Nukes, Floods, Fires and Alternatives

If the recent and frequent occurrence of the largest earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, tornados and wildfires has taught us anything, one important lesson is that nuclear power is more of a liability than an asset in times of natural disaster and national emergency.

The latest worries from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan focus on internal radioactive contamination in the urine of children tested. The radioactive contamination is still spreading in food, weather, groundwater and the ocean currents. The deleterious impacts and consequences can only be measured and realized over time.  Just how far reaching is as much guess work as it is science. But one report by a Japanese nuclear oversight agency predicts that the radioactive cesium plume released into the ocean will reach the West Coast of the United States in 3 to 5 years.

Here in the US, flooding on the Missouri River is now at the walls of the nuclear reactor at Fort Calhoun just north of Omaha, Nebraska after a makeshift rubber “Aqua-Berm” collapsed causing the reactor site to go to emergency diesel power for 12 hours to cool the reactor fuel. The safety risk is moderated by the reactor being shut down for refueling and maintenance in April and since kept shut down due to the threat of rising flood water.  The attention stays focused on more rain in the forecast and rising water behind the six aging dams on the Missouri River above Fort Calhoun and the Cooper nuclear power station below Omaha, Nebraska.  Building nuclear power plants on flood plains flaunts danger and hundreds of tons nuclear waste in casks sits on an island amid still rising water.   

Further scrutiny will need to focus on underground safety-related electrical cables now completely submerged beneath these reactors that were never qualified to stay wet and may not be accessible for inspection.

Elsewhere, Las Conchas wildfire has burned over 90,000 acres and surrounded New Mexico’s Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the nation’s oldest nuclear weapons facilities. Early air monitoring tests have not found radiation in the tons of smoke being lofted into the atmosphere and spot fires inside the DOE facility’s perimeter were being extinguished.  Moreover, 30,000 radioactive waste barrels are still sitting at the facility stand as a reminder of the vulnerability from the timeless legacy of nuclear power and weapons technology.  

We need an energy transformation beyond nuclear like the tremendous resource available in abundance in Nebraska.  According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory not only is there an abundance of wind but thousands of Cornhusker jobs in safe, renewable and durable to climate change energy.

Public Citizen's Tyson Slocum on Russia Today T.V. about flooding at Ft. Calhoun

Public Citizen's Energy Program director Tyson Slocum appeared on Russia Today T.V. on June 20th to discuss the risks of flooding at Ft. Calhoun nuclear power plant on the Missouri River in Nebraska. He pointed out that renewables such as wind and solar, as well as energy efficiency, are ready, safer, and cost-effective alternatives to nuclear power's many risks.

"Floodwater Flowing into Sewage Lagoon at Fort Calhoun Station"

As revealed by the sequential media releases posted below by the Omaha Public Power District at its website, the situation at Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant 20 miles upstream of Omaha is deteriorating due to historic flooding on the Missouri River, with sewage now flowing uncontrollably into the floodwaters, not unlike what's also occurring at Cooper atomic reactor 60 miles downstream of Omaha (see entry immediately below):

"Wastewater Bypass Put in Place at Fort Calhoun Station

June 16, 2011

A partial bypass has been put in place to divert groundwater from leaking into a sanitary wastewater lift station from the Administration Building at Fort Calhoun Station.

The bypass equipment will pump excess groundwater away from the lift station, used to transport sewage. Wastewater Treatment Lagoons are not flooded and are operating properly. The excess wastewater is being pumped from the lift station into Missouri River flood waters

The area around the Administration Building has been posted, warning personnel to stay clear while the lift station is bypassed.

For health and safety reasons, all individuals are cautioned to avoid contact with any flood water."

"Floodwater Flowing into Sewage Lagoon at Fort Calhoun Station

June 23, 2011

Rising water from the Missouri River has begun flowing into a sewage lagoon at Fort Calhoun Station. A partial bypass was recently put in place to divert water that had leaked into a sanitary wastewater lift station, allowing the continuation of most of the flow to the sanitary lagoons. The water overtopping the sewage lagoon this week will be considered a continuation of the previous bypass issue by the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

A sign has been erected in the area around the Administration Building advising personnel to stay clear of the discharge that is occurring. For health and safety reasons, all individuals are cautioned to avoid contact with any flood water."

