Beyond Nuclear on the Big Picture with Thom Hartmann re: Nebraska's nuclear flood risks

Thom Hartmann, host of "The Big Picture" television showThom Hartmann had Beyond Nuclear's Kevin Kamps on his Big Picture television program on June 27th to discuss the risks of flooding at Fort Calhoun and Cooper atomic reactors, as well as wildfires very near the Los Alamos nuclear weapons lab in New Mexico. The first 11 minutes of the show are devoted to nuclear risks, including the growing risks of climate instability ("global wierding") on fragile nuclear facilities.

Nebraska governor says NRC and nuclear utilities are in charge as flood waters rise on the Missouri River

When it comes to trusting utility companies and government regulators about nuclear safety, the Governor of Nebraska, should probably learn a lesson or two from the Governor of Vermont, as well as the Governor of Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. In both places, they have had to do battle with their local nuclear utility and federal regulatory agency.

KVNO News reports:

"Governor Dave Heineman says he’s confident Nebraska’s two nuclear power stations are safe, and is glad the NRC Chief plans to visit.

'I trust the judgment of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the leaders of our two nuclear power plants,' Heineman said. 'They’re the ones in charge. Obviously, with all the water around, we’re all concerned. But they’ve protected those plants very well, and we’re very confident that we’ll be okay in that regard.' " (emphasis added)

Lincoln Journal Star reporter asks questions on safety status of atomic reactors to Nebraska nuclear utilities

Algis J. Laukaitis of the Lincoln Journal Star has asked a series of questions to Nebraska's nuclear power utilities in an effort to separate fact from rumor as flood waters threaten the Fort Calhoun and Cooper atomic reactors on the severely flooded Missouri River near Omaha. Dave Lochaum of the Union of Concerned Scientists expressed concern about the risk of upstream dams bursting and sending a wall of water down the Missouri, which could inundate the riverside reactors. A burst levee near the Cooper atomic reactor -- an identical twin to the Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4 -- provided a temporary reprieve to the rising waters. The floodwaters near Cooper suddenly dropped more than 1.5 feet as its waters spread out into the countryside through the breached levee. But federal authorities warn such a respite will be short-lived, as flood waters are predicted to rise again in coming days, despite the levee breach.

Spate of aircraft incidents near nuclear power plants in recent days

As reported by MyFoxDC News, on Friday, June 24th, an un-manned helicopter made an emergency landing on a reactor building roof after mechanical problems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

As reported by KFAB, the Washington County News, and KETV, a manned helicopter, contracted by the Omaha Public Power District to survey the status of electricity transmission lines threatened by historic Missouri River flooding that has also put OPPD's Fort Calhoun atomic reactor at risk, made an emergency landing on Thursday, June 23rd, just 1.5 miles from the nuclear power plant (see photo at left).

As Yahoo News reports:

"The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a Notice to Airmen banning flight around the plant. The ban includes a 2 mi. radius around the plant and a minimum allowed altitude of 3,500 ft. Existing restrictions about flying around all nuclear plants were being ignored by many aircraft and helicopters attempting to photograph the flooding near the plant. OPPD authorities were very concerned that an accident might occur and the FAA assisted the utility by issuing the notice."

And, as reported by the St. Joe, Michigan Herald-Palladium, on Monday, June 20th, an unidentified flying object was spotted very near the Cook nuclear power plant on Lake Michigan in southwest Michigan, prompting a waterborne and airborne search by the U.S. Coast Guard and local sheriff's department.

Aircraft crashes -- whether accidental or intentional -- into "soft spots" located outside primary containment structures at nuclear power plants, such as control rooms, electrical switchyards, or even storage pools for high-level radioactive waste -- present potentially catastrophic radiological risks.

Despite the recent spate of aircraft incidents, the Associated Press reports that Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko will tour the swollen Missouri River by helicopter in the next couple of days to view flooding countermeasures being carried out at the Fort Calhoun and Cooper atomic reactors.

Luckily, Nebraska tornadoes far to west of flooded nuclear power plants

Photo taken by Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant workersThe powerful tornadoes that ravaged central Nebraska a few days ago, with film footage aired by BBC, were fortunately over 100 miles to the west of the flooded Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant site on the Missouri River north of Omaha. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that one tornado was a powerful EF3, with winds as high as 165 miles per hour. It, along with a number of less powerful tornadoes, took down power lines in several places across Nebraska. As KLKN TV reported, 3,500 Nebraskan households lost electricity due to the downed power lines. If the Ft. Calhoun and Fukushima-twin Cooper atomic reactors in eastern Nebraska had similarly lost off-site power, they would then have been thrown onto emergency diesel generators -- themselves put at risk by the historic flood waters on the Missouri.

As shown by the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe in Japan, "station blackout" at atomic reactors and high-level radioactive waste storage pools can cause catastrophic radioactivity releases, due to loss of cooling water circulation. And most U.S. reactors have less back up battery power -- the last line of defense -- than did the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant -- 4 hours instead of 8. Tornadoes have come precariously close to causing severe damage, or even overheating of reactor cores and radioactive waste storage pools, at U.S. nuclear power plants in the past. In 1998, the Davis-Besse atomic reactor near Toledo came close to complete failure of its emergency diesel generators after the grid was lost due to a tornado passing between the reactor containment building and the cooling tower on site. Last decade, a powerful tornado that went on to destroy the town of La Plata, Maryland came within a mile or two of the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant on the Chesapeake Bay (see photo at left). And in June 2010, a tornado damaged the Fermi 2 nuclear power plant in Michigan; fortunately, the emergency diesels worked -- they had been inoperable from 1986 to 2006.