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FEMA ? No word about them yet. But just today we got some weird news about the nuclear reactor near New Orleans. The Waterford reactor is south west of Lake Pontchartrain and is near the Mississippi where the reactor sucks in water for its cooling towers. Well here, let the NRC Event Notification report describe what is happening with the plant.

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This is a non-emergency notification being made under 10CFR50.72(b)(3)(xiii) due to the potential loss of emergency preparedness capabilities due to the effects of hurricane Isaac.

"At approximately 0735, the Emergency Operations Facility (EOF) diesel generator was discovered to be tripped and not available, leaving the primary EOF without AC electrical power and, therefore, unavailable since normal AC power was also lost due to weather conditions. Efforts to repair the EOF diesel generator have been initiated and personnel have verified the Alternate EOF is functional. State, local and federal agencies have been informed of the plan to use the alternate EOF in case of an emergency preparedness activation.

"With essential personnel being sequestered at the Waterford 3 power block, the critical EOF functions can be performed from the on-site Technical Support Center (TSC), which is housed within the Control Room ventilated envelope.

"At approximately 0620 CDT, Entergy Operations, Inc. Emergency Preparedness staff discovered that the NRC Emergency Notification Systems (ENS) was not working. NRC Headquarters was notified at approximately 0715 CDT and was given an alternate phone number to contact Waterford 3. The ENS phone had previously been verified functional at approximately 0330 CDT. The NRC Health Physics Network (HPN) telephone line was verified to be functional at 0922 CDT."

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Poster comment - The good news is that the reactor is currently in hot shutdown. Also problems with one of their evacuation routes. From yesterday.

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"This is a non-emergency notification being made under 10CFR50.72(b)(3)(xiii) due to the potential loss of emergency preparedness capabilities. At approximately 1530 CDT, Entergy Operations, Inc. was informed of a road closure which could impact the ability to perform a potential evacuation required by the Waterford 3 Emergency Plan.

"Louisiana Governor's Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) reported that US Highway 51 to Interstate 10 was closed due to flooding from elevated water levels in Lake Pontchartrain resulting from Hurricane Isaac.

"Alternate evacuation routes remain available."

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