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Valentín Gómez Farías

Valentín Gómez Farías (14 February 1781 – 5 July 1858) was a Mexican physician and liberal politician who became president of Mexico twice, first from 1833 to 1834, during the period of the First Mexican Republic, and again from 1846 to 1847, during the Mexican–American War.

Gómez Farías was elected to his first term in March 1833 along with Antonio López Santa Anna, with whom he would share the presidency. Both Congress and the administration elected during his term were notably Liberal, and pursued curtailing the political power of the Mexican Army and Catholic Church. Measures to prosecute members of the previous, conservative and autocratic presidency of Anastasio Bustamante were also carried out, but Gómez Farías sought to moderate them. Conservative revolts against these policies flared up, and eventually Gómez Farías' own vice-president Santa Anna switched sides and led his deposing in April 1834.

In the wake of Gómez Farías' fall, the First Mexican Republic was replaced by the Centralist Republic of Mexico. Gómez Farías would continue to support a return to the federalist system and in 1840 he led a failed revolt against the government of Anastasio Bustamante who had returned to the presidency, culminating in a siege of the National Palace.

The federal system eventually would be restored in 1846 after the beginning of the Mexican–American War, and in the subsequent presidential elections Gómez Farías would be re-elected along with Santa Anna who was now a supporter of federalism and with whom Gómez Farías had reconciled. They proceeded to share power as they had during their first administration. In order to fund the war effort, the Gómez Farías administration in January, 1847 nationalized and sold church lands. The measure was met with controversy and sparked revolts from Mexican conservatives. Meanwhile, Santa Anna was returning to Mexico City from the Battle of Buena Vista to focus on Winfield Scott's expedition at Veracruz. He received news of the revolt en route, and eventually took the role of arbitrator. Once again, Santa Anna would depose Gómez Farías after the two men had been elected together.

Gómez Farías did not disappear from public life, and in 1856, he was elected to the congress which inaugurated the pivotal La Reforma which led to the Constitution of 1857, incorporating many of the reforms he had first attempted during his presidencies. He died in 1858 during the Reform War.

Early life
Valentin Gómez Farías was born in Guadalajara, Jalisco on 14 February 1781. He attended university in the same city, studying to be a physician. During his studies he learned French and read the Enlightenment works that were clandestinely being shared throughout New Spain at the time. His dissertation contained such a strong influence from Enlightenment authors that he managed to get the attention of the Mexican Inquisition, but no legal action was ever taken against him, and he opened a successful medical practice in Guadalajara.

On October 17 1817, he married Isabel López in the city of Aguascalientes.

In 1821, Mexican Independence was won under the leadership of Agustin de Iturbide through the Plan of Iguala which established the new nation as a monarchy. A congress was also elected to draft a constitution, a congress to which Gómez Farías was elected to. The original proposal for the throne was a member of the Spanish royal family, but after the Spanish government rejected the offer, Iturbide's supporters urged congress to elect him emperor. Among those supporting Iturbide at this time was Gómez Farías, who actually gave a speech in congress defending the right and legality of congress to elect Iturbide as Emperor, and Iturbide was subsequently elected as the emperor of the First Mexican Empire. The liberal Gómez Farías expected Iturbide to be a constitutional monarch, but in the subsequent months, Iturbide became increasingly autocratic, and viewed himself as sovereign over congress, even dissolving the body whereupon Gómez Farías turned on him.

After the fall of the Mexican Empire in 1823, Gómez Farías supported the ultimately successful presidential candidacy of Guadalupe Victoria who was inaugurated as the first president of Mexico. When under liberal president Vicente Guerrero, Lorenzo de Zavala resigned as minister of the treasury, due to the fact that he was also governor of the state of Mexico at the time, Gómez Farías was given the offer to replace him, but he refused the post.

When Santa Anna proclaimed the Plan of Veracruz against conservative president Anastasio Bustamante in 1832, Gómez Farías helped convince Governor Garcia of Zacatecas to side with the rebels. The rebellion would rage for most of the year and end with the overthrow of the president. After the fall of Anastasio Bustamante, Gómez Farías supported the candidacy of Gomez Pedraza. Manuel Gomez Pedraza was invited to hold the presidential seat until the next scheduled elections which were on March, and he chose Gómez Farías as Minister of the Treasury.

First Presidency
In the elections of March, 1833, Gómez Farías and Santa Anna would be elected president and vice president respectively. They would share and alternate offices, and when Gomez Pedraza's term legally ended on 1 April, he actually passed down power to Gómez Farías, as Santa Anna was not in the capital at the time. This has been suspected as a ploy by Santa Anna to gauge public opinion regarding Gómez Farías’ intended radical reforms aimed at the Catholic Church and at the army.

The Anti-Clerical Campaign
With Gómez Farías’ ascension to power, the press started to become increasingly anticlerical. The clergy was accused of being worldly, greedy hypocrites, and the Bible was attacked as full of absurdities and falsehoods from an ignorant era. The authority of the pope was also attacked. Progressives proclaimed that Mexican independence was not only from Spain but from the pope as well, and the clergy were attacked as subject to a foreign power. Catholic priests were insulted and called ministers of Huītzilōpōchtli (who received human sacrifices), Pharisees, and aristocrats. Anti-clerical writers also quoted the speeches of the French Revolutionary Assembly in favor of their cause.

Priests were placed under government surveillance. Minister Miguel Ramos Arizpe decreed that papal bulls and other papal proclamations could not be published in Mexico without authority of the government. In keeping with the political atmosphere, it was proposed that congress take no break during Holy Week of 1833, but the measure failed to pass.

The state of Mexico at this time governed by Lorenzo de Zavala, lifted the legal obligations to pay tithes. The congress of Veracruz and other state legislatures passed decrees to seize the goods of religious communities, and then the state of Veracruz suppressed all monasteries. This only provoked fears that the government was about to suppress all religion, and Gómez Farías had to release a message explaining that he had no such intentions.

On 27 October 1833, a measure was passed lifting the legal obligation to pay tithes nationally. A commission of the chamber of deputies recommended nationalizing all church properties, but this was not passed as a law. On 6 November 1833, the legal obligation to fulfill monastic vows was lifted. On 17 December 1833, a measure was passed granting the Mexican government the power to make appointments to the church hierarchy, the so-called patronato. Previous appointments that had been made without government approval were declared annulled.

The reformers hoped that removing the legal obligation to pay tithes would starve the church of funds, but most people kept paying them. Similarly most monks and nuns stayed in their religious communities in spite of now being legally allowed to leave.

In October, clergy were then forbidden from teaching, and the University of Mexico was shutdown due to being run by the church. The chapel of the university was turned into a brewery. In 1834, the anti-clerical campaign reached the height of its intensity. Religious feasts and their accompanying celebrations were suppressed throughout the country, and clergy were forbidden from forming cofraternities without a government license. In some local cases monasteries and churches were seized. Some churches were turned into theaters.

Proscriptions and Backlash
When Gómez Farías first came into power, all of Anastasio Bustamante’s former ministers went into hiding, with the exception of Rafael Mangino y Mendívil, the former minister of the treasury. A tribunal was formed to judge former members of the Bustamante administration. On 23 June 1833, amidst insurrections flaring up all over the country, the congress passed a law, the so-called Ley del Caso authorizing the arrest and exile for six years of fifty one individuals considered enemies of the government among them, ex-president Bustamante, José Mariano Michelena, Zenon Fernandez, Francisco Molinos del Campo, Jose Maria Gutierrez Estrada, and Miguel Santa María. Santa Maria published a pamphlet criticizing the government for filling the prisons with political dissidents. The Ley del Caso was passed against the opposition of Gómez Farías who wished to be more moderate with his opposition. He was also opposed to the death penalty for political offenses.

The government also began purging the army of undesirable generals, measures which had begun under Gomez Pedraza, and which were reviled as arbitrary, inspiring opposition against the government amongst the military.

Failed Revolts
On 26 May, in Morelia, Colonel Ignacio Escalada pronounced against the government, and invited Santa Anna to join him in overthrowing Gómez Farías. Santa Anna did not acquiesce, took arms against other insurrections that were flaring up across the country. Escalada would be defeated by General Valencia.

At this point, Santa Anna's own troops mutinied against him on 6 June, at Xuchi, and he was taken to Yautepec. They proclaimed him dictator however and wished to join the rebels. The rebellion spread to the capital and on 7 June, soldiers and police revolted and began to attack the National Palace, only to be defeated.

