Don says that misaligned safety valves have recently been also found in the spent fuel pool at Millstone II after its recent refueling. That's a whole lot of misalignment. That's a whole lot of mistakes. Don feels that the most recent examples of misaligned valves in the spent fuel pool raise significant concerns that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is not taking seriously. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is supposed to regulate utilities like Northeast Utilities.
Some critics feel that they operate more like lap dogs rather guard dogs.
Such private contacts without a written record of the details of such meetings are usually considered illegal and avoided by most regulators. The NRC allowed individual commissioners and chairperson Shirley Jackson to meet individually with N.U. officials. Many of these contacts took place a critical juncture when Northeast Utilities was trying to reopen Millstone III and having serious financial problems. Don and others have filed complaints with the Federal Inspector Generals Office about these meetings. Even more ominous is a proposed national rule change by the NRC that would make such secret contacts standard operating procedure.