Entergy Watch: Unprecedented "Lights Out" on Superbowl!

There were a number of "firsts" at Superbowl LXVII (that's 47, for those of you who don't speak Roman numerals): the first (albeit unsuccessful) fake field goal attemp; a 108-yard kick off return for a touchdown; and a more than 30-minute long power outage, that left the New Orleans Superdome mostly dark, except for emergency back up lighting. One fact that cannot be denied: although the cause of the unprecedented "lights out" is still under investigation, it took place in the service area of Entergy New Orleans. However, Entergy, at least initially, has denied any responsibility.

As reported by ESPN:

'...Philip Allison, a spokesman for Entergy New Orleans, said power had been flowing into the stadium before the lights failed.

"All of our distribution and transmission feeds going into the Superdome were operating as expected," Allison said...'

Ironically, the New Orleans Silverdome also figured centrally in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in August-September 2005, as a shelter of last resort for thousands of survivors.

Entergy, the national headquarters of which is in New Orleans, operates a "dirty dozen" atomic reactors across the U.S., including Waterford and Riverbend in Louisiana, Grand Gulf in Mississippi, and Arkansas Nuclear One, Units 1 & 2.

Update on February 4, 2013 by admin

The New York Times has reported on this story, including:

'Entergy and SMG, the company that manages the Superdome, issued a joint statement explaining the power loss:

“A piece of equipment that is designed to monitor electrical load sensed an abnormality in the system. Once the issue was detected, the sensing equipment operated as designed and opened a breaker, causing power to be partially cut to the Superdome in order to isolate the issue. Backup generators kicked in immediately as designed.

“Entergy and SMG subsequently coordinated start-up procedures, ensuring that full power was safely restored to the Superdome. The fault-sensing equipment activated where the Superdome equipment intersects with Entergy’s feed into the facility. There were no additional issues detected. Entergy and SMG will continue to investigate the root cause of the abnormality.”'

The New York Post also reported on this story, including finger pointing between Entergy, the Superdome, and the NFL. The New Orleans Police Department is reported to have said a power surge entering the Superdome caused the outage -- which would have been Entergy's fault.

Update on February 6, 2013 by admin

We are still in the dark, so to speak, as to why the lights went out on 76,000 fans in the Superdome, and 108,400,000 Americans watching the Super Bowl on television.

As reported at CBS Sports:

'...On Tuesday, Superdome officials and the power provider Entergy New Orleans said they had failed to find a cause for the outage. They added they would hire a consultant to analyze their data. It wasn't clear how long an investigation would take.

"We thought it was important to get another party looking at this to make sure we were looking at everything that we need to," Entergy spokesman Chanel Lagarde said...

Both Entergy and SMG [the company that manages the Superdome] said Sunday that an "abnormality" occurred where stadium equipment intersects with an Entergy electric feed, causing a breaker to create the outage. It remained unclear what the abnormality was or why it occurred.'

ESPN also supplied an update:

'...The exact cause of Sunday night's blackout -- and who's to blame -- remained unclear late Monday, though a couple of potential culprits had been ruled out.

It wasn't Beyonce's electrifying halftime performance, according to Doug Thornton, manager of the state-owned Superdome, since the singer had her own generator. And it apparently wasn't a case of too much demand for power. Meters showed the 76,000-seat stadium was drawing no more electricity than it does during a typical New Orleans Saints game, Thornton said...

...The problem that caused the outage was believed to have happened around the spot where a line that feeds current from Entergy New Orleans connects with the Superdome's electrical system, officials said. But whether the fault lay with the utility or with the Superdome was not clear.

Determining the cause will probably take days, according to Dennis Dawsey, a vice president for distribution and transmission for Entergy. He said the makers of some of the switching gear have been brought in to help figure out what happened.'

Update on February 8, 2013 by admin

First Entergy denied any responsibility. Then Entergy agreed to an investigation. And now, five days later, Entergy admits that its faulty equipment was the culprit that plunged the Superdome and the Super Bowl into darkness.