Cooper atomic reactor -- identical twin to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4 -- sludge pond uncontrollably releasing contents into river due to flooding

Photo by Diane Krogh/Lighthawk showing the 1993 flood at Cooper atomic reactor in NebraskaA "Current Event Notification Report" dated June 9th, submitted by Cooper atomic power plant in Nebraska to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, states:

OFFSITE NOTIFICATION CONCERNING INABILITY TO MEET SLUDGE POND DISCHARGE PERMIT DUE TO RIVER LEVELS

"Notification was made to the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality regarding the inability to conform to the NPDES permit, since the discharges from the sludge pond to the Missouri River are uncontrolled at this time. As a result of high Missouri River levels, the sludge pond was overtopped. The discharges into this pond are subject to NPDES requirements. The inputs into the sludge pond are described in the NPDES permit as low volume wastewater. There are three outfalls which discharge into the pond. Outfall 002B is described as Clearwell Discharge plus Outfall 004 Emergency Overflow. Outfall 002C is described as Floor Drains. Outfall 004 is described as Reverse Osmosis Reject and Boiler Blowdown Waste streams. There is no radiological contamination in the pond.

"Additionally, the current and projected flooding conditions of the Missouri River high river levels have resulted in some media inquiries regarding potential changes in plant operation. Public information personnel and Management have responded to these inquiries with information on the impact of river level and preparations for additional actions should conditions warrant additional protective actions.

"Current river level is approximately 896 ft. MSL, three feet below the elevation which requires declaration of a NOUE, and approximately 4.8 feet below the crest of the 1993 flood, which was the highest flood recorded at the site. Current river elevation is 7 feet below grade elevation. A press release is not planned at this time. River level is currently projected to be 897.5 ft by Tuesday 6/14.

"Current river level is characterized as Moderate Flooding by the National Weather Service. There are currently no operational problems due to river conditions.

"The NRC Resident Inspector has been notified."

Paul Gunter, now of Beyond Nuclear, wrote a backgrounder on the 1993 Missouri River flood at Cooper.

Cooper is a General Electric Mark 1 Boiling Water Reactor -- an identical twin to Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4. Tsunami flooding caused a nuclear catastrophe in Japan. Will Missouri River flooding cause one in Nebraska?

Update on June 12, 2011 by admin

Are Cooper's uncontrolled sludge releases into the Missouri River in fact non-radiological? This document from Cooper (see pages 30-31) shows that sludge at Pilgrim 1 (also a GE BWR Mark 1, just like Fukushima Daiichi Units 1 to 4) was intensely radioactive, begging the question, are the sludges in question in the holding pond at Cooper also radioactive? Note also a radiological overexposure incident at Brunswick Unit 2 atomic reactor in North Carolina, yet another GE BWR Mark 1.

Overwhelming public interest in Beyond Nuclear meeting with NRC on US Mark I Reactors: Call in volume crashes federal agency telephone line

Beyond Nuclear staffers Paul Gunter and Kevin Kamps met with a federal review board of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission on June 8, 2011 to supplement its April 13th petition calling for the suspension of the operation of the 23 Fukushima-style General Electric Mark I Boiling Water Reactors in the US.

Gunter’s presentation focused on evidence that the Fukushima containments have failed along with the experimental vents designed to save them and implications for the US Mark I reactors. Kamps elaborated on the implications of the severe fuel damage in Fukushima’s elevated nuclear waste storage pools and implications for the same vulnerable pools in the US Mark I.

Access via the NRC telephone bridge line attracted such “unprecedented” public interest that the line crashed, delaying the start of the meeting by 30 minutes to install more lines.

Become a co-petitioner to NRC and support the Beyond Nuclear call for the suspension of the 23 Fukushima-style reactors operating in the United States. 

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