Breaking News.. Brownsville Levee Near Cooper Nuclear Plant in Nebraska Just Broke! Here We Go !!!!

So what are the facts.

Lets cut the crappy and fish them out. (get it? cut the crappy and fish facts)

1. Both plants are still hot though the control rods are inserted and they say "shut down" So they have to now be pumped cool for the next what 6-7 months or the reaction restarts and eats the control rods causing a melt through and create a corium ball. Same for the cooling pools which are at ground level.

2. The flood level yesterday was 1007 ft abve sea level.

3. At 1,008.5 feet, the technical support center used by emergency technicians would have been inundated. (loss of the pump controls.)

4.At 1,010 feet, water would begin to enter the auxiliary building, "shorting power and submerging pumps. The plant could then experience a station blackout with core damage estimated within 15 to 18 hours" Per NRC

5.If levels exceeded 1,004 feet, water would reach the lower floodgates, hampering the welding of plates to door frames, the NRC said


So what do we need to know?

1. Did they weld the plates over the doors in time, or did the entire plant fill with water besides the two rooms?

2. We know the pump controls are 1.5 feet below flooding and shorting out. Another 1.5 foot will kill the pumps and motors permanently, and cause a direct meltdown.Do they have barged pumps that can float in next to the building and hook into the cooling system via overflow valves and output pipes?

3. They reported the upriver flood stages cresting 2 foot higher than what was estimated yesterday. Are there additional releases planned in the next few days to gain the 1010+ level?

4 How can this be tracked?

Who has real answers? Not agent smith bs blackout mumbo jumbo.

The thread title and the reality of the situation are at odds aren't they? The rupture is actually GOOD for the Nuke plant is it not?

It seems that any alarum trumpeted on ATS can garner many flags. Flooding is terrible for those that live in a floodplain protected by a levee - we can all agree on that. I think people should stop building on floodplains and behind levee's anything they don't want to get wet. Maybe that makes me a bad person, I don't know. My father always said, "Ya don't build your house in a hole Son" meaning... building on low ground was never a sound idea.


D

reply to post by Shadowalker


Thank you for looking at this logically and not just saying "OMG WE ALL GON' DIE!!!!1".

reply to post by Shadowalker


Excellent post! You provided the real questions that need to be answered at this point to assure that there is not damage to the nuke plants. Kudos! I'm glad to see the focus put back on the thread topic.

reply to post by Nosred


Nosred, what is your reason to defend nuclear power to this extent?
Why do you care so much what other people think about it, it is kind off awkward how desperate you try to defend nuclear power.
Every topic which deals more or less with nuclear power plants is stalked and derived by you.
Maybe you should take a rest for a while, I think I'm not the only one fed up with your endless jabbering about how nuclear power is the safest energy on earth.
This post is not intended to insult you in any kind of way, just a nice reminder that you should not overdo it.

Back to topic,
I seriously hope that the remaining levee's will not break, if they break the catastrophe would not be imaginable.
The loss of all this farmland right now is bad enough, if worst comes to worst you will have to deal with a severe shortage on food.

reply to post by Shadowalker


Another thing to factor in is that the Fort Calhoun plant has been cited for basement water seepage before. So far as I can find out, they've never really managed to address the issue properly, and the place still leaks water into the building from normal ground water, so no telling what it's like with the extra pressure fom the flood waters.

Sorry, the specific reference is lost amongst an array of references I researched a few days ago, but I'm sure if you search you can find it.

reply to post by kissitgoodbye


you seem way to excited about this. this is very sad news.

We need to watch the big mud dam probably, as the first part and then any flow increases on tributary inlets upstream.

We need to know if the plant is already full of water or if they had time to weld the doors shut.

We need to know if its exactly 2 feet higher than the prediction coming downstream or if they just have not seen it pass a mark to measure.


There are real questions to answer here. We need web diggers working on them.

"People are getting scared by a lot of the misinformation," Dricks said. "It's primarily coming from Internet bloggers rather than the mainstream media. None of them have bothered to check with us."

Really? Really?! Sometimes I wonder if these people purposely spout garbage or if they are REALLY that stupid...

C'mon MSM, can we please start producing REAL news and reporting?!

Ok they got the doors welded on both plants.

Cooper however has NOT been shut down and is running at full capacity.

The river is expected to remain 5 to 7.5 feet above flood stage in Nebraska and Iowa throughout the summer, and water levels could swell more than 10 feet above flood stage at places in Missouri.

10 feet means they will lose Calhoun if they dont get pump barges in anchored on the building and connected to pump cooling water. It was 6 when the levee broke on the other side.

This flood will last the rest of the summer.

Read more: www.bismarcktribune.com...

reply to post by Nosred


No where in the title does it say OMG We're All Gonna Die!" I simply brought up that the levee "broke" using the terminology from the Weather Channel. The "Here We Go" part is simply to bring out the domino effect of these potential flooding problems along the way both north to Canada and South to the Mississippi.

