US

Floodwaters Surround Nebraska Nuclear Plant, Nearby Plant Braces for Trouble

More than 2 feet of water  has flooded around containment buildings and electrical transformers at a 478-megawatt nuclear plant 20 miles north of Omaha Nebraska. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) said the breach in the 2,000-foot inflatable berm around the Fort Calhoun station occurred around 1:25 a.m. local time. Reuters:

“Reactor shutdown cooling and spent-fuel pool cooling were unaffected, the NRC said. The plant, operated by the Omaha Public Power District, has been off line since April for refueling.

Crews activated emergency diesel generators after the breach, but restored normal electrical power by Sunday afternoon, the NRC said.

Buildings at the Fort Calhoun plant are watertight, the agency said. It noted that the cause of the berm breach is under investigation.”

Luckily Fort Calhoun has been inactive since April but its fellow nuclear plant along the Missouri River, Cooper Station, remains running. NRC visited the site Sunday as the facility has been closely watched as Missouri River waters continue to rise from heavy rains and snow melt. NY Times:

“At Cooper on Sunday, plant officials led Gregory Jaczko, the N.R.C. chairman, past thousands of feet of new berms that would hold back the river if it overtopped the levees, past buildings where every doorway was barricaded with four-foot high water barriers that are intended to survive even if an earthquake hits during a flood, and into the building that holds the diesel generators, which would supply vital electricity if the water knocked out the power grid.”

“Flooding is always a potential problem for nuclear reactors, but the threat has a higher profile lately because of the tsunami that hit the Fukushima Daiichi reactors in northeastern Japan on March 11. Nuclear reactors require electric power to pump cooling water even when they are shut down, and at Fukushima, the tsunami destroyed the connection to the electric grid, flooded the emergency diesel generators, washed away the extra tanks of diesel fuel and damaged the switches that would have controlled the flow of electricity from the emergency generators to pumps, valves and other vital equipment.

Unlike a tsunami, the challenges posed by the Missouri River was obvious for days in advance. At Cooper, the plant’s license specifies that it would have to shut down if the river reached 902 feet above sea level, and it came close, but then a levee on the Missouri side broke on Thursday night, and the water level fell precipitously.”

To make matters more uncomfortable the trip comes at a time when N.R.C Chairman Jaczko is being heavily criticized by House Republicans and his own agency’s inspector general for decisions he made about Yucca Mountain, the proposed nuclear wast repository. On June 24, four long-time members of the Commission staff complained in testimony to a House subcommittee that much of their work had been discarded when Mr. Jaczko suddenly ordered the staff to drop work on evaluating whether the Yucca project should get a license. The inspector general found that Mr. Jaczko was “not forthcoming” with the other four commissioners about what he was doing when making the Yucca project order.

Comments (14)

  • Jackie_Treehorn
    Posted on July 1, 2011 at 12:15am

    About a week ago I was flying into Omaha. I took some video as we were landing at Eppley Airfield. Pretty amazing to see all of that water. http://youtu.be/G_lOOTPLx_Y

    Report Post » Jackie_Treehorn  
  • bruce_baker
    Posted on June 28, 2011 at 8:35pm

    After the flood recedes, the first order of business for this plant should be to raise a wall 20 feet higher than it is to prevent future flood damage from anything other than a flood of Biblical proportions! That’s just common sense, which is precisely why it probably WON’T get done!

    Report Post » bruce_baker  
  • Billsocal
    Posted on June 28, 2011 at 5:56am

    There is more to this story than the nuclear plant. This all over the web. The Armt has planeted explosive charges have placed on the Gavins Point Dam in South Dakota. One man Omaha Nebraska said on a video blog on youtube that they’ll blow it after the College World Series. The are saying that the whole east coast will become a dead zone. I know I saw a blog on the web last week that a guy near Ft Bragg said his neighbor, who was former military was getting out and heading west of the Mississippi. The neighbor told him to get out also.. Something big is in the works. Be watchful around Tuesday or Wednesday.

    Report Post »  
  • LB
    Posted on June 27, 2011 at 12:50pm

    Don’t let a good crisis go to waste

    Report Post » LB  
  • cntrlfrk
    Posted on June 27, 2011 at 10:39am

    I posted over an hour ago, but I am not sure what “Discus” or The Blaze is doing sometimes.

    The link Mr. Daly posted is right on target.

