DJ NRC Suspects Big Bird Droppings In Ariz Nuclear Outage

[peterh]

(sorry...haven't found a link yet)

By Jon Kamp
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

CHICAGO (Dow Jones)--Remember the Aug. 14 northeast blackout? Enter the June
14 southwest bird-out.
A mystery bird and its digestive habits may have started a chain of events
that knocked the country's largest nuclear plant out of service last month,
causing brief blackouts and price spikes from California to New Mexico, a U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman said Tuesday.
The agency, which recently wrapped up an inquiry into the June 14 shutdown at
the three-reactor Palo Verde nuclear plant, has used eyewitness accounts of a
large bird leaving a high-voltage transmission line insulator just before it
failed to determine that the bird's excrement likely caused the outage,
spokesman Roger Hannah said.
"It looks like it was sparked by a bird on a transmission line," Hannah said.
"I'm not sure that we know the species of the bird in this particular case, but
it was probably not a sparrow."
The bird isn't being asked to shoulder all the blame. NRC inspectors also
concluded that after the transmission line failed, a relay in an Arizona Public
Service substation that could have helped isolate the damage and stop Palo Verde
from shutting down failed to open, Hannah said.

<snip>

-By Jon Kamp, Dow Jones Newswires; 312-750-4129; [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
07-13-04 1803ET(AP-DJ-07-13-04 2203GMT)





Oh the horror…the big bird that I grew up with is now technically an eco-terrorist….we live in interesting times….:freak:

[Longhorn]

1. Big Bird would never do such a thing!

Now, Oscar the Grouch is another story!

[Robbien]

2. Could it be that big bird's name is Ken Lay?

I suppose they think they can give any excuse now. Why not, look at the stinking cowpatties they have thrown at us so far.

[GAspnes]

they often jettison on take-off

I'm not sure if it's a JATO effect or just load lightening.

[GAspnes]

3. dup

or dope ..