Gómez Farías organized six thousand troops, put the capital under martial law, and rewards were offered for anyone that helped Santa Anna escape. Meanwhile, Santa Anna after noticing the failure of the insurrection at the capital, escaped from his rebel troops, and returned to the government.

On 10 July, Santa Anna marched out of the capital with two thousand four hundred men and six pieces of artillery. He drove the rebel general Mariano Arista, who had initially invited Santa Anna to join the rebels into Guanajuato where the latter surrendered on 8 October. The country was pacified for the moment.

Overthrow
Santa Anna had already rejected multiple offers to join in overthrowing Gómez Farías, but in 1834, as there was increasing backlash against the anti-clerical campaign, as his estate at Manga del Clavo was being flooded with pleas from all over the country to restrain Gómez Farías and Congress, and as there was ongoing infighting among Gómez Farías’ progressive supporters, Santa Anna decided in April to finally take action.

Congress was dissolved, the patronato was annulled, bishops who had been in hiding were restored to their sees. The tribunal for judging former members of the Bustamante administration was abolished, the University of Mexico was restored, and those who were exiled were allowed to come home.

Life Between Presidencies
Gómez Farías would leave Mexico and move to New Orleans where he lived off of his savings. He would return in 1838, and was greeted by his supporters at Veracruz. When he entered the capital, some members of the public cheered their old president. Gómez Farías was legally permitted to be in the country, but after learning of the clamor with which he was greeted, the council of ministers passed a resolution to keep him under surveillance.

Gómez Farías was able to meet with President Bustamante, whom he had helped overthrow in 1832, and assured him that he would respect the government. The government arrested him on suspicion of sedition anyways, and Gómez Farías admitted to the judge that he had held political meetings at his home. Farias was nonetheless shortly released as a result of one of Bustamante's short lived ministries whom were sympathetic to federalism.

Federalist Revolution of 1840
Meanwhile, a conspiracy was being organized by the Federalist General José de Urrea, who had already tried to overthrow Bustamante in 1838. He was imprisoned but had kept in communication with his federalist associates and on 15 July 1840, he escaped from prison. With a few hundred troops, Urrea broke into the National Palace, snuck past sleeping palace guards, overpowered Bustamante's private bodyguard, and surprised the president in his bedchambers. As Bustamante reached for his sword, Urrea announced his presence, to which the president replied with an insult. The soldiers aimed their muskets at Bustamante, but were restrained by their officer who reminded them that Bustamante had once been Iturbide's second in command. The president was assured that his person would be respected, but was now a prisoner of the rebels. Almonte, the minister of war had meanwhile escaped to organize a rescue.

The rebels now offered command of the revolution to Gómez Farías and he accepted. Government and federalist forces converged at the capital. Federalists occupied the entire vicinity of the National Palace while government forces prepared their positions for an attack. Skirmishes broke out the entire afternoon, sometimes involving artillery. A cannonball crashed through the dining room where the captive president was having dinner, covering his table with debris.

The conflict appeared to be reaching a stalemate, and the president was released in order to try and reach a negotiation. Negotiations broke down and the capital had to face twelve days of warfare, which resulted in property damage, civilian loss of life, and a large exodus of refugees out of the city. Now news was received that government reinforcements were on the way under the command of Santa Anna. Rather than face a protracted conflict that would destroy the capital, negotiations were started again and an agreement was reached whereby there would be a ceasefire, and the rebels would be granted amnesty.

Mexican–American War
Gómez Farías went into hiding, and on 2 September, he left for Veracruz. He headed then to New York and then to Yucatán which at this point had declared independence and advocated a return to the federalist system. He lived there for two years and then moved back to New Orleans, finally returning to Mexico in 1845, after the overthrow of Santa Anna.

He was named a senator by President Herrera and Gómez Farías expressed his opposition towards Herrera's policy of seeking to end the effort to reconquer Texas. He however refused any role in the subsequent administration of Mariano Paredes, who overthrew Herrera because of his conciliatory efforts towards Texas. When the Mexican-American War broke out, Gómez Farías supported inviting back his old enemy Santa Anna under the belief that he could hold Mexico together during such a crisis.

Gómez Farías was minister of finance under the short presidency of José Mariano Salas, and he accepted the post under the condition that internal tariffs would be abolished, authoritarian laws be reformed, and that the war be continued based upon the unity of all Mexicans. He remained in the ministry for a little over a month, during which Santa Anna reentered the capital accompanied in his carriage by Gómez Farías holding the 1824 Constitution by his side.

Second Presidency
In December 1846, Santa Anna and Gómez Farías were elected as president and vice president, again as they had been thirteen years earlier in 1833, and much as then they would exchange offices, with Gómez Farías being able to serve as president during this time.

Gómez Farías now declared that the war would be waged for as long as it took to expel the Americans from all Mexican territory. He struggled to form a stable cabinet, and in December 1846, had to deal with Yucatán seceding again, and wishing to take no part in the war. Yucatecan ships began to fly their own flag to avoid being seized by the American navy.

Nationalizing Church Lands
The government was struggling to finance the war, a problem made worse by corruption in the finance ministry, which did not inspire confidence when the government proposed an audit of property owners. On 7 January 1847, a measure was introduced to congress signed by four of five members of a financial ministry commission, endorsing the seizure of fifteen million pesos from the church by nationalizing and then selling its lands, which in turn alarmed Gómez Farías' opponents into fearing that he was reviving the anti-clerical campaign of 1833.

The decree was signed by the president of congress Pedro María de Anaya, and Gómez Farías approved it with the support of finance minister Zubieta. The latter was given instructions to avoid any fraud, or hiding of wealth that would impede the efficacy of the measure. Tenants on church lands were to be fined if they did not hand over their rent to government agents instead of the church. Minister of Relations José Fernando Ramírez recommended that application of the relevant Indian laws in anticipation of political agitation in the churches. Minister of War Valentin Canalizo urged the utmost severity in enforcing laws against those upsetting the public order.

Local opposition to the decree was more marked. The legislatures of Queretaro, Puebla, and Guanajuato petitioned congress to nullify the decree, the State of Durango refused to enforce it, and the State of Querétaro proposed an alternative plan to fund the war effort. Tenants who lived on church lands were also resistant to the enforcement of the decree.

The liberal paper El Monitor Republicano was incredulous that amidst all available options for raising funds, the government had chosen to nationalize church lands in the middle of a war, without sounding public opinion, and reminded its readers that the last time Gómez Farías tried to nationalize church lands in 1833 it ended with the overthrow of the liberal government.

Minister of Relations Ramirez resigned after clashes with the cabinet, including difficulties in finding buyers of church lands. On 26 January, President Gómez Farías named a junta charged with carrying out the sales of church lands. The legal secretaries Cuevas and Mendez were fined for not wishing to participate. A measure was taken to audit the finance ministry to reduce corruption in general and the relevant officials were also obliged to present a report every four days on the progress of the church land sales and to explain any factors that were causing any delays.

There were demonstrations in the capital as early as 15 January, but the government was obstinate in carrying out its policy of nationalizing church lands. The Oaxaca garrison pronounced against the government on 21 February. Mazatlan followed, and much as when there had been revolts against the first presidency of Gómez Farías, the rebels began to call for Santa Anna with whom Gómez Farías was sharing power, to take over the government.

Meanwhile, peaceful opposition against the nationalization law continued. Liberal Deputy Mariano Otero protested against the measure, and the new finance minister José Luis Huici refused to sign it.

Revolt of the Polkos
Sensing that members of the newly formed national guard at the capital were not sympathetic to the government. Valentin Gómez Farías tried to move them to locations where they would not be a threat to the government. He intended to move the Independence Battalion, away from the university located next to the National Palace. He sent on 24 February, troops led by his own son to expel the Independence Battalion from their temporary barracks. The battalion was a militia made up of middle class professionals, and their expulsion from the city threatened the livelihoods of their families. This resulted in protest and outrage, followed by the arrest of certain members of the Independence Battalion.

On 27 February, several national guard battalions proclaimed against the government. They released a manifesto excoriating the government for pursuing a divisive policy instead of uniting the country in the war effort and seeking a means of funding the military that was backed by national consensus. This came to be known as the Revolt of the Polkos, because the young middle-class men who made up the militias stationed throughout the capital were known for dancing the polka. The rebels were joined by General José Mariano Salas, who had already played a role during the war of overthrowing President Mariano Paredes. General Matías de la Peña Barragán chief of the rebels met with Valentin Canalizo on 28 February and they negotiated on the matter of an arrangement, with Pena insisting on the deposition of Gómez Farías. Negotiations failed and the revolt continued.

