Officials monitoring rising floodwaters at Nebraska nuclear plants

killadoob

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(CNN) -- U.S. nuclear regulators say two Nebraska nuclear power plants have protected critical equipment from the rising waters of the Missouri River even though flooding has reached the grounds of one of them.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is confident those safeguards will prevent a disaster at either plant even though the Missouri is expected to remain flooded for several weeks, NRC spokesman Victor Dricks said Thursday.

The Fort Calhoun plant, about 20 miles north of Omaha, was shut down for refueling in April. Parts of the grounds are already under two feet of water as the swollen Missouri overflows its banks. But the Omaha Public Power District, which owns the plant, has built flood walls around the reactor, transformers and the plant's electrical switchyard, the NRC said.

http://www.cnn.com/

:eek:
 
They should have shut it down at the first sign of danger. Let's hope there is nothing running there that needs cooling.
 
They should have shut it down at the first sign of danger. Let's hope there is nothing running there that needs cooling.

Yea i think they should just shut it down now, wait for the water to go. Rather act now than have to act when it's too late.

Rather be overly cautious than caught out.
 
There isnt exactly an "off" switch for a nuclear reactor..takes months to spend the fuel rods..
 
There isnt exactly an "off" switch for a nuclear reactor..takes months to spend the fuel rods..

+1 Even when you 'shut it down' you still have to continue cooling it.

Why don't these things have diesel generators & pumps on the roofs instead of the lower levels, would eliminate some of the risks.
 
There isnt exactly an "off" switch for a nuclear reactor..takes months to spend the fuel rods..

AFAIK they need to get the reactor to the point where the core's temp no longer causes the coolant water to boil off. Called a cold shutdown. Not sure how long that takes
 
I wonder if this would be such a massive concern if Fukushima hadn't happened...
 
I wonder if this would be such a massive concern if Fukushima hadn't happened...

Maybe not but fuku happened. Everyone said fuku was not that bad and blah blah, a few months down the line and true scale of the disaster is finally being realized.
 
Chernobyl was the worst one - uncontained.

Fuku was bad - but at least it was contained. Not 100% but still contained.

Now we have seen what happens when a nuclear plant loses all electrical power. Not pretty.
 
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