Update on Nebraska Nuclear Plant Problems

(Above image from 21stcenturywire)

Well, you may remember my blog post on the Fort Calhoun Nuclear plant emergency (here). It seems things are not looking better and there is NO national news coverage of impending potentially very dangerous events. According to Globalresearch.ca A second nuclear plant in Nebraska (the Cooper Nuclear facility) may also experience additional flooding and is already unable to expel sludge because of the rising Missouri River (and more flooding is expected) so its sludge pool has already been "overtopped."

Omaha Public Power District reports there is nothing to worry about, maintaining:

June 23, 2011

Rising water from the Missouri River has begun flowing into a sewage lagoon at Fort Calhoun Station. A partial bypass was recently put in place to divert water that had leaked into a sanitary wastewater lift station, allowing the continuation of most of the flow to the sanitary lagoons. The water overtopping the sewage lagoon this week will be considered a continuation of the previous bypass issue by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

The NRC notes,
"RELEASE OF OIL TO THE MISSOURI RIVER

Notification is being made to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality regarding the release of oil to the Missouri River from the Cooper Live Fire Training Facility. Currently, levees separating the Training Facility and the Missouri River are being over topped due to flooding of the Missouri River. This condition has resulted in flooding of the burn pits in the fire training facility, with the subsequent release of the residue which includes unburned fuel oil. Any release of this water containing oil to the Missouri River is uncontrolled at this time. Then is no radiological contamination in this area.

Current river level is approximately 900.5 ft. MSL, approximately 3.0 feet below plant grade elevation. The fire training area is lower than plant grade. A press release is not planned at this time. River level is currently projected to be 899 ft. by Wednesday 6/22."

These optimistic opinions are not shared by everyone, however. Tom Burnett on The People's Voice website reports, "“Ft. Calhoun is the designated spent fuel storage facility for the entire state of Nebraska…and maybe for more than one state. Calhoun stores its spent fuel in ground-level pools which are underwater anyway – but they are open at the top. When the Missouri river pours in there, it’s going to make Fukushima look like an X-Ray.”

For more very interesting information please see Patrick Henningsen's article, "Why is there a Media Black Out on Nuclear Incident at Fort Calhoun."