Posted on 06/16/2011 6:34:16 PM PDT by Rennes Templar
Officials at the Omaha Public Power District say there have been no releases of radioactive material since flooding from the Missouri River caused them to declare a low-level emergency June 6 at the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant.
The emergency level, declared as "a notification of an unusual event," is the lowest possible of four standard emergency classifications set by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and, as of now, there has been no risk to the public.
Officials say they have sandbagged the area surrounding the plant to a level greater than what the projected water levels will reach, and that they do not expect any release of radioactivity.
The four emergency classifications set by the NRC are listed below in order of increasing severity, according to the NRC website.
Notification of Unusual Event - Under this category, events are in process or have occurred which indicate potential degradation in the level of safety of the plant. No release of radioactive material requiring offsite response or monitoring is expected unless further degradation occurs. Alert - If an alert is declared, events are in process or have occurred which involve an actual or potential substantial degradation in the level of safety of the plant. Any releases of radioactive material from the plant are expected to be limited to a small fraction of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) protective action guides (PAGs). Site Area Emergency - A site area emergency involves events in process or which have occurred that result in actual or likely major failures of plant functions needed for protection of the public. Any releases of radioactive material are not expected to exceed the EPA PAGs except near the site boundary. General Emergency - A general emergency involves actual or imminent substantial core damage or melting of reactor fuel with the potential for loss of containment integrity. Radioactive releases during a general emergency can reasonably be expected to exceed the EPA PAGs for more than the immediate site area.
Here is one report on further developments:
http://www.businessinsider.com/faa-closes-airspace-over-flooded-nebraska-nuclear-power-plant-2011-6#ixzz1PUYRHB13
A fire in Nebraska's Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant briefly knocked out the cooling process for spent nuclear fuel rods, ProPublica reports.
The fire occurred on June 7th, and knocked out cooling for approximately 90 minutes. After 88 hours, the cooling pool would boil dry and highly radioactive materials would be exposed.
On June 6th, the Federal Administration Aviation (FAA) issued a directive banning aircraft from entering the airspace within a two-mile radius of the plan
Really weird how some folks here at FREEP think the MSM covers up nuc stuff...I’d think the opposite, that they hate it and would expose anything to hurt the nucs. I am a nuc and hope nuc comes back.
Actually just went back over the early freeper threads. The original stories on Fukushima during the first week by the established MSM turned out to be very accurate. Turns out they reported the meltdowns as they were occurring. Apparently using tips from Japanese insiders and US insiders. However, after the first week or two a noticeable change occurred. They basically just stopped covering the severity of the event and swallowed the government line out of Japan. That was also about the same time that a few distinguished freepers started posting about how the MSM had been hyping the accident. Coincidence ? Obviously our government went into coverup mode once they realized the severity.
There are three nuclear plants on the Missouri from what I can tell. All three just have one reactor each. It is also very difficult to know where this flood will peak or even how long it will last. Snow levels up in the Montana Mountains are at historic levels. We also have numerous dams up on the Missouri river and some of those are very old. Chances are everything will be fine, but if one of those damns breaks open, all bets are off.
Wonder why anyone would build a nuclear power site in an area where it could be flooded, and would have to be sandbagged?
For the same reason people built in the Missouri River floodplain all manner of other buildings.
In the case of nuke plants, they want access to large quantities of cooling water. In the case of others, they like the nice fertile soil, level ground, etc.
You should check out the state of the Missouri River these days:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mbrfc/?n=fop
We’ve had so much snow and rain in the upper Missouri River Basin that it isn’t remotely funny. Here in Wyoming, our snowpacks are 200 to 300% of normal. Our spring has been wet beyond belief. All of this means that the Missouri will be high or flooded in places for weeks to come.
Yeh, I have been reading that the up river stuff is huge this year. Well I understand that the nuke plant needs access to water, but wasn’t there any higher ground around that could be used?
If the plant floods, doesn’t that put lots of people in danger everywhere downriver too?
We’re only about a hundred miles from there, as the crow flies.
And, unfortunately, in the direction of the prevailing winds this time of year.