    When the Gavins Point Dam (near to me) increases releases from 50,000 cubic feet per second to over 150,000 cfs in a months time, it tells me somebody was not planning well, or at all. The record snowpack didn’t show up in May, it was there most of the winter. The dams should have been much lower.

    Now we will lose communities and farmland all along the Missouri River.

    This definitely could have been prevented.

    ‘

    Report Post » cntrlfrk  
    • RugerHoyt
      Posted on June 27, 2011 at 1:00pm

      I’m from the Northeast Nebraska area and still live there, I actually have a cabin on Sunshine Bottom by Lynch NE.

      Anyway, I was talking to a couple of farmers that are in that area and they said that the Army Core of Engineers keeps enough C4 or on hand that if one of the dams gave way they could blow the earthen portion of all the dams down river. They think by doing this is saves all the manmade aspects of the dam (generators, turbines, the concrete dam) have you heard of this?

      Report Post »  
    • cntrlfrk
      Posted on June 27, 2011 at 2:14pm

      No, I have not heard of that.

      Many people think we have seen the worst of things, but this flow rate is supposed to last months, possibly into the winter. This river can do a lot of erosion damage in that time, not to mention what ice dams could do if it went into winter.

      I am also in the North-East portion of Nebraska.

      Over the weekend I drove down and viewed the thousands and thousands of acres of flooded farmland in Dakota and Thurston County, and also the adjoining land on the Iowa side of the river.

      Most of estimates on when this land will be farm-able again range between 5-10 years. By then Obama will have it declared wetlands and un-farm-able.

      The Corps is claiming this is a ‘Perfect Storm’ of events, and it may well be, but that does not mean it could not be have been managed better.

      They knew the snowpack was still there. They always know a wet spring and heavy rains are possible.

      .

      Report Post » cntrlfrk  
  • James Daly
    Posted on June 27, 2011 at 9:54am

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/the_purposeful_flooding_of_americas_heartland.html

    Report Post » James Daly  
  • C. Schwehr
    Posted on June 27, 2011 at 8:34am

    Silly idea…CAUSING our rivers to flood when it’s well known that the real reason is the unusually large snowpack from last winter which is causing the flooding.
    No, the Soetoro regime is merely mishandling the flooding to cause the maximum amount of damage to the economy…any possible nuclear accident would just be a bonus for Barry.

    Report Post »  
  • americansfightingforcommonsense
    Posted on June 27, 2011 at 7:37am

    I think Obama wants a nuclear power plant to fail, like Japan, here in the US. Is this nature causing this, or The Corps of Engineers being directed to purposely flood our rivers?

    Report Post » americansfightingforcommonsense  
  • pwatkins
    Posted on June 27, 2011 at 2:11am

    Not only is the nearby nuclear plant braced for trouble, the whole US is braced for trouble under our current administration. I honestly believe Obama wants a nuclear accident so he can attempt at convincing others to move on with his agenda.

    Report Post »  
    • americansfightingforcommonsense
      Posted on June 27, 2011 at 7:32am

      Agreed. This administration, I believe, saw what could happen in Japan, and has started a plan here in the U.S. to cause flooding. The Corps of engineers, under Obama, may be purposely flooding our rivers to see how our nuclear power plants can handle the extra water surrounding them. I have been wondering the Corps was taking the actions they have been up North. Call me crazy, but that might just explain it.

      Report Post » americansfightingforcommonsense  
    • Timekeeper
      Posted on June 27, 2011 at 5:05pm

      Not only is the nuke plant flooded – but – what about all of teh farm land across teh country that has been flooded…and now – teh Army corp of engineers offers to purchase this flooded out farm land…and a George Sopos shadow company is also involved… 2012 cannot come soon enough.We need peopel (not parties) that have American Values, Principles & Traditions. The type that made this the strongest, bravest, most prosperous nation on earth in less that 200 years. WE need to not only STOP this agenda and move to teh left – but need people in office, in teh Senate, In the Presidency that will REVERSE what has been put into place. Obummers 50 radical Czars are woking behind teh scenes installing radical drones in every agency that will continue with this. It is time for a house cleaning, Eliminate and downsize most federal agencies…starting with the Energy dept., the EPA and the Dept. of Ed. …..Vote RIGHT people!.

      Report Post »  
    • silentwatcher
      Posted on June 27, 2011 at 9:27pm

      You mean they built a nuclear power plant on a flood plain????

      Report Post »  

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