Published: January 9th, 2012 at 2:27 pm ET
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Anthony’s reply to Bmurr reminded me that this was never posted…
Regulators bear down on OPPD nuke plant, Omaha World-Herald, Dec 14, 2011 (Emphasis Added):
At the troubled Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station
- Problems continue to emerge
- Federal regulators again are increasing their level of oversight
- [NRC] is creating a special panel of inspectors to oversee improvements and repairs at the reactor
- What essentially was a planned two-month outage is heading toward its ninth month as a result of this summer’s flooding
- Water surrounded OPPD’s buildings at Fort Calhoun, but the fuel was in no danger, officials have said.
- Even before Tuesday’s decision, Fort Calhoun had the worst grade a reactor can have and still operate
- Because of the additional problems that surfaced this summer, the NRC is moving Fort Calhoun into a different type of oversight
- Other reactors have been placed in this outside-the-norm review process
- Some have taken years to get back on line
- NRC [...] will not estimate a time for the plant to resume operations
- The NRC now controls when the plant starts
The Fire
- The June fire’s cause isn’t fully known, [an NRC spokeswoman] said
- The general consensus has been that it was unrelated to the flooding
The World-Herald fails to note why the fire was of such importance… fortunately the AP did
Two of the new violations are related to a small fire at Fort Calhoun that briefly knocked out the cooling system for used fuel in June.
Published: January 9th, 2012 at 2:27 pm ET
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Omg…fires….with unknown causes?
Really?
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Well, it’s not like they have to have adequate fire control on hand or anything. A regulation requiring that has been ignored since it was ordered in the aftermath of the Browns Ferry-1 fire in 1975. Here’s an article about it.
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Anthony, if you think that is goofy, check this out:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19607_the-6-most-reckless-uses-radioactive-material.html
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Great link JoyB thanks. Here’s an article snip:
Fires present a special risk to nuclear plants because they can knock out cables that control-room operators need to safely cool down a reactor. The explosions and fires at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant have shown what can happen when operators can’t activate pumps, valves and other equipment needed to prevent damage to the radioactive core.
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An exerpt from NW’s link;
For example, after the Fukishima disaster in 2011, scientists combing Tokyo for radioactivity found alarming levels coming from an old woman’s house. Inside, they found the source to be some old luminescent paint bottles in her basement, which were giving her the radioactive equivalent of a CAT scan every hour of every day. The paint was quickly disposed of, but because it was regularly produced, and because this is Japan, there may be tons more of it out there.
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The opposite of fuku-dai-die. Causes … with unknown fires!
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Another example of a coverup of a major disaster that got close to wiping out a huge area… it probably got within hours of a meltdown, but nothing was said, other than a mysterious news cast that told people to evacuate for 20 miles around plant, but then was just as mysteriously cancelled after they managed to get the power back on via an emergency method not normally used.
In other words, the emergency plan that they had in place did not seem to work, so someone had to do a Rube Goldberg to keep a huge FUBAR from happening. I bet it was one guy that made the difference.
Same thing as Fukushima. The emergency plans for nuclear plants do not call for pumping sea water through reactors, but that is what it took to keep the whole thing from an even worse FUBAR than it already was. In this case, it was one plant manager who bucked the system and did something despite orders to do the opposite. One guy might have made the difference.. Time will tell, and the truth may come out in about fifty or a hundred years or so.. Correct me if I am mistaken in this…:)
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AGreenRoad –
“Another example of a coverup of a major disaster that got close to wiping out a huge area… it probably got within hours of a meltdown, but nothing was said”
Really? I followed that whole thing at the time, right here on Enenews, as well as other places. What coverup? What major disaster that got close to wiping out a huge area? Within hours of a meltdown? Seriously? And you imagine that one heroic guy jumped in to save the day at the last moment?
There are real disasters occuring right now. Ft Calhoun was a lot of things, but it wasn’t a disaster.
I like your alien story, though.