It's not unlike that time in Vermont, when Entergy officials testified, under oath, to state officials, that no underground piping existed at Vermont Yankee which could possibly be conducting radioactive materials. Only to have to admit a short time later, that those very pipes which it had denied even existed, were leaking tritium and other radioactive contaminants into soil, groundwater, and the Connecticut River.

Or that time, when it took over at the Palisades atomic reactor in Michigan, when it promised it would replace the corroded reactor lid and degraded steam generators, as well as deal with the worst embrittled reactor pressure vessel in the U.S. -- but never did.

The Chicago Tribune has reported on Entergy's mea culpa for causing the Super Bowl lights out. CBS Sports has reported that documents revealed concerns about electrical failures in the months leading up to the game.

Victory! Virginia keeps the ban on uranium mining!

A proposal to end Virginia’s 31-year ban on uranium mining suffered a major defeat on January 31 before a state Senate panel. Lacking the votes to win, Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan, withdrew his bill in the Agriculture Committee. That killed the measure for the 2013 session. Mining opponents claimed victory, saying any effort to lift the mining ban is probably dead this year — and maybe well beyond. The Keep the Ban movement brought together environmental organizations, the Virginia Farm Bureau, the Virginia chapter of the NAACP and, most recently, the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors. Virginia has a 30-year ban on uranium mining. The uranium industry made making a well-financed push to repeal the ban in order to mine and process uranium, starting in Southside Virginia. Drinking water, human health, farmland, property values, wildlife and tourism across Virginia were at risk. Virginia Uranium, the company that planned to mine the Coles Hill site, will not likely go quietly, but the proposal is once again stymied for the time being.

Victory! No radioactive waste dump in Cumbria, UK

The land of Peter Rabbit, Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and friends has thankfully been reprieved. From the BBC: Plans to look for a site for a £12bn ($19 billion) underground nuclear waste store in Cumbria have been rejected. Cumbria County Council vetoed an advanced "stage four" search for a site for the radioactive waste facility. The stage included detailed geological investigations and discussions over the social and economic implications. The Department for Energy and Climate Change said it was "disappointed" but the no vote would not "undermine" the long-term disposal of nuclear waste.

There were huge cheers from environmental campaigners outside the council chamber in Carlisle when the decision was announced. 

"The Atomic Age" as viewed by a Hiroshima survivor

Setsuko Thurlow was 13 years old when the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.

Here is her plenary speech at our confernce "A Mountain of Waste Seventy Years High" on the seventy-year commemoration of the first experimental atomic criticality as performed by Enrico Fermi in an atomic pile assembled on a squash court under Stagg Field at the University of Chicago on December 2, 1942 as part of the United States atomic bomb program, the Manhattan Project. 

The December 1-2, 2012 conference at the University of Chicago was sponsored by Nuclear Energy Information Service, Beyond Nuclear and Friends of the Earth.

AN URGENT APPEAL TO SUPPORT GREEN ACTION JAPAN!

During the critical first days and months of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe in Japan, many of us turned immediately to Aileen Mioko Smith (pictured far left with Sachiko Sato and Kaori Izumi) and her organization, Green Action-Japan. Through her depth of knowledge on the nuclear issue, organizing skills, and essential translations between English and Japanese, Aileen played a crucial role in globally networking the U.S. and Japanese anti-nuclear movements. 

Today, Green Action-Japan needs your financial help to keep its important work ongoing. 

Without Aileen’s relentless efforts for more than a decade to delay the use of plutonium (MOX) fuel, the three reactors that melted down at Fukushima could have been loaded with 33% plutonium cores, significantly worsening the radiological catastrophe that has unfolded. (Only Unit 3 had loaded MOX fuel, at a 6% level.) Aileen has also helped oppose the Rokkasho reprocessing facility and the Monju breeder reactor. 

Please make a generous donation via Green Action’s Paypal button today. Green Action-Japan and Aileen Mioko Smith play an essential role in connecting our campaigns and sharing knowledge, information that will help us end the Nuclear Age. Please donate here: http://www.greenaction-japan.org/modules/entop2/