 103 nuclear power plants. But a senior FBI official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bulletin is meant to ensure that plant operators and local law enforcement personnel remain alert to the possibility.
The FBI's message follows the release Tuesday of new Nuclear Regulatory Commission security rules requiring more training for guards, placing limits on how many hours they can work and mandating additional, classified protective measures to defend against sabotage or terrorist attacks.
The FBI bulletin spells out the actions nuclear plant officials should take if they see suspicious activity around a plant, such as reporting to the Federal Aviation Administration the tail number of any plane spotted flying too close.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, nuclear plants have been at the top of U.S. lists of vulnerable sites. When the nation's terror alert status was raised to high earlier this month, National Guard troops were dispatched to many plants as an extra precaution.
A "no-fly"' zone was established over all U.S. nuclear plants shortly after the terrorist attacks, but it elapsed soon afterward. Officials in New York State have asked the federal government to re-establish such a zone over the Indian Point power plants, located about 35 miles north of New York City.