They only have four levels if notification? #1 is no big deal and #4 means end of all life on Earth??? You would think they would have more levels.
So, when do the lawsuits start from the enviro-whackos?
Please don't re post that garbage. The author is a college intern majoring in philosophy and political theory! His article is crap; easily refuted with a simple websearch:
“Ricky Kreitner
Ricky Kreitner Intern
Ricky Kreitner is an intern at Business Insider Politics. He attends McGill University in Montreal, where he studies philosophy and political theory.“
Also after seeing this posted yesterday I did some simple digging. FAA has issued other no fly’s at other sites along the Missouri River. Look up NOTAM’s on their (FAA’s) website. Yes they did have a 90 minute electrical ooutage last week. The plant has been shutdown and COLD since April 9th.
The incident wasn’t the flood, it was a small fire that broke out and was quickly put out.
There are dozens of places along the flooded river that have FAA airspace closures.
Well, yes, theoretically, if everybody at the plant suddenly was taken up in the rapture, and then nobody else came to take their place, and all the backup systems decided not to work.
I honestly have no idea. It would depend on the elevation of their spent fuel pool relative to the river.
The historic flood plains of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers are large. Very often, they flood a little ways out from the main channel... but then every 50 or 100 years, they can flood much, much further out. They’re shallower, broader rivers with wide, shallow-sloping flood plains. When these rivers flood out of their banks, a lot of ground tends to be flooded to relatively shallow depths.
Hey, don’t laugh. Could happen. It’s been re-scheduled to this autumn, or so I’ve been told.
Pissed me off, too, because the date was after October 15th, which means that I still have to file a tax return.
Ok. Thanks anyway. We are South of St. Louis, so I was just curious.
Really weird how some folks here at FREEP think the MSM covers up nuc stuff...I’d think the opposite, that they hate it and would expose anything to hurt the nucs. I am a nuc and hope nuc comes back.
Actually just went back over the early freeper threads. The original stories on Fukushima during the first week by the established MSM turned out to be very accurate. Turns out they reported the meltdowns as they were occurring. Apparently using tips from Japanese insiders and US insiders. However, after the first week or two a noticeable change occurred. They basically just stopped covering the severity of the event and swallowed the government line out of Japan. That was also about the same time that a few distinguished freepers started posting about how the MSM had been hyping the accident. Coincidence ? Obviously our government went into coverup mode once they realized the severity.
I’m always going to be behind nuc as look at how the French have done it safely. Their record speaks for itself. And, I hate the French.
“Please don’t re post that garbage.”
Thank you for that tremendous enlightenement. I’ll consult you for all further posts on FR.
“Thank you for that tremendous enlightenement. I’ll consult you for all further posts on FR.”
The article is garbage. And it’s very misleading. FR shouldn’t be a place where circus carnival sidehow crap is posted as “news”.
Leave that to the other side. We expect better.
The “garbage” article helped draw some MSM attention. Your castigation of my post is way off base. If there is a public concern about safety, and no one else is reporting it, then kudos to the kid. There was intelligent discussion related to the post. Take your censorship elsewhere.
Washington, DC The Washington Post
Federal regulators say both Nebraska nuclear plants are safe from Missouri River flooding
By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, June 17, 8:45 AM
OMAHA, Neb. — Federal regulators say the utilities running both of Nebraska’s nuclear power plants have taken the steps needed to protect them from flooding from the Missouri River.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Victor Dricks said Friday that Omaha Public Power District’s Fort Calhoun plant near Blair and Nebraska Public Power District’s Cooper plant near Brownville are safe.
Floodwaters are already surrounding the Fort Calhoun plant. The river has risen 1.5 feet higher than Fort Calhoun’s 1,004-foot elevation above sea level, but the water is being held back by an 8-foot-tall flood barrier.
Dricks says the Omaha Public Power District’s preparations would keep Fort Calhoun safe if the river rose another 8.5 feet. The river is not expected to rise more than 1 foot above its current level.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Given how evil nuclear power is to those possting these threads, I was looking for someone to tell me we didn’t need to worry about any of the workers getting raptured. :-)
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