Posted on 06/21/2011 10:07:23 PM PDT by matt04
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As record floodwaters along the Missouri River drench homes and businesses, concerns have grown about keeping a couple of notable structures dry: two riverside nuclear power plants in Nebraska.
Though the plants have declared “unusual events,” the lowest level in the emergency taxonomy used by federal nuclear regulators, both were designed to withstand this level of flooding, and neither is viewed as being at risk for a disaster, said a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
“We think they’ve taken all the necessary precautions and made the appropriate arrangements to deal with the flooding conditions,” said the spokesman, Victor Dricks.
One plant, the Fort Calhoun Station, about 19 miles north of Omaha, was shut down in April for refueling, and the operators elected to keep it in “cold shutdown” in anticipation of the flooding. The other plant, Cooper Nuclear Station, located downriver and situated on higher ground, is still operating.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Must be seen to be appreciated. Pic at link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110620/ap_on_re_us/us_missouri_river_flooding
Molten Thorium Salt reactors don’t have to be built near water to operate.....
Of course with the Green Energy Hysteria that permeates Washington, they will never get built here, but they will build them in China as we fall further behind...
The Army Corps of Engineers made a bad call in not pushing more water downriver sooner this spring. They have too many competing idiots campaigning the ACE for their economic interests.
The ACE should have flood prevention as their #1 concern, and whether or not some barge can float up the Missouri river in August is utterly secondary. We now have trucks and trains to carry bulk freight if the river gets too low.
As soon as it stops snowing up river, the rains will come causing a biblical snow melt adding to the runoff.
I know. I live in northern Wyoming. Trust me, you’re 1000% right on with that assessment.
The water that has gone downstream already is just the down payment on the flood that might be coming.
Considering the fact that this plant is about a hundred miles SW of us, as the crow flies, or, more importantly, as the prevailing winds blow this time of year, I’ll keep watching this situation.
Although, it sure seems that they’re keeping available information to a bare minimum.
To use a turbine to make power you have to have heat removal. Large cooling towers OR a river OR a large lake works quite well.
Removing decay heat is small in comparison.
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