Courtesy of AP, NY Times, Fellowship of the Minds
Tweet Omaha, Nebraska. Flooding on the Missouri River at The Cooper and Fort Calhoun nuclear power stations. I suppose the good news is that given the flooding, one or both of these two Nebraska plants will be decommissioned after the floodwates recede, so there will soon be one or two fewer nuclear plants operating in the United States. And terrorists will have a difficult time attacking these plants now that they are surrounded by a moat. The real good news, if you can call it that, is that these floods are the result of heavy rains, not a tsunami triggered by an earthquake. The pressures are different. It is a steady buildup and which will be followed by steady decrease. It is not the surge / vacuum of a tsunami. And there was no earthquake and series of aftershocks.
These plants were built in the mid-1970’s. They are both about 35 years old. Were they built to withstand weeks of flooding like this? How do we get maintenance workers to the plants? Boat? Chopper? And how do we get them out? Hearse?
Via the NY Times (here, here, and here), the Wall Street Journal (here) , Fellowship of the Minds (here) and IntelHub, (here) which reprinted Patrick Henningsen’s piece, excerpted below:
21st Century Wire, Media Blackout: Was There a Nuclear Incident At Fort Calhoun In Nebraska?
Flooding began on June 6th at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Facility near Omaha, Nebraska. . . . Evidence strongly suggests that something very serious has in fact happened there.
On June 7th, … a fire reported at Fort Calhoun.
The official story is that the fire was in an electrical switchgear room at the plant. The apparently facility lost power to a pump that cools the spent fuel rod pool, allegedly for a duration of approximately 90 minutes.
FORT CALHOUN NUKE SITE: does it pose a public risk?
The following sequence of events is documented on the Omaha Public Power District’s own website, stating other things, that here was no such imminent danger with the Fort Calhoun Station spent-fuel pool, and that due to a fire in an electrical switchgear room at FCS on the morning of June 7, the plant temporarily lost power to a pump that cools the spent-fuel pool.
In addition to the flooding that has occurred on the banks of the Missouri River at Fort Calhoun, the Cooper Nuclear Facility in Brownville, Nebraska may also be threatened by the rising flood waters.
As was declared at Fort Calhoun on June 7th, another “Notification of Unusual Event” was declared at Cooper Nuclear Station on June 20th.
This notification was issued because the Missouri River’s water level reached an alarming 42.5 feet. Apparently, Cooper Station is advising that it is unable to discharge sludge into the Missouri River due to flooding, and therefore “overtopped” its sludge pond.
Not surprisingly, and completely ignored by the Mainstream Media, these two nuclear power facilities in Nebraska were designated temporary restricted NO FLY ZONES by the FAA in early June.
The FAA restrictions were reportedly down to “hazards” and were ‘effectively immediately’, and ‘until further notice’. Yet, according to the NRC, there’s no cause for the public to panic.
via Why Is There A Media Blackout On Nuclear Incident At Fort Calhoun In Nebraska? :.
Thanks to Intelhub and 21st Century Wire