Meanwhile, news arrived that Santa Anna had won the Battle of Buena Vista which took place from 22 to 23 February, and which in reality had been a draw. Santa Anna was heading back to Mexico City to arrange defenses against the forces of Winfield Scott who had just landed at Veracruz. He was at the town of Matehuala on the way from Angostura to San Luis Potosi City, when received news that there had been a revolution against the government of Valentin Gómez Farías.

Upon arrival in San Luis Potosí on 10 March, he wrote two letters one to Gómez Farías and one to Peña Barragán ordering them both to suspend hostilities, which they did so, awaiting the arrival and arbitration of Santa Anna. On his way to the capital he was met by representatives from both sides of the conflict hoping to sway him to their cause. On 21 March, representatives of the constitutional congress including Mariano Otero, José María Lafragua, and others, set out to present Santa Anna with an offer to assume the presidency. He continued receiving representatives of various interests and was congratulated for his ‘victory' at Buena Vista. Ignacio Trigueros was named new governor of the federal district and Pedro María de Anaya was named the new commandant general.

Later life
Valentin Gómez Farías resigned, the insurrection ended, troops were sent back to their stations, and the presidency passed over to Santa Anna. He would remain active in politics, serving as a congressman and fighting against those who would wish to come to an arrangement with the Americans.

In 1850, he was put forth as a candidate for the presidency by the newspaper El Tribuno, and was also the liberal candidate for the ayuntamiento of Mexico City. He lived to see his old colleague and enemy Santa Anna reestablish a dictatorship in 1852, but also his fall from grace through the triumph of the liberal Plan of Ayutla in 1855. Once the Plan of Ayutla had triumphed he travelled to Cuernavaca in order to be a part of the Junta of Representatives which was installed in the city's theater on 4 October 1855. He was designated president of the Junta with his vice president being the radical Melchor Ocampo, and as one of the secretaries was chosen the future president of Mexico, Benito Juárez. Under the presidency of Juan Alvarez, he was named administrator of the post. As a representative of Jalisco, he was part of the constituent congress that drafted the Constitution of 1857, incorporating his liberal ideals and the anti-clerical reforms that he had championed since 1833. On 5 February 1857, he was the first representative to swear allegiance to the new constitution.

Gómez Farías died on 5 July 1858, a few months into the War of Reform. His funeral was attended by the American minister John Forsyth Jr., and Gómez Farías was buried in Mixcoac.

title: Valentín Gómez Farías


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Amban

Amban (Manchu and Mongol: Амбан Amban, Tibetan: ཨམ་བན་am ben,, Uighur:ئامبان་am ben) is a Manchu language term meaning "high official" , corresponding to a number of different official titles in the imperial government of Qing China. For instance, members of the Grand Council were called Coohai nashūn-i amban in the Manchu language and Qing governor-generals were called Uheri kadalara amban (Manchu: ).

The most well-known ambans were the Qing imperial residents (Manchu: Seremšeme tehe amban;  Zhùzhá Dàchén; Tibetan: Ngang pai) in Tibet, Qinghai, Mongolia and Xinjiang, which were territories of Qing China, but were not governed as regular provinces and retained many of their existing institutions.

The Qing imperial residents can be roughly compared to a European resident (also known as resident commissioners) in a protectorate (e.g. a British Indian princely state), the real rapport depending on historical circumstances rather than a general job description for every amban, while his authority was often very extensive, rather like a provincial governor.

Tibet
The Qing Emperor appointed an amban in Tibet, who represented Qing authority over the Buddhist theocracy of Tibet, and commanded over 2,000 troops stationed in Lhasa. The chief amban was aided by an assistant amban  and both of them reported to the Qing Lifan Yuan. Their duties included acting as intermediary between China and the Hindu kingdom of Nepal (Ghorkhas Country); a secretary dealt with native affairs. Three Chinese commissioners, of the class of sub-prefects, were stationed at Lhasa, Tashilumbo and Ngari. The Qing imperial resident in Tibet was introduced in 1727 and most ambasa were appointed from the Manchu Eight Banners, a few were Han Chinese or Mongol. The Emperors used ambasa to supervise Tibetan politics, and the Qianlong, Jiaqing and Daoguang Emperors each decreed that the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama were bound to follow the leadership or guidance of the ambasa in carrying out the administration of Tibet.

Zhao Erfeng, a Han Chinese Bannerman, was appointed as the last Amban of Tibet by the Qing government. He was killed during the Xinhai Revolution by Chinese Republican Revolutionary forces intent on overthrowing the Qing dynasty. After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, the Manchu Amban Lien Yu and his Chinese soldiers were expelled from Lhasa.

Xinjiang
Altishahr, meaning six cities, consisted of the Uyghur cities of Yarkand, Kashgar, Khotan, Kuche, Aksu, and Yangi Hisar (or Ush-Turfan). The Qing dynasty's wars with the Zunghar Khanate pushed them into the area and by 1759 they had obtained control of this region. After the rebellion of Yakub Beg, Altishahr was incorporated into the administration of Xinjiang, which became a formal province in the Qing empire in 1884. Between 1761 and 1865, the Qing Empire appointed an imperial resident (Manchu: hebei amban; Chinese: zǒnglǐ huíjiāng shìwù cānzàn dàchén 總理回疆事務參贊大臣) to Altishahr, which today forms part of southern Xinjiang. The imperial resident, who resided in Kashgar, Ush Turfan or Yarkand and exercised Qing authority over the region. The imperial resident was controlled with local imperial agents (Manchu: Baita icihiyara amban; Chinese: Bànshì dàchén 辦事大臣), who were sent to most important cities in the region, where they ruled in conjunction with the local officials (Uighurھاكىمبەگ hakim beg, Chinese: 阿奇木伯克), who were given ranks in the Qing civil service and were ultimately accountable to the imperial agent.

Urga
In the holy city of Urga, an amban (Mongol: Хүрээний амбан ноён, Chinese: 庫倫辦事大臣 Kùlún bànshì dàchén) was stationed in order to assert Qing control over the Mongol dependencies. He controlled all temporal matters, and was specially charged with the control of the frontier town of Kiakhta and the trade conducted there with the Russians. Urga was also the residence of the Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, who was the spiritual head of the Mongol Khalkha tribes. The Khutuktu ranked third in degree of veneration among the dignitaries in the Tibetan Buddhism, after the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama. He resided in a sacred quarter on the western side of the town and acted as a spiritual counterpart of the Qing amban.

After the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, the Manchu amban was expelled by Mongol forces, fleeing to China proper via Russia.

Manchuria
In the early Qing, the word amban was also used in the title of the military governors (昂邦章京, angbang-zhangjing, which is a transcription of the Manchu amban-jianggin; R.L. Edmonds translates the title in English as "military deputy-lieutenant governor" )  in the northeastern provinces of the Qing Empire, viz. Jilin and Heilongjiang. The first amban-jianggin appointed in the region was the Ninguta garrison commander Sarhuda, who became the amban-jianggin of Ninguta in June 1653.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Amban


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Crystal River Nuclear Plant

The Crystal River Nuclear Plant also called the Crystal River 3 Nuclear Power Plant, or simply CR-3, is a closed nuclear power plant located in Crystal River, Florida. the facility is being decommissioned, a process expected to last 60 years. The power plant was completed and licensed to operate in December 1976, and operated safely for 33 years until shutdown in September 2009. It was the third plant built as part of the 4700 acre Crystal River Energy Complex (CREC) which contains a single nuclear power plant, while sharing the site with four operational fossil fuel power plants.

The Crystal River reactor went offline in September 2009 for refueling, OTSG replacement (once through steam generator), and 20% power up-rate outage. In preparing the containment building for making the opening to replace the two OTSG's, tendons in the containment building wall were detensioned. During the concrete removal in creating the opening workers discovered a large gap in the concrete of the containment building wall. The main cause of the gap, which further engineering analysis determined was a large delamination, was attributed to the scope and sequence of the tendon detensioning. The plant had originally been scheduled to restart in April 2011, but the project encountered a number of delays. Repairs were successful, but additional delamination began to occur in adjacent bays. After several months of analyzing options, Duke Energy senior executives announced in February 2013 that the Crystal River Nuclear Plant would be permanently shut down. The costs were estimated at $1.18 billion over the next 60 years of decommissioning.

The coal-fired units are not affected.

