Is TEPCO running the Fort Calhoun nuke plant, or are all nuclear plant corporations equally incompetent???
We informed readers tonight of the developing crisis at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear plant due to failure of the outer flood wall.
We now have further information from the WSJ that the flood wall failure was in fact the result of an accidental tear in the flood wall.
Yes, tear.
Apparently the Nebraska nuclear plant was being protected by a giant inner tube.
Nothing like resorting to saran wrap and giant inner tubes to protect millions of innocents from nuclear radiation...wouldn't want to splurge for something costly and unnecessary like concrete.
From the WSJ:
A protective berm holding back floodwaters from a Nebraska nuclear power plant collapsed early Sunday after it was accidentally torn, surrounding containment buildings and key electrical equipment with Missouri River overflow.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspectors verified that processes to cool the reactor and spent-fuel pool were unaffected, the agency said in a press release.
The 484-megawatt Fort Calhoun plant, located 19 miles north of Omaha, had been shut down since April 7 for refueling, and the NRC has said it won't be restarted until floodwaters recede.
Regulators have been keeping close watch on Fort Calhoun and Cooper Nuclear Station, both operated by the state of Nebraska, as flooding along the Missouri River has become increasingly widespread.
Two years ago, deficiencies in flood preparation at the plant were found during an inspection, but were remedied.
The situation in Nebraska has developed amid heightened fears about nuclear safety following the catastrophe at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan. The damage wreaked by an earthquake-triggered tsunami in early March was the cause of a series of explosions and the release of harmful radiation.
The water-filled berm—not required by NRC regulations— provided supplemental protection. It collapsed at about 1:25 a.m. after it was accidentally torn while work was being performed at the site, according to Victor Dricks, an NRC spokesman.
The berm, essentially a huge inner tube, subsequently collapsed. Mr. Dricks said he didn't know the exact nature of the work that was underway.
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