[VTenigma]

What am I your research assistant? I’m recounting media reports that lead to the closure. I could care less about the details, the plant is closed, the revenue gone, the electric rates through the roof. You have questions, find the material yourself. Sorry to be a little cranky, but your demands are an imposition on my time.

[chimera]

No, I don't expect you to be my research assistant. It appeared that you had looked into the issues and might have had the information at hand. If you are relying on the popular media for accurate technical data, all I can say is, buyer beware. I have had occasion to work with reporters and my impression is that if they get their reporting on these subjects right 50% of the time, they are doing very well. Usually its a lot less, because they are usually more interested in crusading than reporting.

FWIW, your post impelled me to check on one of the issues that was a controversy, this business of "leaky" pipes that were said to be "buried" pipes. Based on the LERs I looked at, this is a classic example of what I noted above. The actual reports referenced "underground" pipes, and of course this was reported as "buried" pipes. They were not. They were run through underground utility tunnels. They were not in contact with soil or exposed to groundwater. That may seem to be an exceedingly fine technical distinction, but it makes all the difference in the world from an engineering viewpoint. Of course, the error on the part of those who misstated that they were "buried" was never acknowledged or retracted by those who did it.

Sorry to hear about your electric rates going up. I have heard that from others I know who live in the area. I thought Shumlin said the rates would go down when VT got rid of that "old nuke" and went to the shiny new "renewable" stuff (which is really based on ancient technology), wind turbines lining mountain ridges and the like. Wha hoppen?