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Operators of the Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville said they are optimistic that floodwaters will not force the plant to shut down — at least in the next few days.
The southeast Nebraska nuclear station came within about 18 inches of shutting down early Monday, when the Missouri River level at the plant rose to 43.8 feet.
The Missouri River must reach 45.5 feet (902 feet above sea level) before officials will shut down the plant, which sits at 903 feet.
Becker said a problem with the National Weather Service gauge at Brownville led some to conclude that the plant was within 3 inches of a forced shut down. “We're operating at full capacity,” Becker said. “What we're seeing is the river leveling itself off, but we continue to watch and add protection around the plant.”
More that 5,000 tons of sand was brought in for constructing barricades, such as Hesco barriers, around the station's switchyard of transformers and other electrical equipment.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said the river at Brownville had surged about 2 feet from Saturday morning to Sunday due to a combination of factors, including heavy rain over a Missouri River tributary, the Nishnabotna River in southwest Iowa.
It was the second time that a Nebraska nuclear power plant has posted a notice of an unusual event with the NRC due to flooding in the past two weeks.
The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant, operated by the Omaha Public Power District, posted such a notification on June 6. The Fort Calhoun nuclear plant, 20 miles north of Omaha, has been shut down since April for refueling. It has not been restarted because of the flooding.
The river has risen at least 1.5 feet higher than Fort Calhoun's 1,004-foot elevation above sea level. The plant can handle water up to 1,014 feet, according to OPPD.
In northern Missouri on Sunday, water was flowing over two levees choking off two more routes for people attempting to cross the Missouri River.
Smoke in an electrical cabinet triggered an alert Tuesday at the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant north of Omaha.
No flames were observed, and there was no damage to the plant's nuclear reactor.
The plant shut down April 9 for refueling and has not been restarted because of Missouri River flooding.
David Bannister, the plant's chief nuclear officer, said the smoke was caused by an overheated electrical breaker in a secondary building away from the reactor.
A fire alarm sounded at 9:30 a.m. and non-essential workers were evacuated from the building.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - A small fire briefly knocked out the cooling system for used fuel at a nuclear power plant in Nebraska, but temperatures never exceeded safe levels and power was quickly restored, federal officials said Wednesday.
The electrical system running the pumps that cool spent fuel in a pool of water was disrupted by a suspected electrical fire Tuesday, though one pump was restored shortly after the incident and another was running Wednesday, utility officials said.
The pumps are a key piece of safety equipment because if pumping systems fail for several days and are not fixed, cooling water could boil away and eventually cause radioactive releases.
Originally posted by Rockpuck
I hadn't even heard of anything about this. At all. Not once in the news. And after going through what news articles I could find and reading the Russian report I have to side with Russia. This is an obvious nuclear incident that is being covered up blatantly to hide it from the public.
To be continued...
Originally posted by miniatus
Originally posted by -W1LL
reply to post by Chadwickus
thank
you the other poster should have said this report was a hoax.
no matter at least this is getting attention it is a big deal and has potential to leak radiation into the rivers and air if its not already..edit on 6/20/2011 by -W1LL because: (no reason given)
The risk is there if the water level rises and actually floods the facility, however that hasn't happened .. they've sandbagged around the plant and are monitoring it, they are prepared to shut things down and take measures to prevent the problem.. this isn't a Japan situation where a tsunami rolled in with only 20 minutes of warning.. this is much different indeed.edit on 20-6-2011 by miniatus because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by ..5..
Russia let the world know about chernobyl as soon as they saw it was not easilly contained.
Why do Japan and the US get to sweep it under the rug?
I'm siding with the Bear on this one.
Originally posted by Forevever
reply to post by thorfourwinds
phew, I don't know about fearmongering - but that was one hell of a post.
I don't stress over things usually... but after reading all that
you officially scared the crap out of me
especially with the ending...
To be continued...
Just wanted to say this before reading the entire thread changes my mind in some way
Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU)
Fukushima Potential Releases, Xe-133 Total Column for April 15-April 19, 2011,
Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU), April 15, 2011.