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The reason I say this is because the plant lost power… and then the back up generators also failed, correct?
Did they not have to bring in emergency power and generators to pump water out of the buildings? Did they not have ANOTHER fire inside the building with the spent fuel in it?
Did they not have a fire inside one of the buildings that knocked out the cooling system?
Did they not also short out the electrical transformer outside that fed power to the whole plant, thus losing ALL power to everything? Or is my recall fading? Correct me as to details if I am mistaken with one or more of these..
Did they not surround the whole plant with sandbags and berm walls, which then collapsed and flooded the whole plant?
The industry called all of this ordinary and normal.. I call it emergency and close to losing the whole thing… another couple of feet of water rise, a lapse of any little detail, a leak that opens up, power out a little longer, or any number of other things, could have spelled disaster, just like FUKU.
Remember, FUKU failed not because of the tidal wave. It melted down within 8 HOURS of the earthquake. The company and govt. tried to cover up this fact for months.
So when Ft Calhoun says a FLOOD, power loss, AND FIRES are all ordinary, normal course of business in the nuclear industry, I tend to go a wee bit in the opposite direction and call it a CLOSE CALL, AND A BARELY AVERTED DISASTER.
I am merely being logical, and following what few facts they chose to release, or were leaked by the press and others.. Who knows what REALLY happened there.. Knowing how much stuff the nuke industry regularly and historically has covered up, hidden and spun, I would not be surprised to learn in 50 years that the reactor core or spent fuel pool had a partial melt down due to power loss.
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But the thing is, the known facts are horrible enough without hysteria and exaggeration, not to mention imagining things that didn’t happen and calling them probable. For the record, I think this plant should be closed. I think they all should be closed, right now. A nuclear chain reaction is an incredibly fucking stupid way to boil water.
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Now THAT’S a tshirt slogan Sandman!
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It just boggles the mind how in the land of, by-the-people and for-the-people, we can’t get the newspapers and TV news to report on this. We could all see the plant was under water and still not a peep. All we can do is set up rad detectors in our homes and when they detect, pack up and move. Is there another option?
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AGR has the storyline correct from what I remember. Exactly what were you posting at the time Sandman? Since admin removed histories of posters we must rely on the all-seeing Google. I see nothing from your username. Just a lurker now unveiled? No harm in that certainly. But I oppose your critique of AGR 100%. There were Daiichi heroes and they did buck the system. And undoubtedly have paid the ultimate price.
No T/shirt from me. But I do have a radiation soaked black dress shirt on as I type these pixels of light.
SP
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Hi Sickputer. I wasn’t talking about Daiichi, you know. This thread is about Ft. Calhoun.
Googling my user name? Seriously? Really, I’m not that interesting.
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Yes, that’s pretty close to what I remember, too — although it’s not possible to state 100% unless looking up the original articles.
And aren’t reactors supposed to begin melting down within 90 minutes of loss of cooling?
The “real issue” one of the articles said, was the spent fuel pool lost cooling, so it would become damaged more quickly than the reactor. And it apparently went w/o cooling for some time ….
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The problem is, most people do NOT operate or make decisions from ‘just the facts’.
A lesson in sales is in order. Most people BUY based on emotion, not LOGIC. If you try to sell something based on logic, you will lose the sale to someone down the road using emotional responses.
Most people act based on emotion, especially when confronted with a situation such as this.. Either they respond with fear and trepidation, or with rigid euphoria, while supporting the nuclear industry.
Bottom line, fear mongering is not ethical or moral. Any propogandist can do that. Why not raise the specter of some holocaust when it is ENTIRELY PLAUSIBLE, POSSIBLE, and VERY LIKELY in the near future around such things as the Carrington Effect for example?
Who but outsiders will do this? How will they be able to do it, other than by accessing peoples emotions and getting them riled up?
The industry trumpets that they the are scientific, and very logical, but almost NEVER emotional. I think this is PART OF THE PROBLEM AS WELL.
