Flood Berm Collapses At Nebraska Nuclear Plant

mdsolar writes "A berm holding the flooded Missouri River back from a Nebraska nuclear power station collapsed early Sunday, but federal regulators said they were monitoring the situation and there was no danger. The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station shut down in early April for refueling, and there is no water inside the plant, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. Also, the river is not expected to rise higher than the level the plant was designed to handle. NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said the plant remains safe."

Comments

Nothing to worry about, move along

[KlomDark]

Still alive here in Omaha, right by the river. Water's not glowing, no evacuation orders.

The plant has been turned off since April, there's not any danger of anything catastrophic. Spent fuel ponds are not flooding, although I have no idea if they've drained/moved them or not. As much as I love conspiracy theories, there's nothing here to be worried about.

Re:Nothing to worry about, move along

[fyrewulff]

Also here in Omaha. For Calhoun to be compromised in a significant way, the Missouri has to exceed 45 feet. At 45 feet, the rest of Omaha's flood defenses (and Council Bluffs) will have failed. A plant getting decommissioned will be the least of everyone's worries.

Re:Stop helping

[CrimsonAvenger]

I recall reading of at least one plant worker that died due to radiation exposure.

You were mistaken. Or whoever wrote what you are referring to was mistaken. Noone has dies due to radiation exposure at Fukushima.

Misinformation does not help the cause of nuclear power.

I agree. Stop spreading misinformation.

Re:Stop helping

[mpyne]

I recall reading of at least one plant worker that died due to radiation exposure.

Who was it? When did it happen?

There have been fatalities at nuclear plants related to the reactor or radiation in general. For instance, Louis Slotin was heavily irradiated and died within a week after mishandling a plutonium core, and the (3) workers at the early military power production facility SL-1 were killed due to a criticality accident. There have not, on the other hand, been radiation-induced casualties from civilian plants that I'm aware of, with the exception of Chernobyl (a non-Western style design).

If you're referring to Fukushima, there was a plant worker at Fukushima Dai-ni who died in a crane after the tsunami, but this was not radiation-related, as this was before the meltdowns occurred, and this was at Dai-ni, not the site with the meltdowns (Fukushima Dai-Ichi). At Fukushima Dai-Ichi itself there were workers who went missing after a hydrogen explosion who I'd never heard about afterwards -- it's possible that they were killed, although this also would not have been due to radiation (not that it matters to them...).

There have been ~9 or so workers exceed the already-raised 250 mSv exposure limit but as far as I'm aware there have been no fatalities due to radiation exposure, so I'd be interested to know what I'm missing that you read about.

Cooper still operating

[mdsolar]

I'm surprised Cooper continues to operate since the NRC identified escape route problems in 1994.

"The elevated river level caused the closure of several area roads including a portion of Interstate 29 and Route 136 in the State of Missouri which isolated one of the planned emergency evacuation routes."

http://cryptome.org/0004/cooper-npp-flood.htm

Don't raft down stream I guess.

Re:Stop helping

[Kyusaku Natsume]

Two workers died after the tsunami flooded the turbine building of unit 4 at Fukushima Daiichi, their bodies were recovered two weeks after the tsunami. Those two are the only casualties related to the disaster in a meaningful way. Another worker from a partner company died from a hearth attack apparently, but he started to work in Fukushima Daiichi 3 or 4 days before his death. 6 workers in total have received radiation doses above the emergency limit of 250 mSv, two of them had around 600 mSv of exposure. A female worker had surpassed the fairly smaller limit for female workers by their child bearing condition, but since she is around 55 years old, she shouldn't face any trouble.

Re:Really?

[Required Snark]

Bullshit. There have been at least two suicides. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110623f1.html

On June 11, a dairy farmer in Soma, Fukushima Prefecture, chalked a note on the wall of his cattle shed. "If only there wasn't a nuclear power plant," the message read, in reference to the damaged Fukushima No. 1 plant just 45 km away, which had effectively ended his livelihood.

The man already had culled his livestock after raw milk shipments from the area where he lived had been stopped. Now, he chose to end his own life, too. "I have lost the energy to carry on working," he added in what would be his final words.

In March, a cabbage farmer in Sukagawa, Fukushima Prefecture, hanged himself after radioactive substances detected in the soil resulted in restrictions being placed on local produce

The current number of displaced people is around 90000. Not all of these are because of radiation. There are many older people in shelters, and the living conditions are harsh. This is taking a physical and mental toll. Some vulnerable people have already died, and the suicide rate is up. Those evacuated because of radiation are among the most effected because of increased health worries and uncertainty about the future. I was unable to find any online figures, but it is clear the survivors have a lower life expectancy.

The situation for people working at the plant is also uncertain. According to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_effects_from_Fukushima_Daiichi_nuclear_disaster

TEPCO has been criticized in providing safety equipment for its workers. After NISA warned TEPCO that workers were sharing dosimeters, since most of the devices were lost in the disaster, the utility sent more to the plant. Japanese media has reported that that workers indicate that standard decontamination procedures are not being observed. Others reports suggest that contract workers are given more dangerous work than TEPCO employees. TEPCO is also seeking workers willing to risk high radiation levels for short periods of time in exchange for high pay. Confidential documents acquired by the Japanese Asahi newspaper suggest that TEPCO hid high levels of radioactive contamination from employees in the days following the accident. In particular, the Asahi reported that radiation levels of 300 mSv/h were detected at least twice on 13 March, but that "the workers who were trying to bring the situation under control at the plant were not informed of the levels."

In the Japanese press these people are being referred to as "disposable employees".

So I guess these people don't count. Not the ones who are already dead, or the ones who will be dying sooner or later. Or maybe you don't think these people are humans, and their lives don't count?