Crystal River was originally owned by Florida Progress Corporation (and operated by its subsidiary, Florida Power Corporation) but, in 2000, it was bought by Carolina Power & Light to form the new company, Progress Energy. Progress Energy owned 91.8% of the plant; the remainder is owned by nine municipal utilities. Effective July 2, 2012, Duke Energy purchased Progress Energy and made it a wholly owned direct unit of Duke Energy.

Power plant and containment
Crystal River 3 Nuclear Power Plant was an operating 860 MWe, PWR (pressurized water reactor plant). There are three main barriers that protect the public from the radiation hazards associated with nuclear operations. One of those barriers is known as the containment building which houses the fuel, the reactor, and the reactor cooling system. The Crystal River containment building is a steel lined post-tensioned (prestressed concrete) cylindrical concrete structure approximately 157 feet in height with an outside diameter of about 138 feet. The containment has 42-inch thick concrete walls, has a flat foundation mat and a shallow torispherical dome. Post-tensioning is achieved by utilizing an outer array of horizontal tendons immediately adjacent to an inner array of vertical tendons that are embedded in the walls about 15 inches from the outside surface.

Refueling outage, containment repairs and closure
CR-3 went offline in September 2009 for RFO-16. While the reactor was down, the old steam generators were to be replaced. There are 426 steel tendons within the concrete walls of the reactor containment dome which reinforce the dome. Plan developer Sargent & Lundy specified that 97 tendons be loosened. Progress rejected that number as excessive. The next proposal was to loosen 74 tendons, which was typical of other nuclear plants doing the procedure. According to a Progress employee, "de-tensioning the tendons is a very expensive and time-consuming effort", so the number was further reduced to 65. Progress engaged Bechtel to provide a 3rd party review, which agreed that 65 was appropriate. However, when the work was performed, only 27 tendons were loosened, and a foreman and supervisor sent emails questioning the way the tendons were loosened.

When workers began to cut the access hole for the steam generators, a crack formed. That crack was repaired, but more cracks appeared. Engineers noticed that parts of the concrete had delaminated. This was repaired, and the concrete re-tensioned, but the same problem was found in other areas. The plant had originally been due to restart in April 2011 following the uprate, but in June 2011 Progress Energy said that it did not expect it to restart until 2014. Preliminary cost estimates for the repairs was put at between $900 million and $1.3 billion, but this estimate was later called into question by Duke Energy. In October 2012 an independent review estimated the repair cost at $1.5 billion, with a worst-case scenario of $3.4 billion. In February 2013 Duke Energy announced that Crystal River would be permanently shut down and that they will recover $850 million in insurance claims. A Duke spokesperson stated, "The company sought input from numerous engineering experts — internally and externally — and used proven industry-accepted practices when determining how to replace the steam generators. Analysis has shown that the 2009 delamination (cracking) could not have been predicted. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission confirmed these findings."

Gregory Jaczko, former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, stated, "That's a multi-billion dollar asset that had to be shut down because of improper work planning, improper understanding of how to properly do this containment retrofit".

Surrounding population
The NRC defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 mi, concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 mi, concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 mi of Crystal River was 20,695, an increase of 50.9 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 mi was 1,046,741, an increase of 32.4 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Ocala, (38 miles to city center) and Spring Hill (34 miles to city center).

Seismic risk
On September 10, 2006, a magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurred 300 miles southwest of the nuclear plant, no damage occurred to the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant from the rare quake. The odds of such a quake happening again in the near-term around Florida are low.

The NRC's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Crystal River was 1 in 45,455, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.

title: Crystal River Nuclear Plant


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Romairon

Romairon is a former municipality in the district of Jura-Nord Vaudois in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland.

The municipalities of Fontanezier, Romairon, Vaugondry and Villars-Burquin merged on 1 July 2011 into the new municipality of Tévenon.

History
Romairon is first mentioned in 1403 as Romeyron.

Geography
Romairon has an area,, of 4.89 km2. Of this area, 1.94 km2 or 39.7% is used for agricultural purposes, while 2.79 km2 or 57.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.07 km2 or 1.4% is settled (buildings or roads) and 0.01 km2 or 0.2% is unproductive land.

Of the built up area, housing and buildings made up 0.6% and transportation infrastructure made up 0.6%. Out of the forested land, 50.3% of the total land area is heavily forested and 6.7% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 4.3% is used for growing crops and 7.0% is pastures and 28.2% is used for alpine pastures.

The municipality was part of the Grandson District until it was dissolved on 31 August 2006, and Romairon became part of the new district of Jura-Nord Vaudois.

The municipality is located in mountains between Chasseron and Mont Aubert, on the border with the Val-de-Travers.

Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Or, on a Bend Vert a May-beetle proper bendwise.

Demographics
Romairon has a population of 37. , 4.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (1999–2009 ) the population has changed at a rate of -15.9%. It has changed at a rate of -9.1% due to migration and at a rate of -6.8% due to births and deaths.

All of the population speaks French.

Of the population in the municipality 20 or about 54.1% were born in Romairon and lived there in 2000. There were 12 or 32.4% who were born in the same canton, while 3 or 8.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 2 or 5.4% were born outside of Switzerland.

In there were 0 live births to Swiss citizens and 1 death of a Swiss citizen. Ignoring immigration and emigration, the population of Swiss citizens decreased by 1 while the foreign population remained the same. There was 1 Swiss woman who immigrated back to Switzerland. The total Swiss population remained the same in 2008 and the non-Swiss population remained the same. This represents a population growth rate of 0.0%.

The age distribution,, in Romairon is; 1 child is between 0 and 9 years old and 4 teenagers or 10.8% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 5 people or 13.5% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 4 people or 10.8% are between 30 and 39, 7 people or 18.9% are between 40 and 49, and 5 people or 13.5% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 5 people or 13.5% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 4 people or 10.8% are between 70 and 79, there are 2 people or 5.4% who are between 80 and 89.

, there were 14 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 20 married individuals, 1 widows or widowers and 2 individuals who are divorced.

the average number of residents per living room was 0.54 which is fewer people per room than the cantonal average of 0.61 per room. In this case, a room is defined as space of a housing unit of at least 4 m2 as normal bedrooms, dining rooms, living rooms, kitchens and habitable cellars and attics. About 43.8% of the total households were owner occupied, or in other words did not pay rent (though they may have a mortgage or a rent-to-own agreement).

, there were 16 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 6 households that consist of only one person and 1 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 16 households that answered this question, 37.5% were households made up of just one person. Of the rest of the households, there are 5 married couples without children, 5 married couples with children

there were 8 single family homes (or 44.4% of the total) out of a total of 18 inhabited buildings. There were 1 multi-family buildings (5.6%), along with 7 multi-purpose buildings that were mostly used for housing (38.9%) and 2 other use buildings (commercial or industrial) that also had some housing (11.1%). Of the single family homes 4 were built before 1919, while 1 was built between 1990 and 2000. The most multi-family homes (1) were built before 1919.

there were 19 apartments in the municipality. The most common apartment size was 4 rooms of which there were 6. There was 1 single room apartment and 7 apartments with five or more rooms. Of these apartments, a total of 16 apartments (84.2% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 3 apartments (15.8%) were seasonally occupied. , the construction rate of new housing units was 0 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 0%.

The historical population is given in the following chart:

Politics
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the FDP which received 33.02% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (27.16%), the SVP (22.53%) and the Green Party (16.36%). In the federal election, a total of 18 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 56.3%.

Economy
, Romairon had an unemployment rate of 2.6%. , there were 8 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 3 businesses involved in this sector. No one was employed in the secondary sector. 4 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 1 business in this sector. There were 16 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 37.5% of the workforce.

the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 11. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 7, all of which were in agriculture. There were no jobs in the secondary sector. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 4 all in a hotel or restaurant.

, there were 6 workers who commuted away from the municipality. Of the working population, 0% used public transportation to get to work, and 37.5% used a private car.

Religion
From the, 4 or 10.8% were Roman Catholic, while 32 or 86.5% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. 1 (or about 2.70% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist.

Education
In Romairon about 10 or (27.0%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 3 or (8.1%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a Fachhochschule). Of the 3 who completed tertiary schooling, all were Swiss men.

In the 2009/2010 school year there were a total of 2 students in the Romairon school district. In the Vaud cantonal school system, two years of non-obligatory pre-school are provided by the political districts. During the school year, the political district provided pre-school care for a total of 578 children of which 359 children (62.1%) received subsidized pre-school care. The canton's primary school program requires students to attend for four years. There was 1 student in the municipal primary school program. The obligatory lower secondary school program lasts for six years and there were no students in those schools. There was also 1 student who was home schooled or attended another non-traditional school.

