The New York Times reports the latest entry in the Nukespeak dictionary: a "water event," also known as a flood. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Greg Jaczko, who visited Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant "partly to reassure the public" on Monday, said at a news conference afterwards “Sometimes visually you’ll see things at the site, see changes at the site, but those don’t always have an impact on the safety aspect of facilities.” He was referring to the accidental piercing of Ft. Calhoun's Aqua Dam by a Bobcat earth mover at around 1:25 a.m. on Sunday, June 26th, which deflated the 8 foot tall, 2,000 foot long "water balloon" anti-flood barrier, allowing two feet of flood waters to lap up against the reactor containment and auxiliarly buildings of the vital plant area. NRC and Omaha Public Power District officials assure that they have made preparations against another 7.54 feet of flood rise at the site. However, Col. Robert J. Ruch, commander of the Omaha District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in charge of a half-dozen major dams upstream on the Missouri, warned “We don’t like to give worst-case scenarios anymore because every time it rains, we get a new worst case.” At just after 10 a.m. Central time on Monday, June 27th, the National Weather Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration changed the flooding forecast from "moderate" to major severity" for portions of the Missouri River in Iowa and Nebraska near Blair. The warning goes on:
"THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE MISSOURI RIVER NEAR BLAIR.
* AT 9:16 AM MONDAY THE STAGE WAS 32.5 FEET.
* FLOOD STAGE IS 26.5 FEET.
* MODERATE FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND MAJOR FLOODING IS FORECAST.
* FORECAST...THE RIVER WILL CONTINUE RISING TO NEAR 33.1 FEET BY
EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING. ADDITIONAL RISES MAY BE POSSIBLE
THEREAFTER.
* IMPACT...AT 33.5 FEET...WATER REACHES LEVELS NOT SEEN SINCE THE
FLOOD OF 1952. SIGNIFICANT FLOODING WILL BE OCCURRING FROM BLAIR
TO FORT CALHOUN."