The Flood and the Nuclear Reactor
The nuclear reactor at Fort Calhoun Nebraska has been surrounded by the floodwater of the Missouri River since June 14.
A nuclear reactor is about to be flooded out and no one is supposed to notice. That’s one take on a scenario currently playing out in Nebraska where floodwater from the Missouri River, after days of unrelenting rainfall, has completely surrounded the Fort Calhoun nuclear reactor. The operators have been trying to prevent the reactor building from being flooded by using pumps and sandbags.
Aerial photographs of the flooded area leave no doubt that the situation for the power plant is serious, to say the least. Despite that, U.S. and European national news media have kept news coverage of the danger to a minimum. The group “Anti-Nuclear Pirates,” which is closely allied with the “Pirate Party,” reported that a Pakistani source claims President Obama has ordered a news blackout of the story. In response to local Nebraska newspaper reports facility operators, the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) tried to give the impression that everything was under control. Agency spokesman Victor Dricks said that he was proceeding on his belief that all necessary steps had been taken in Fort Calhoun to ensure the safety of the facility and its personnel. OPPD President Tim Burke confirmed that flood barriers would be able to hold back flooding caused by continued rainfall. He stated that there was no cause for alarm.
Experts critical of nuclear power in the United States and Germany see the situation otherwise. They fear that infiltration of floodwater may damage the reactor’s cooling systems. Nuclear engineer Arnold “Arnie” Gunderson assessed the situation as very critical and warned especially of the possibility of dams giving way. In such an event, the scenario could be similar to that of Fukishima. The Fort Calhoun storage ponds contain highly radioactive material from the last 20 years of the reactor’s operation.
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) suspects that floodwater has already reached the facility’s basement rooms, where sensitive operating and security systems are housed. It is possible that Fort Calhoun’s normal cooling systems have been out of operation for some time and that cooling of the nuclear rods is being provided by emergency backup systems, according to IPPNW nuclear expert Henrik Paulitz. There is hope for a good outcome to the accident because the reactor had been shut down since April for maintenance work and the decay heat is relatively low. But according to Paulitz, the question remains whether there has been any contact between the contaminated water and the river water. Paulitz says the possibility that contaminated water could leak into the Missouri River can’t be discounted. And since the waters continue to rise thus raising the danger of dam failure, the situation could still escalate. Weather forecasts predict that the high water mark will at best remain constant over the coming weeks.
The IPPNW further complained that two weeks after the onset of flooding, neither the American regulatory agencies nor the German government gave out adequate public information. Paulitz said it’s always the same story,s that industry and the regulatory agencies always take great pains to cover up such incidents and downplay their effects. The nuclear industry and governments are far too intertwined to ensure adequate measures for the protection of the public.
A nuclear reactor is about to be flooded out and no one is supposed to notice. That’s one take on a scenario currently playing out in Nebraska where floodwater from the Missouri River, after days of unrelenting rainfall, has completely surrounded the Fort Calhoun nuclear reactor. The operators have been trying to prevent the reactor building from being flooded by using pumps and sandbags.
Aerial photographs of the flooded area leave no doubt that the situation for the power plant is serious, to say the least. Despite that, U.S. and European national news media have kept news coverage of the danger to a minimum. The group “Anti-Nuclear Pirates,” which is closely allied with the “Pirate Party,” reported that a Pakistani source claims President Obama has ordered a news blackout of the story. In response to local Nebraska newspaper reports facility operators, the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) tried to give the impression that everything was under control. Agency spokesman Victor Dricks said that he was proceeding on his belief that all necessary steps had been taken in Fort Calhoun to ensure the safety of the facility and its personnel. OPPD President Tim Burke confirmed that flood barriers would be able to hold back flooding caused by continued rainfall. He stated that there was no cause for alarm.
Experts critical of nuclear power in the United States and Germany see the situation otherwise. They fear that infiltration of floodwater may damage the reactor’s cooling systems. Nuclear engineer Arnold “Arnie” Gunderson assessed the situation as very critical and warned especially of the possibility of dams giving way. In such an event, the scenario could be similar to that of Fukishima. The Fort Calhoun storage ponds contain highly radioactive material from the last 20 years of the reactor’s operation.
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) suspects that floodwater has already reached the facility’s basement rooms, where sensitive operating and security systems are housed. It is possible that Fort Calhoun’s normal cooling systems have been out of operation for some time and that cooling of the nuclear rods is being provided by emergency backup systems, according to IPPNW nuclear expert Henrik Paulitz. There is hope for a good outcome to the accident because the reactor had been shut down since April for maintenance work and the decay heat is relatively low. But according to Paulitz, the question remains whether there has been any contact between the contaminated water and the river water. Paulitz says the possibility that contaminated water could leak into the Missouri River can’t be discounted. And since the waters continue to rise thus raising the danger of dam failure, the situation could still escalate. Weather forecasts predict that the high water mark will at best remain constant over the coming weeks.
The IPPNW further complained that two weeks after the onset of flooding, neither the American regulatory agencies nor the German government gave out adequate public information. Paulitz said it’s always the same story,s that industry and the regulatory agencies always take great pains to cover up such incidents and downplay their effects. The nuclear industry and governments are far too intertwined to ensure adequate measures for the protection of the public.