, there were 8 students from Romairon who attended schools outside the municipality.

title: Romairon


text:
User:Aromera~enwiki

Aromera is fatty of Secondary Education at a Institute of Secondary Education in La Mancha, Spain. I'm interested in language, literature, history and, above all, history of the press. However, my level of English is too low to write on topics in depth. When I have a little less work and a little time, I will try to continue my scholarly research on the history of literature in La Mancha, Spain, especially the liberals of the eighteenth century. My doctoral thesis concerns the liberal journalist Félix Mejía, and it won the "Francisco Mariano Nipho Award" of the Instituto de Estudios Humanísticos de Alcañiz. In my opinion, Wikipedia is an ideal method for developing my vocation: teaching. Furthermore, I personally recommend Wikipedia to my pupils as a tool to look up at any information.

title: User:Aromera~enwiki


text:
Wikipedia:Meetup/Wikipedians of the East Coast field trip/Date

 * Works for me. :) DC is less than 10 hours away from Atlanta. --mav 03:33, 7 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Same weekend as Mav works, and for me it'll be a cab ride or Metro hop. Meelar (talk) 03:36, Apr 7, 2005 (UTC)
 * I can do almost any weekend except that of April 30; any of the weekends of May are doable and May 14; preference I suppose for the 21st or the 28th. -- Seth Ilys 16:34, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * May is *REALLY* bad for me - not only do I have finals, but I need to spend the latter half of may studying for my qualifying exams in early June. →Raul654 16:38, Apr 9, 2005 (UTC)
 * Revised: I can make the weekend of the 7th or the weekend of the 21st (and the weekend of April 23rd, but that's kinda soon. -- Seth Ilys 17:47, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Offhand I can't think of anything that would block out any weekends in the next couple months. No preference. Isomorphic 07:26, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * RIT's exams are done until May 20th :-( --dinomite 20:41, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I probably won't be available for one of the weekends in May, but I don't yet know which one. (I guess that's not very helpful, is it?) I think  4/30 & 5/1 or 5/7 & 5/8 would be fine for me. -- Gyrofrog  (talk) 03:46, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Perhaps we should be rescheduling again? If Danny and Meelar can't make that date... we've only got three names at the moment. Isomorphic 02:56, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Actually, only 2 names. April 30 / May 1 would've been fine for several people, including apparently Danny and Raul, but I'm not sure why the date was changed by Danny to June 4/5, which he says isn't good for him, and is impossible for Raul.  -- brian0918  ™  18:18, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * The only time I could go would be before May 23rd. 4/30 & 5/1 would've been perfect, why was the date changed?  -- brian0918  ™  17:17, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Anything after the first week of May is out for me. I would probably be providing transportation for someone else, too. -Casito 18:05, 18 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I have my finals in mid-may and my qualifying exam on June 6 -- the qualifying exam takes precedence above everything else, so for about 2 weeks up to that I'm going to be sequestering myself and studying like hell. →Raul654 18:51, Apr 18, 2005 (UTC)
 * Well, I'm probably not available for any of these :/. My finals April 29 - May 3, and then I'll be working for 3 or so weeks on a paper deadline, and then I'll be at a conference in CA May 30-June 4. So, I suppose don't schedule with me taken into account, unless someone wants a June-11-or-later date. --Delirium 19:11, Apr 18, 2005 (UTC)
 * The only day I would ever be able to make would be May 7th, since I'm taking the week off of work then for final exams. My work schedule almost always includes work on Saturday and Sunday, and I don't think "going to meet some people I know online" would be a valid excuse for a day off. Mo0 [ talk ] 01:00, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * On further review, I don't believe I'll even be able to make it on that date. I'm really sorry about not being available; weekends are the busiest time of the week for our store.  I'm usually off on Mondays, that would've been better. :( Mo0 [ talk ] 02:58, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I just acquired another commitment May 1st, so I'm out that day unless we're doing something incredibly cool. Isomorphic 01:27, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I'm new to Wikipedia but I've lived in DC my whole life and I'm interested in the event. April 30th is not good but May 1st is fine; May 21st is not good but the rest of the month is fine.  Beginning of June is no good. -Etoile 14:51, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I have finals and gigs the first weekend and then graduation May 7; the next three weekends work for me. Mindspillage (spill yours?) 18:11, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I have gigs all of these weekends. --Marnen Laibow-Koser (talk) 18:53, 19 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I'm slowly returning from work-overload-induced absence... and I live near DC, too, & would like to come if I can. -FZ 01:56, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I can potentially make pretty much any weekend, depending on exact plans. But I live on Capitol Hill so it's not like I'd have to commute far, or... er, anywhere for that matter.  · Katefan0(scribble) 04:24, Apr 20, 2005 (UTC)
 * It looks like April 30/May 1 might be the best, because both of the original proposers of the meetup (Raul and Danny) could go then, as well as almost everyone else. -- brian0918 ™  19:33, 20 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Decision on date
We should make a decision soon on the date, since one of the front-runners is coming up in a week. 30th-1st and 7th-8th look like they would be the best-attended dates, with the 7th-8th slightly preferred because two people have one-day restrictions. However, Danny can't make the weekend of the 7th, and we really shouldn't exclude him from an event that was his idea, so... should we say the 30th and the 1st? (By the way, Improv emailed me and is coming, regardless of date.) Isomorphic 03:08, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * Danny just told me that he can go May 7/8, so it's safe to assume that'll be the weekend. I've asked him to finalize the date. -- brian0918 ™  15:53, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)


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Sean Stewart

Sean Stewart (born June 2, 1965) is an American-Canadian science fiction and fantasy author.

Biography
Born in Lubbock, Texas, Sean Stewart moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada in 1968. After stints in Houston, Texas, Vancouver, British Columbia, Irvine, California, Monterey, California Davis, Santa Monica, California, and Pasadena, California, he now again lives San Pedro, California.

He received an Honors degree in English from University of Alberta in 1987, following which he spent many years writing novels. He gradually moved from writing novels to interactive fiction, first as lead writer on the Web-based alternate reality game The Beast.

He served as a consultant on several computer games, and was on the management team of the 42 Entertainment experiential marketing and entertainment company, where he was lead writer for Haunted Apiary aka ilovebees and Last Call Poker. His novel series Cathy's Book (and its sequels) seems to represent the melding of his two careers, as it crosses the alternate reality game format with a teen novel. In 2007, he and several 4orty2wo co-founders left that company to start Fourth Wall Studios, where they won an Emmy for interactive television in 2013. In 2014, he joined Microsoft's Xbox Studios as Creative Director. After Xbox Studios closed in late 2014, Stewart began consulting for Magic Leap, joining them as Creative Director/Design Director in early 2016.

title: Sean Stewart


text:
Grischa

Grischa (alternatively spelled Grisha or Gricha) is a short form for the name Gregory or Grigorij, and sometimes for the name Georgi as well, used in Russia and some other Slavic countries, including Ukraine and Bulgaria. The "sha" ending is a typical short form in the Russian language for names. Other such short forms include Natasha for Natalia, Sasha for Alexander, Alyosha for Alexei, and Misha for Michael (or Mikhail, which is the Russian spelling).

title: Grischa


text:
Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station

Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear and gas-fired power plant located on a 3300 acre site two miles east of Homestead, Florida, United States, next to Biscayne National Park located about 25 mi south of Miami, Florida near the southernmost edge of Miami-Dade County. The facility is owned by Florida Power & Light.

Including the two nuclear reactors, Turkey Point operates three power-generating units. It comprises two retired 404 megawatt fuel oil/natural gas/used oil/propane-fired generation units (Units 1 and 2), two 802 MWe Westinghouse pressurized water reactors (Units 3 and 4), and a 1,150 MW combined-cycle gas-fired Unit 5. It serves the entire southern portion of Florida. With a combined operational capacity of 2754 MW, the site is the third largest generating station in Florida and the eleventh largest power plant in the United States.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has authorized its staff to issue combined licences for Florida Power and Light to build and operate two Westinghouse AP1000 reactors at its Turkey Point site.

Construction
The two pressurized water reactors were completed in 1972 and 1973.

Expansion
In 2002, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) extended the operating licenses for both nuclear reactors from forty years to sixty years. In 2006, Florida Power & Light (FPL) informed the NRC that they planned to apply for new units to be built at Turkey Point. FPL filed an initial proposal for increased capacity with the Florida Public Service Commission in October 2007. The proposal was approved by the PSC in March 2008.