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Cesium levels up to 334,000 becquerels per kilogram
Local officials in Koriyama City, [color=limegreen]50 kilometres west of the plant, said they found sewage sludge containing 26,400 becquerels of radioactive caesium per kilogram, Jiji Press reported, from reduced sewage, had 334,000 becquerels per kilogram, Jiji said.
The caesium could have been released by explosions and fires at the nuclear plant after the quake and tsunami, and been washed into the sewage system by rain, the officials were quoted as saying. [...]
more
Radioactive Xenon up 75,000%
Leaks of radioactive materials from fuel rods have been suspected at a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, the Fukui prefectural government said Monday, citing a rise in density of the toxic substances in coolant water. [...]
According to Japan Atomic, 4.2 becquerels of iodine-133 and 3,900 becquerels of xenon gas were detected per cubic centimeter Monday, up from 2.1 and 5.2 becquerels, respectively, during previous measurements conducted last Tuesday.
more
After a thorough data review showing declining radiation levels related to the Japanese nuclear incident, EPA has returned to the [color=limegreen]...routine RadNet sampling and analysis process for precipitation, drinking water and milk
As always, EPA's RadNet system of more than 100 stationary monitors will continue to provide EPA scientists near-real-time data on the slightest fluctuations in background radiation levels.
Due to the consistently decreasing radiation levels, EPA is evaluating the need to continue operating the additional air monitors deployed in response to the Japan nuclear incident. EPA will continue to analyze air filters and cartridges from all air monitors as they arrive at the laboratory and will post the data as available.
In accordance with [color=limegreen]normal RadNet protocol, EPA will be analyzing milk and drinking water samples on a quarterly basis and precipitation samples as part of a monthly composite. The next round of milk and drinking water sampling will take place in approximately three months.
It is important to note that all of the radiation levels detected by RadNet monitors and sampling have been very low, are [color=limegreen]well below any level of public health concern, and continue to decrease over time.
EPA continues to work with federal partners to monitor the situation in Japan and stands prepared to accelerate radiation sampling and analysis if the need arises. Data will continue to be available on EPA's public website.
RadNet Sampling Data
Nuclear Event – North-America
RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service, May 3, 2011:
Summary:
• Event type: Nuclear Event
• Date / time [UTC]: 03/05/2011 [May 3] – 02:56:08
• Area: Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant
• County / State: State of Mississippi
• City: Port Gibson
Event Description:
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is investigating after a radioactive element is found in the Mississippi river. Authorities say it started at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Port Gibson. They say they went to check for standing water in an abandoned unit, and found a build up of water. They decided to pump it out, and after taking a sample, they discovered the chemical “tritium” had been released into the river. Officials say the River has diluted the radioactive material, and is not causing harm to the people. Right now the incident is under investigation. There’s no word on how much Tritum was pumped into the water.
The Bay Citizen quotes Daniel Hirsch, a nuclear policy lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, as saying the EPA is [color-orange]purposely abandoning radiation monitoring to ensure that radiation measurements can be taken that will above levels of concern.
Hirsch is also quoted as saying “I really am horrified” about the “staggering” EPA announcement that the EPA will return to testing radiation levels in rainwater, drinking water and milk every three months.
The abandonment of radiation testing by the feds also comes on the heels of an announcement from a top environmental scientists that food across the entire United States will be affected by the Fukushima nuclear radioactive fallout and an analysis from Japan’s top nuclear expert that [color=limegreen]reactors 1, 2 and 3 have all suffered a complete nuclear meltdown.
The EPA’s announcement was made even in the face of the fact that the levels of radiation being released from the Fukushima nuclear power plant have just hit an all-time high and radiation levels detected in independent milk samples in the US continue to rise.
While playing around with the URL’s for Japan nuclear iodine forecasts I discovered a nuclear radiation forecast that was accidentally placed on the ZAMG website. The scientists inadvertently uploaded a radiation forecast showing a massive cloud of Fukushima Xenon radiation spreading over Japan and the United States instead of the iodine forecast for May 9, 2011.
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Today TEPCO was forced to release 500 million becquerels of nuclear radiation from the Fukushima nuclear reactor into the environment at the Fukushima nuclear reactor to lower the radiation levels inside the plant. In recent days, levels of radiation have been measured high as [color=limegreen]700 millisieverts per hour (which would be deadly to workers in just a few hours) over the course of the last few days.