The people opposing nuclear power are mostly labeled fear mongers even if they are completely rational, because they get emotional about it. Dr Caldicott gets EMOTIONAL when she talks about nuclear power, WITH GOOD REASON. She is trying to connect with peoples FEELINGS FIRST, and then their minds.
Bottom line, I would rather be in this heart centered, life affirming and very emotional camp, than the strictly logical, scientific, cold, heartless camp.
If you want to read cold, scientific data, stop reading or responding to what I write. I write from the heart. I write to raise emotions. I write to get people to change their paradigms, by using all emotions in the book; fear, love, sadness, anger, etc… The line I will not cross is to use outright lies and propoganda.
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I believe one gen set out of 2 failed, and was replaced. Enough diesel for a month. So i don’t believe they ever lost all power, as in a Station Black-out. Only cooling functions of their fuel pool. Plus the reactor was off-line for refueling at the time. I also believe the two fires you are referring to are one in the same. The fire that knocked out the cooling was the very cooling for the spent fuel.
Which apparently is only a paltry 400 tons of waste
Curious part for me, if all is normal, why the need for a media black-out?
Maybe someone could call the resident inspectors, skip the PR people, and ask them whats up..
Sr. Resident Inspector:
John Kirkland – 402-426-9611
Resident Inspector:
Jacob Wingebach – 402-426-9611
http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactor/fcs.html
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Trouble with “trip” switches used to take reactor offline prior to the June flooding:
http://texasvox.org/2011/07/20/fort-calhoun-nuclear-plant-one-to-watch/
Published June 9, 2011:
http://www.propublica.org/article/electrical-fire-knocks-out-spent-fuel-cooling-at-nebraska-nuke-plant/single
“A fire in an electrical switch room on Tuesday briefly knocked out cooling for a pool holding spent nuclear fuel at the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant outside Omaha, Neb., plant officials said.
The safety of deep pools used to store used radioactive fuel at nuclear plants has been an issue since the accident at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant in March. If the cooling water a pool is lost, the used nuclear fuel could catch fire and release radiation.”
I posted thinking reactor cooling was offline for several hours. Now I think it was the spent fuel pool cooling. Some have speculated some of the spent fuel may have melted down, which prompted the “no fly zone” around the reactor. Or else there was some other release of radiation, and this prompted the no fly zone.
And the water boom surrounding the plant which was supposed to prevent damage from the flooding was ripped away:
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2011/06/fort-calhoun-nuclear-plant-flooded.html
Good photos here showing the water level. There were some good eyewitness YouTube videos posted around this time, too. Apparently some people shot videos across the river from the plant.
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Love it! Love having the names of REAL PEOPLE to talk to. Like calling Monsanto (a.k.a. Monsteranto) and asking their P.R. people if they have read the epidemiological studies on the effects of G.M. foodstuffs in livestock, etc.
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if it did have a melt down it would explain the higher than normal reading in st.louis and philly,at least compared to most of the surrounding areas. port calhoun was (is?) so messed up. than the no fly zone because we couldn’t have media around they might(lol) inform the masses. can’t have 2 scares so close to each other you know.cover up right after the army core of engineers blow up the levees to the north.what a rain season that was.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EYlXay0njE
nothing to see here move along.
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By the way; an alien visited our planet this morning. He asked me what we did for energy.
I told him our scientists assure us that our BEST energy source is to heat water with toxic and deadly nuclear bomb types of man made elements. Yes, they do contaminate the surrounding area both during mining and operation of the plants. The plant heats water for 30 years. Then we have to guard this toxic, deadly nuclear waste for millions of years, as it becomes less deadly.
Long half life radioactive elements
Part I http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/3047473
Elements 1-9
PartII http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/3048444
Elements 10-13
He initially seemed very interested in us humans, but after I told him this, his eyes got wide open, and he told me; ‘humanity has gone insane. You are using a life and gene destroying weapon of mass destruction that poisons the whole planet for millions of years for a couple of years of energy.