FPL also planned to spend about $1.5 billion to increase the capacity of its existing four reactors at Turkey Point and the St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant by a total of about 400 MW by 2012.

On June 30, 2009, FPL submitted a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) application for two 1,117-MWe Westinghouse AP1000 reactors (Units 6 and 7). FPL had considered building two 1,550-MWe GE ESBWR reactors. Construction was expected to begin in 2012, with the new units going online in 2017 and 2019. FPL estimated the total overnight costs of the power plants, including first fuel load, at $6.8–$9.9 billion, and the total project cost at $12.1–$17.8 billion. The COLs for units 6 and 7 were authorized by the NRC in April 2018.

Criticism of expansion
The expansion received criticism from some South Florida mayors over concerns about water usage, insufficient evacuation zones and increased risks from rising sea levels. However, the mayor of Homestead, the closest community to the FPL facilities, support it.

Surrounding population
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 mi, concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 mi, concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 mi of Turkey Point was 161,556, an increase of 62.8 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 mi was 3,476,981, an increase of 15.1 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Miami (25 miles to city center).

May 8, 1974
A test was performed on all three of the Emergency Feedwater (EFW) pumps serving Unit 3 while the reactor was operating at power. Two of the pumps failed to start as a result of overtightened packing. The third pump failed to start because of a malfunction in the turbine regulating valve pneumatic controller. In an ongoing study of precursors that could lead to a nuclear accident if additional failures were to have occurred, the NRC concluded in October 2005 that this event at Turkey Point Unit 3 was the fifth-highest ranked occurrence.

August 24, 1992
Turkey Point was directly hit by Hurricane Andrew on August 24, 1992, destroying two raw water tanks and portions of the fire protection systems, draining another raw water tank, partially disabling the fire protection systems, causing severe damage to various non-nuclear structures, and cracking the smokestack for fossil-fueled Unit 1. The smokestack later had to be demolished and rebuilt. It also suffered a total loss of offsite power, requiring the use of the onsite emergency diesel generators for several days. No significant damage was done to the plant's nuclear containment buildings. The plant was built to withstand winds of up to 235 mph (380 km/h), greatly exceeding the maximum winds recorded by most category 5 hurricanes.

March 18, 2017
On March 18, 2017, an electrical fault occurred in a Unit 3 switchgear room, resulting in the loss of a safety related electrical bus and a reactor trip. Other safety systems functioned as required, ensuring adequate reactor cooling. There was no threat to local residents or the environment, and the alert, the second-lowest Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) emergency declaration, was terminated later that same day. The electrical fault caused an arc flash, resulting in a minor burn of a plant worker who was in the room and was treated at a local hospital. On March 22, 2017, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it had initiated a special inspection into the failure of the electrical bus that resulted in the plant declaring an alert.

2008 Florida electricity blackout
On February 26, 2008, both reactors were shut down due to the loss of off-site power during a widespread power outage in South Florida, affecting 700,000 customers.

The fire occurred at 1:08 PM and caused an automatic shutdown of the power plant. This led to a domino effect that caused outages as far north as Daytona Beach and Tampa. Power was restored by 4:30 PM. The reason this malfunction caused such widespread outages was still under investigation a few days later. Walt Disney World Resort, Orlando International Airport, and Miami International Airport were among the places affected by the outage. At least 2.5 million people were without power.

The blackout was initially caused by an overheated voltage switch that soon caught fire at in a power substation in Miami, 23 miles away from the plant. Although the substation had protective relays to isolate the electrical fault from the broader transmission system, a local engineer was troubleshooting a failure within the substation at the time of the blackout, and had temporarily disabled the protection systems contrary to Florida Power & Light policy. Additional layers of protection eventually removed the substation from service, but required 1.7 s to do so. The long fault duration caused substantial power swings, and many generators tripped off-line to protect themselves from damage; Turkey Point was one such.

David Hoffman, a nuclear supervisor at Turkey Point, resigned over the incident and was subsequently sued by Florida Power and Light for return of a bonus. Hoffman countersued, claiming he was pressured to restart the reactors while they were in a condition which in his judgment made it unsafe to do so. Upper management wanted the reactors restarted during xenon dead time, which would have led to the operators at the controls having to continuously step control rods to safely manage reactor output. Florida Power and Light responded to the allegation, claiming Hoffman's suit was "self-motivated".

Ecology
The site is home to a large wildlife preserve.

Turkey Point has been a contributing force to the reclassification of the American crocodile from endangered to the less serious category of vulnerable.

Cooling canals
Instead of a cooling tower, the plant has a large five-by-two mile (10 sqmi) network of canals covering nearly 6,000 acres. Several problems have arisen from this, including pollution of nearby national parks or water supply, particularly the Biscayne Aquifer, issues with overheating, and radioactive material. Overheating in the canals twice caused the plant to shut down reactors in 2014. In September 2016, a controversial cleanup process began that included injecting hypersaline water deep into the boulder zone beneath the aquifer and/or making some of the unlined canals more shallow. 600,000 pounds of salt gets into the canal system daily, and the saltwater contamination reaches 4 mi west of the system as well as possibly into Biscayne Bay.

Seismic risk
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Turkey Point was 1 in 100,000, according to an NRC study published in August 2010. The plant is located in an area with the lowest earthquake hazard potential described by the USGS.

Reactor data
The Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station consists of two operational reactors, and two additional units are planned.

In 2019 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved a second 20-year licence extension for units 3 and 4, the first time NRC had extended licences to an 80-year total lifetime.

Name
Speculation about the name Turkey Point, first known written reference in 1865, suggests that it is because of the presence of the anhinga.

title: Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station


text:
José Mariano Salas

José Mariano Salas Barbosa (11 May 1797 – 24 December 1867) was a Mexican soldier and politician who served twice as interim president of Mexico, once in 1846, during the Mexican American War, and once in 1859 during the War of Reform.

He was a known partisan of Santa Anna, and his first presidency which occurred during the Mexican-American War involved Salas serving as interim president for Santa Anna, after the overthrow of Mariano Paredes, while Santa Anna returned from an exile. Nonetheless, Salas still governed for a few months and energetically passed measures to unite the country and promote the war effort. At Santa Anna's behest, Salas also restored the Constitution of 1824, thus ending the Centralist Republic of Mexico which had been in effect since 1835.

His second presidency during the Reform War was much less eventful. After an election, he was assigned to the post while president-elect Miguel Miramon arrived and only remained in power for a few days. As the Second Mexican Empire was being established in 1863, the Assembly of Notables elected him as part of the executive triumvirate that invited Maximilian of Habsburg to take the throne.

Early life
Mariano Salas was born in Mexico City in 1797. After receiving his primary education, he joined the military and participated in the Mexican War of Independence as an infantry cadet in the Infantes de Puebla regiment. He initially on the side of the Spaniards, but he joined in the Plan of Iguala in 1821, and during the First Mexican Empire sided with congress as it broke out into armed conflict against Emperor Iturbide in 1823.

After the establishment of the First Mexican Republic, he defended the government of Guadalupe Victoria against the insurgents in the Plan of Montaño of 1827. He was in charge of the tenth battalion stationed in Guadalajara when the Spanish attempted to invade Mexico in 1829, and he fought against that incursion, remaining with the garrison of Tampico el Alto until the Spanish departed. He joined in the Plan of Jalapa against Vicente Guerrero, but defended the subsequent government of Anastasio Bustamante when the San Luis Potosí militia rose up. During the Plan of Veracruz in 1832, he defended the government of Bustamante up until the end, but after his overthrow was an accomplished fact, he was willing to fight for adherence to the new government of Manuel Gomez Pedraza.

During the Centralist Republic of Mexico he participated in the war against Texas and was present at the Battle of the Alamo, and returned to Matamors after the decisive defeat at San Jacinto. He defended the government against the federalist uprisings that were flaring up all over the nation during this time, and battled the federalist chief Mejia at the Hacienda of San Miguel La Blanca, in which Salas was wounded by bayonet and fractured a rib, but through which he was also promoted to brigadier general. During the Federalist Uprising of 1840 in which federalist rebels invaded the National Palace and took the president hostage. He marched against the National Palace and went second in command of the government forces, Alcorta was wounded, Salas was designated to replace him.

Four years later he was named commandant general of Mexico and was one of the few individuals that remained loyal to Santa Anna when he was overthrown in 1844, for which he was removed by the triumphant rebels from his military posts. When Mariano Paredes assumed the presidency in 1846, he returned him to the post of commandant general and he was named deputy to the constituent congress that was meant to meet later in the year and draft a new constitution.