Japan downplayed the massive release nuclear radiation into the environment by saying the levels are only a small fraction of the amount TEPCO has already to dumped into the Pacific Ocean. Almost undoubtedly American corporate news will try to spin the release of radiation from by running another headline saying the levels in reactor 1 have dropped once again. That is, of course, if once the radioactive dust settles the levels inside reactor 1 do actually drop.
METI’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency disclosed on May 8 that opening the double door between the reactor building and the turbine building of the Reactor 1 at Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant will release the total of 500 million becquerels of radioactive materials into the environment.
The amount of radioactive materials this time would be 1/300th of the amount released into the ocean when 10,000 tons of water with comparatively low-level contamination was intentionally released; [color=limegreen]there is no effect on the environment, according to NISA.
Tokyo Electric disposing of low radioactive water in Pacific
TOKYO, April 5, Kyodo
Tokyo Electric Power Co. on Monday took the unprecedented measure of dumping 10,000 tons of low-level radioactive water in the Pacific Ocean from a facility at its crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power complex to make room for the storage of more highly contaminated water, which is hampering restoration work at the plant.
With the total amount of water to reach 11,500 tons, including contaminated groundwater from near the No. 5 and No. 6 reactors, the government said the disposal was unavoidable in order to secure safety. The level of radioactive substances in the water is up to 500 times the legal limit permitted for release in the environment.
(...)
As for the impact of the disposal of the 11,500 tons of water, TEPCO said an adult's annual dose would be around 0.6 millisieverts if the person ate seaweed and fish caught nearby every day for a year, which is still about a quarter of the annual dose a person is usually exposed to from natural sources.
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TEPCO estimates the added radiation because of the operation will be 0.44 microsieverts maximum within Fukushima I Nuke Plant. NISA, using SPEEDI, estimates 0.77 microsieverts of added radiation if the wind is from the east at 1 meter/second. Both numbers are lower than 1/1000th of 1 millisievert (1,000 microsieverts) which is the annual allowable radiation limit for the general public.
According to NISA, 500 million becquerels is the total of radioactive iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium 137. The number was calculated by multiplying the amount of radioactive materials inside the reactor building that TEPCO measured on May 7 by 25,000 cubic meters (volume of the building). NISA assumed the radioactive materials to be released from the height of 29 meters (upper part of the reactor building) for 8 hours.
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Thank you for your interest in the FLEXPART products for Fukushima. The Forecast system is no longer running.
“These products are highly uncertain based on limited information for the source terms. Please use with caution and understand that the values are likely to change once we obtain more information on the overall nature of the accident.” -NILU.
more
Serious setback” to stabilize Fukushima
One of the reactors at Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant has been damaged more severely than originally thought, officials said Thursday — a serious setback for efforts to stabilize the radiation-leaking complex. [...]
The findings also indicate a greater-than-expected leak in that vessel. Radioactive water pouring from troubled reactors has pooled around the complex, hindering work to bring the plant under control. [...]
The low level of water indicates that the core of Unit 1 had a bigger breach than expected, said TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto. [...]
more
Fukushima Radiation Plume Forecast
last modified 2011-05-13 11:26
Thank you for your interest in the FLEXPART products for Fukushima.
The Forecast system is no longer running.
We have discontinued our Flexpart forecast of the atmospheric dispersal of radionucleides from Fukushima. This due to the fact that we do not have access to reliable release rates reflecting the current situation at the plant to be used as input to our simulations.
It is likely that the release of radioactive material is significantly reduced compared to the initial period, and ...that [color=limegreen]levels no longer pose a health risk at distance from the plant.
We thank you for your interest in our FLEXPART products.
Well, I spent three weeks following that Fukushima story doggedly... then in the end I found out three things...
1) Except for a handful of people and those that live in the area... NO ONE CARES...
2) We are still here... 1000's of nuke tests (especially near my home town) medical radiation, space radiation, CME's, cell tower radiation, microwave radiation... etc etc.. and we are STILL HERE.. and world population is increasing exponentially
3) Radiation is good for you