This thread is meant to be a place for intelligent discussion of the extent of flooding in the Nebraska area and the effect on the nuke plants. That's all. Yes there are a lot of other related issues that can be of real concern such as flooding over areas of toxic waste storage or Superfund spots that might be in the way. Flooding goes where it wants to go, not where we want it to go. If you don't think this thread is for you, then you shouldn't be here. Find another more suitable thread to discuss general nuke issues or other things unrelated to this topic.

Many of us are genuinely concerned for the people in harms way now and those that may be soon impacted by all of this. Have a nice day!

reply to post by syrinx high priest


Maybe if you read my other posts here you would see that I am not really excited about this. I am really UPSET about this and how so many people can say that it is nothing to worry about. It is of great concern to those in the area and those of us who really care.

Maybe the title of the thread is misleading you, however I already explained that the end was written regarding the domino effect from this. Not for entertainment value. Sorry if you misunderstood my intentions.

Deny ignorance does not mean deny freedom of speech which is what all the whining boils down to.

Buncha prison gaurd wannabes...

We are all going to die!!!

reply to post by kissitgoodbye


I have a friend that works at this plant. If ATS would like, I can see if he will answer all of the questions for you guys. I work shift work, so if you have a question pm me and I'll gather them up and try to get them answered all at once. Dumb questions will be ignored, and before you say it; there is a such thing as a dumb question.

reply to post by Shadowalker

"Who has real answers? Not agent smith bs blackout mumbo jumbo."

You make a valid point. I don't know either of those plants. I'd love to have a set of conformed Construction Documents to pour over, but once again Wiki fails me! Someone who knows the plant systems could provide reliable answers. I suspect our Operators, Plant Engineers, Wiremen, Instrument Techs, etc are probably hard at work on site and won't sign in here.

I will offer that "typically" power plants have redundant normal systems and redundant emergency systems. I recall reading somewhere that Calhoun had raised "spent fuel" containment and elevated diesels (emergency system). I would expect some of the emergency coolant pumps to be elevated as well. I have seen such at non-Nuke plants and Nuke Plant specs are far more stringent...so stringent that they approach "absurd".

Of course, as you indicate, we have a lot of conjecture and few hard facts.

reply to post by NEWclearMind


Yay!
I was posting as you wrote this or I would not have submitted the post just under yours.
I'll follow the thread and suggest anything I think relevant that may not get covered.

reply to post by NEWclearMind


Maybe you could start with the questions from Shadowwalker posted above top of page 16. Those are intelligent questions that people would like answers to here. After that, any others you can think of. You can post answers here. Sure to get you some stars! Thanks if you can get us some info from inside.

Here's an email alert I just received from the NRC system :
***MEDIA ADVISORY***
NRC CHAIRMAN TO SEE FLOODING AND FLOODING PREPARATIONS AT COOPER AND FORT CALHOUN NUCLEAR PLANTS IN NEBRASKA; WILL HOLD MEDIA AVAILABILITY AFTERWARDS
NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko will observe Missouri River flooding and the flooding preparations made at two Nebraska nuclear power plants Sunday and Monday and then hold a media availability Monday afternoon in Omaha, Neb.
The media availability will be at 3 p.m. CDT Monday, June 27, at the offices of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Omaha, Neb. The office is located at 1616 Capitol Ave. in Omaha.
Chairman Jaczko will visit the Cooper nuclear power plant Sunday south of Omaha, and Monday morning will go to the Fort Calhoun plant east of Omaha. During both visits he will also be talking with NRC resident inspectors – the NRC personnel who work on-site every day – and to plant officials. An NRC inspection at Fort Calhoun two years ago indicated deficiencies in the flood preparation area, which the licensee has now remedied. Cooper is a Mark I GE boiling water reactor and Fort Calhoun is a Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor.
All press spaces at each stop are taken. Pool video footage will be made available by KETV, the ABC News affiliate in Omaha, at 3:30 p.m. Sunday for Cooper and at 1 p.m., Monday for Fort Calhoun. For details please contact News Assignment Editor Jim Reding at (402) 978-8954, [email protected]. The print media pool will be distributed to the Omaha media via e-mail.
Arrangements are being made for a still photo pool.
During the Fort Calhoun stop the chairman will meet first with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers officials, then take a helicopter tour along the Missouri River to provide an overview of the flooding and measures being taken. Following the plant visit he will meet with executives of the Omaha Public Power District, then go to the Corps’ office for the media availability.
Reporters are encouraged to see the NRC Blog at:
public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov... and the most recent press release www.nrc.gov... for background on the flooding issue at Fort Calhoun.
NRC NEWS
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, D.C. 20555-0001
E-mail: [email protected] Site: www.nrc.gov
Blog: public-blog.nrc-gateway.gov...
June 24, 2011

reply to post by morder1


Thats a bit extreme, big guy.

reply to post by Shura


I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure the same guy was claiming wind turbines are more dangerous to people then nuclear plants... lol.

Anyways, This entire situation is becoming so intense! I am SO GLAD to be living right next to the Rocky mountains in this time of age..