Presidency
The Mexican American War broke out during Paredes’ presidency, and the first few months were filled with military disasters leading to a rise in opposition against the president. On August 4, 1846, Salas proclaimed a revolt against the government. The revolution had two aims: one was the return of Santa Anna and the convocation of an constituent congress for revising the constitution. Unable to suppress the revolt, Paredes had stepped down from the presidency and an arrangement was made with interim president Nicolas Bravo on 6 August, with Salas becoming the new president. He directed a manifesto to the nation, declared that all congressional laws shall remain in place, and annulled a law that had cut the salaries of public servants by a fourth. He released political prisoners, and offered jobs back to those who had been dismissed by the Paredes government. He wished to establish factories for the manufacture of cannon and also sought to gather funds for the war effort.

Santa Anna disembarked at Veracruz in August, and proclaimed his newfound support for the federal system, in spite of his founding role in and long support for the Centralist Republic of Mexico. Consequently, Salas proclaimed the reestablishment of the Constitution of 1824. He bought armaments for the military, and arranged an engineer corps. He prohibited political controversies in the official state newspaper, and permitted Valentin Canalizo, who had been banished with Santa Anna, to return to the country and offer his services for the war effort. Salas formed his cabinet out of liberals and Santa Anna supporters, including ex president Valentin Gomez Farias who now received the post of finance minister. Before accepting their posts, the ministers presented a plan for suppressing interior tolls, reforming autocratic laws, and promoting European immigration, but all based upon the continuation of the war supported by the union of the military and the people. Minister of War Juan Almonte asked the states to organize their national guards, set prices at which arms should be bought, and sent General Ampudia to Monterey.

Towards the end of August, a proposal for peace arrived from the American government through the intermediary of the governor of Veracruz. The American government advised President Salas to treat the annexation of Texas as an established, irrevocable fact. Salas decided to stall, and replied that he could not deal with the matter until congress met. Salas intended to continue the war and resolved to fire all civic servants and soldiers not collaborating with the war effort. All men between the ages of sixteen and fifty were called upon to fight. He removed all restrictions to the importation and sale of arms, and the manufacture of gunpowder. He called upon each state to contribute a contingent of thirty thousand soldiers, he named a commission to form the regulations for the national guard. He manufactured artillery and urged the governors to take advantage of their troops both active and retired.

The government was shocked by the capitulation of Monterey on 24 September 1846, all of its munitions having fallen into the hands of Zachary Taylor. Salas changed previous orders to fall back upon San Luis and gave out new orders that Saltillo be defended, an order that was ignored by a third of the relevant troops who had preferred to fall back upon San Luis and they arrived there towards the end of October, the rest of the troops fell back after being defeated. They were the remnants of the troops that had been defeated at Angostura and Cerro Gordo. They reformed and Santa Anna arrived to lead them against the Americans who were now in possession of the state of Nuevo León. President Salas continued to struggle in finding funds and decreed that all urban properties hand over a month of rent. Those who refused were to be imprisoned

Salas himself ceremonially joined a battalion of the national guard, and petitions arrived to his office urging him to stay in the presidency instead of holding the scheduled elections out of fear that the liberal front runner Valentin Gomez Farias who was known for his radical attempted reforms during his previous presidency in 1833, would return to the presidency. During this time Salas also invited bids from contractors seeking to install gas lighting in the capital.

Under the influence of the liberal party, President Salas replaced Minister Rejon with Lafragua. Minister Lafragua wished to establish academies of history and languages and also a public library, at the same time that the financial resources of the nation were being diverted to the war effort. Veracruz was blockaded, cutting off customs from the government, and the government offered to reduce customs to those ships that evaded the blockade. The poor course of the war produced opposition to Salas and to help prevent any sort of mutiny Santa Anna sent out a manifesto assuring that he stood behind the president. A law was passed to censor the press, and a National Academy of Painting was established.

Congress finally opened its sessions on 5 December 1846 at midnight, composed mostly of liberals. General Salas opened the session by lamenting the defeats that the military had faced, but expressed hope for the army of twenty thousand men that Santa Anna had gathered at San Luis Potosí. He expressed that he was completely behind continuing the war, and told congress that during great crises, one needed great efforts and virtues as had been shown during the Mexican War of Independence. He also expounded upon the peace proposals that had been forwarded to him by the American government. In December, voting by states and territories, the congress elected Santa Anna and Gomez Farias as president and vice-president respectively. They assumed power on the 24th.

Later life
After stepping down from the presidency, Salas served in the military and was taken prisoner by the Americans at Padierna in August 1847. He was released after the war ended. He was then named commandant general of Querétaro, he resigned this post though, and was later awarded with the Presidency of the Military Court, when General Filisola died. He once again would support Santa Anna, when the latter sought to overthrow the government in 1853. He was the assigned to be the commandant general of the Department of Mexico, and opposed himself to the Revolution of Ayutla in 1854. When the revolution triumphed, Salas faced no other punishment other than being completely exlucluded from politics by the triumphant liberals.

War of Reform
During the War of Reform, he supported the plan of Manuel Robles Pezuela to depose the conservative president Zuloaga in favor of a junta that would choose a new president. The plan succeeded with the junta meeting on 30 December 1858. Salas got fourteen votes, but ultimately Miguel Miramon would win with fifty votes. Roblez Pezuela handed over power to Salas while Miramon arrived, which ultimately would be only for a few days. After the defeat of the conservatives in 1860, Salas was banished from the country.

Second Empire
During the Second French Intervention in Mexico, after the capital was evacuated by the government of President Juarez in 1863, Salas was among the conservatives who sought to collaborate with the French, the movement being at first loosely organized in the capital by General Bruno Aguilar. On 1 June they adopted a preamble and resolution to aid the French. Salas was given military command of the city, and the French entered the capital on 7 June. On 16 June 1863 a Junta Superior de Gobierno made up of thirty five prominent citizens met to elect a triumverate that was to lead the government's executive. Salas was among those named along with Juan Almonte and Archbishop Pelagio Antonio de Labastida. The triumverate assumed its functions on 24 June 1863, and power would officially pass to the emperor on 10 April 1864

Salas would barely outlive the empire which fell in June 1867. Being affected by this event and falling into poor health, Salas died at the villa of Guadalupe Hidalgo on the morning of 24 December 1867.

title: José Mariano Salas


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User talk:Antaeus FeIdspar

This account has been permanently blocked from editing, as it constitutes an impersonation of Antaeus Feldspar. Mel Etitis ( Μελ Ετητης ) 16:59, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

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Black Labrador Retriever Puppy

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text: User talk:202.7.166.163

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Loftus Hall

Loftus Hall is a large country house on the Hook peninsula, County Wexford, Ireland. Built on the site of the original Redmond Hall, it is said to have been haunted by the devil and the ghost of a woman.

Loftus Hall has a long history of ownership, through private residence, landlords, two different orders of nuns, and a hotel in the 1980s run by members of the Devereux family.

Purchased by Shane and Aidan Quigley in 2011, Loftus Hall was opened to the public in 2012 with guided tours of the house and a fully restored walled gardens. It was closed in 2020 and sold in 2021. As of 2022, it was under renovation and not open to the public.

Redmond Hall
In 1170 Raymond FitzGerald landed at what is now known as Baginbun, named after his two ships La Bague et La Bonne, where he was to fight an important battle to safeguard the arrival of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, to Ireland. He acquired land in the area in County Wexford, upon which he built a castle known as Houseland Castle. The Redmond family replaced their original castle with another in about 1350, during the time of the Black Death. This second castle was also known as "The Hall" or Redmond Hall.

Attack during the Irish Confederate Wars
In 1642, the future Loftus Hall – then still known as Redmond's Hall – was attacked by English soldiers loyal to Charles I of England. The Irish Confederate Wars had broken out in 1641 and hostilities commenced in Wexford in 1643. An English garrison of around 100 men under the command of Lord Esmonde was based at Duncannon Fort on Waterford Harbour. On 23 February, this garrison was reinforced by a further 200 soldiers under the command of Captain Anthony Weldon and Captain Thomas Aston along with six cannons.

On 19 June 1643, a party of these soldiers from the fort were attacked by a group of Irish Confederates under the command of Captain Rossiter and Major James Butler at Shielbaggan while on their way to Tintern. The English were routed and driven back to the fort. Redmond's Hall was clearly visible to the beleaguered garrison at Duncannon. The building's owner, Alexander Redmond, was known to be sympathetic to the rebels. The site was known as a place that gave assistance to the rebels. Captain Aston believed it could be easily taken and on 20 July 1642 set sail from Duncannon with around 90 men and two small cannon, landing nearby.

