Nebraska Nuclear Plant Flood Defenses Tested

mdsolar tips an article at the NY Times which begins: "Pictures of the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant north of Omaha, Neb., show it encircled by the swollen waters of the Missouri River, which reached a height of nearly 1,007 feet above sea level at the plant yesterday. The plant's defenses include new steel gates and other hard barriers protecting an auxiliary building with vital reactor controls, and a water-filled berm 8 feet tall that encircles other parts of the plant. Both systems are designed to hold back floodwaters reaching 1,014 feet above sea level. Additional concrete barriers and permanent berms, more sandbags and another power line into the plant have been added. The plant was shut down in April for refueling and will remain so until the flood threat is passed. 'Today the plant is well positioned to ride out the current extreme Missouri River flooding while keeping the public safe,' Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Victor Dricks said on an agency blog this week. But a year ago, those new defenses were not in place, and the plant's hard barriers could have failed against a 1,010-foot flood, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission contends in a yearlong inspection and enforcement action against the plant's operator, the Omaha Public Power District."

Comments

Re:just because

[MacGyver2210]

This isn't 'the truth'. That doesn't exist in the world of governments and nuclear technology. At least not to us peons.

What this is, is nothing but another attempt to assuage brain-dead, Fox News-fueled, unfounded fears of a nuclear disaster at home.

The fact is, the plant is SHUTDOWN. There is no reaction occurring. There is undoubtedly hot material, but it's under control. This is never going to turn into a situation like Fukushima Daiichi. Ever. It just can't.

Also, a couple feet of water leaking into a plant over barriers is far from the same as a 40-ft wall of water spontaneously cresting a 30-ft protective barrier, inundating the whole thing with 10ft of water pretty much instantly.