http://www.msnbc.com/local/WVIT/290661.asp

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The Millstone Station nuclear power plant is located on the Connecticut shoreline in Waterford.

Protesters want Millstone shut down before New Years Eve MYSTIC, Conn., Nov. 14 - An anti-nuclear power group is warning that Y2K computer chaos could potentially turn the Millstone nuclear power plant into another Three Mile Island or Chernobyl.

The Millennium Bug: Countdown to calaminty? Discuss this story on the NBC 30 Bulletin Board.

Y2K concerns stem from the possibility that when 2000 arrives, some older computer systems will misread the 00 as 1900 in its date-sensitive programming, leading to unknown problems. The Mystic-based Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone held a downtown rally Sunday and urged Northeast Utilities to shut down its Waterford plant by December 31st to guard against possible Y2K problems. But NU says there wont be any problems. Basically, weve been Y2K ready since June 30, NU spokesman Joe Pillitere said Sunday evening. In addition, weve also had both internal and external audits to further ensure that we are Y2K ready. But NUs assurances didnt calm the nerves of the Mystic demonstrators. The operators at Millstone rely upon computer monitors to display the minute-by-minute conditions of the reactors, said Beth Hogan, an attorney and member of the coalition. The coalition urged NU to: Shut down the two operating reactors; advance system clocks to 2000, testing whether emergency systems would work during shutdown; install added backup systems for emergency power; conduct a a full-scale, real-time emergency covering a 10-mile, emergency planning district; and distribute potassium iodide, which guards against some radiation effects, to all residents within the 10-mile district.

-- Homer Beanfang (Bats@inbellfry.com), November 15, 1999

Answers

According to the National Clearinghouse for Worker Safety and Health Training's "Newsbrief", Vol. 10, No. 10 (October 1999):

"Crimes at Connecticut Nuclear Plant Lead to Record Fine

Northeast Nuclear Energy Company, owner and operator of the Millstone Nuclear Power Station in eastern Connecticut, pleaded guilty on September 27th to charges of falsifying environmental records and agreed to pay a record $10 million fine. . ."

snip

"Northeast pleaded guilty to six federal felony counts stemming from Clean Water Act violations between 1994 and 1996 at its three nuclear reactors at Millstone, in Waterford, CT. The company also admitted to 19 counts of knowingly falsifying training records for employees seekign nuclear plant operator licencses. The $10 million penalty is the largest ever paid by a nuclear plant in the U.S.

"In its guilty plea entered in U.S. District Court in Hartford, Northeast admitted to letting hydrazine, a toxic chemical used to reduce pipe corrosion, spill into Long Island Sound at a rate of one gallon an hour during 1996. The company also admitted that company testers diluted samples with ocean water to hide the problem from federal regulators. Whistleblowers from the company tipped off EPA about the dumping in 1996.

"A Northeast subsidiary, Northeast Utilities Service Company, pleaded guilty to two felonies after admitting to using a fire hose to dilute water samples taken at Devon Station, a coal fired power plant in Milford, CT."

The Clearinghouse Newsbrief regularly gathers info on recent chemical spills, releases, explosions, etc.

Website at: www.niehs.nih.gov/wetp/clear.htm or http://204.177.120.20/wetp/clear/resource/newsbr.htm

-- d (d@d.com), November 15, 1999.

Thanks for the post Homer, heard today on a radio news show, the US Govt. was the Nations largest Gross Polluter, and that EPA (testing sites)was ironically among the agencies mentioned. Incredible!!

-- *** (karlacalif@aol.com), November 15, 1999.