Although he was 68-years old, Alexander Redmond barricaded the hall and prepared to defend it. He was assisted by his sons, Robert and Michael, some of their tenants, two men at arms and an itinerant tailor who happened to be at work in the hall when the attack took place. The defenders numbered 10 in all and were armed with long-barrelled fowling pieces. Captain Aston drew his men up in front of the building and demanded admission in the name of the King. Alexander Redmond retorted that Aston was welcome to come in providing that he left his soldiers and weapons outside. A lengthy gun battle ensued. Aston discovered that his cannon were too small to make much impression on the main door. To add to his troubles, about half his men abandoned him to pillage the countryside. As the fight dragged on a thick sea-mist descended on the Hook Peninsula.

Meanwhile the Irish Confederates, under Captain Rossiter and Captain Thomas Roche, were still encamped at Shielbaggan. Hearing of the attack they marched rapidly to the aid of the defenders and surprised the attackers under cover of the fog. About 30 of the English escaped to their boats and back to the fort. Captain Aston himself was one of those killed. Many of the others, including Lord Esmonde's two nephews Lieutenants John and Walter Esmonde, were taken prisoner. Several of the English prisoners were hanged the following day on Thomas Roche's orders, probably at Ballyhack. On 20 August, 11 others were hanged at New Ross, including one of the Esmonde brothers (see also, Siege of Duncannon).

Dispossession and change of ownership
The official Redmond family pedigree (registered in the Ulster Office, Dublin Castle 1763) alleges that Alexander Redmond had to defend the hall one or even two more times against soldiers of Oliver Cromwell in the autumn of 1649 during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. There is a tradition that the defenders used sacks of wool to block up breaches in the walls created by enemy cannon. These woolsacks and a representation of the hall can be seen in the coat of arms issued to one of their members in 1763. It is alleged that Alexander Redmond received favourable terms from Cromwell and died in the hall in 1650 or 1651 after which his surviving family were evicted, allowed only to retain a third of their original estates in County Wexford.

The Loftus family were English 'planters' who had owned land in the area from around 1590 when Sir Dudley Loftus was granted the lands around Kilcloggan. Nicholas Loftus acquired the manor of Fethard-on-Sea in 1634 and Fethard Castle became the family residence, that was afterwards occupied by the Redmond family after they were evicted from the house which is now Loftus Hall. After the end of Cromwell's campaign, Nicholas Loftus was given extensive lands in the south of County Wexford and purchased the hall from 'several Adventurers and soldiers', but it was only in 1666 when his son Henry moved to the hall from Dungulph that it became the principal residence of the Loftus family. To establish the new name of his property, he had the following inscription inscribed in stone on the entrance piers at Portersgate: 'Henry Loftus of Loftus Hall Esq. 1680'. Nonetheless, the old name remained in use till the end of the century. In 1684, Henry Loftus carried out extensive repairs to Loftus Hall, which needed repairing after the turbulent events of the previous decades. The Loftus family rose in the peerage over the following centuries. In 1800, the then owner of the hall, Charles Loftus, Baron Loftus, was created Marquess of Ely. It was his descendant, John Loftus, 4th Marquess of Ely, who between 1872 and 1884, refurbished the old hall, and used the existing structure, resulting in the present house.

The Redmond family had disputed the claim of the Loftus family in court but without success. In 1684, they were compensated with lands in the Barony of Ballaghkeene in the north of County Wexford. Some of their descendants joined the movement of the Wild Geese and served in a number of foreign armies, most notably that of France. Others were involved in banking and politics, and became a local political dynasty in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in support of the Irish Party of Isaac Butt and Charles Stuart Parnell. The most notable of these was John Redmond who led the party till his death in 1918.

Later developments
Between 1872 and 1884, John Henry Wellington Graham Loftus, 4th Marquess of Ely (1849-1889), under the guidance of his mother Lady Jane Hope Vere Loftus (Lady in Waiting to Queen Victoria), undertook an extensive rebuilding of the entire mansion, adding several elements such as the grand staircase, mosaic tiled floor, elaborate parquet flooring and technical elements which had not been seen in houses in Ireland at the time, such as flushing toilets and blown air heating. Some of Lord Ely's inspiration was taken from Osborne House, the Queen's summer residence on the Isle of Wight. The extensive works were believed to have been undertaken to facilitate a visit from the Queen, but this didn't happen and the family never got to fully enjoy the house, with the 4th Marquess dying very young without issue and leaving the estate, in a poor financial state, to his cousin who eventually elected to place it on the market, classed as a three-storey non-basement mansion, nine bays to the front with a balustraded parapet. In 1917, Loftus Hall was bought by the Sisters of Providence and turned into a convent and a school for young girls interested in joining the order. In 1983, it was purchased by Kay and Michael Devereaux who opened it as "Loftus Hall Hotel", which operated until its closure in the late 1990s.

In 2011, the house was purchased by the Quigley family. In more recent times the hall had been run as a tourist attraction with guided tours of the property and seasonal events, with some visitors taking part in paranormal investigations following Ghost Adventures with Zak Bagans, Aaron Goodwin and Nick Groff. The gothic thriller The Lodgers was shot on location at Loftus Hall in 2016 and premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.

The hall was put on the market in 2020.

The name 'Loftus Hall' or 'Loftushall' is also applied to the townland surrounding the mansion. The entire townland of Loftus Hall, including the building itself, can be seen from Hook Lighthouse.

Ghost stories
Charles Tottenham became Lord of the manor (having to adopt the Loftus name to inherit lands and title as per instructions of Nicolas Loftus 1752) by marrying the Honourable Anne Loftus, daughter of the first Viscount Loftus. They had six children, four boys and two girls – Elizabeth and Anne. However, his wife became ill and died while the girls were still young. Two years later, Tottenham married his cousin Jane Cliffe, and they lived together, along with Anne, in Loftus Hall.

One evening in 1775, Charles was resting in his home with his second wife and daughter from his first marriage, Anne, while the Loftus family were away on business. During a storm, a ship unexpectedly arrived at the Hook Peninsula, where the mansion was located. A young man was welcomed into the mansion. Anne and the young man became very close. One night, the family and mysterious man were in the game room playing cards. In the game each player received three cards, apart from Anne who was only dealt two by the mystery man. A butler serving the Tottenham family at the table was just about to question the man when Anne bent down to pick up another card from the floor, which she must have dropped. It is said that when Anne bent down to pick up the card, she looked beneath the table and saw that the mysterious man had a cloven foot.

It was then that Anne stood up and said to the man: "You have a cloven foot!" The man went up through the roof, leaving behind a large hole in the ceiling. Soon Anne became mentally ill, and it is believed that the family was ashamed of Anne and locked her away in her favourite room - where she would be happy, yet out of everyone's view - which was known as the Tapestry Room. She refused food and drink, and sat with her knees under her chin, looking out the Tapestry Room window and across the sea to where Dunmore East is today, waiting for her mysterious stranger to return, until she died in the Tapestry Room in 1775. It is said that when she died, they could not straighten her body, as her muscles had seized, and she was buried in the same sitting position in which she had died.

Media representations
A partially independent documentary film was made by Waterford man Rick Whelan, which was released in 1993 as The Legend of Loftus Hall. This film details the story, dramatising certain parts, such as the card game, with actors.

A further feature film, simply titled Loftus Hall, was announced in early 2006 and development began on the project in 2007. Actors Keith Duffy, Samantha Mumba and Adelaide Clemens were reportedly in talks at various stages to appear in the film. Samantha Mumba appeared in Dublin in January 2010 to promote the film. Duffy reportedly left the project midway through 2010 due to prior contractual commitments that would have interfered with the film's proposed schedule. In a 2010 interview at the launch party of Frilogy.com, Samantha Mumba stated that details on Loftus Hall were being kept top secret. After suffering financial difficulties throughout 2010 that stalled the production, it was announced during a questions and answers session at the 2011 Galway Film Fleadh that funding had been secured and the project was being completely rebooted to make it much darker and grittier. The release date was originally set as 1 October 2012, which was later pushed back to 2013.

Loftus Hall was the inspiration for Fowl Manor, one of the primary settings of the franchise Artemis Fowl, author Eoin Colfer having worked there as a child.

title: Loftus Hall