I was going to offer you help and teach you how to build space traveling craft, but if this is how you express your love for fellow humans, as well as all other life forms, then we must leave you to your fate’.
He took off in this spaceship and I have not seen or heard from his since.
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Hope he gets checked for radiation exposure when he gets back to his homeworld.
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Hey that sounds familiar, good idea!
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Brilliant you should publish this far and wide.
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Yes, could we fit it on a t-shirt?
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Feel free to copy and post away.. just add
Source: A Green Road Blog; http://www.agreenroadblog.com
A slightly improved version is here if you want to link to it.
http://www.care2.com/c2c/share/detail/3065527
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Yes, the alien was well informed. I am sure that “he was not alone”.
We could imagine our planet as a kind of isolation hospital for those with an irremediable psychosocial deficit.
I watched the Horizon last night about the imminent discovery, or non discovery, of the Higgs Boson, which in the former case will be the missing link in the Great Theory That Explains Everything. Wonderful.
But, as a species, the unconformity between our success in intellectual cooperation and the level of our emotional development, only condemns us to an evolutionary dead end.
I am sure that our planet exists only as an isolation ward, and maybe as an object lesson to other, wiser, species located elsewhere around the galaxy.
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The alien must have taken off when you told him/her the part about the problem with guarding the toxic waste for millions of years. That is we, uh, we, ah, we um, haven’t figured out where to put it yet, but it’s ah, um, not really a problem. The greatest minds in the scientific world are hard at work on this problem and they assure us there is no cause for worry.
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LOL; probably working hard on this….. kind of like those top Japanese officials, who were caught in a bunch of pictures sleeping in their chairs while at meetings around Fukushima and related matters…
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And so toast the creatures for whom radioisotopes serve as food and intoxicants: “Long live the radioactive elements!”
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Message to Military-Industrial Complex and the Shills Who Support Them
Why did you do it?
Was it:
a) deliberate?
b) sheer stupidity?, or
c) something else (please explain)
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Combination of a and b
for confirmation:
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“Military Intelligence” is the favorite oxymoron of many people, but that meaning of “intelligence” (information) seems to be much older than the IQ version of “intelligence.”
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sheer deliberate stupidity …
for further enlightenment,
http://sellgrandrapidshomes.wordpress.com/2008/01/12/a-parablethe-tale-of-the-monkey-the-peanuts/
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There’s an oft repeated tale about how certain hunters in Africa catch monkeys. It can be very difficult to corral these intelligent creatures, so hunters have used a more inventive method…trapping a monkey by enticing him. A small jar is placed at the base of a tree with nuts or other items which may attract the monkey’s curiosity.
The opening of the jar allows the monkey to place his hand in, but when he tries to withdraw it, he is unable to do so without letting go of the contents of the jar. Believe it or not, some monkeys will stay there with their hand in the jar until the hunter comes back to trap them! They are trapped because they are unwilling to let go of something they are doing which is working against them
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An excellent fit for our earthly addiction to nuclear power generation, and how we have been trapped, maybe for ever, buy the nukey people with their magic sweetie jar.
I personally have no clue as to how to get out of this global buy-in.
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And check, “Owning the Weather in 2025.”
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Have wondered for months WHY TPTB would order extremely heavy chemtrail spraying the day (esp. around 3/18) the fallout from FUKU hit the West Coast of the U.S.
Almost like the chem clouds drew in all the rads as into a massive, air sucking vortex. That was either sheer idiocy or an intentional effort coordinated by some pro- eugenics psychopaths. “I Am Fishead.”
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IMHO of course!
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And of course the intent was to generate RAIN.
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They should start working on plans to dismantle the entire plant and put it into cold shut down. Leaving any reactor 40 year or older working could easily destroy the worlds food supply. Kill the power plant and save millions…or boot the old bastard up and possible kill us all…hmm choices choices
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Indeed, 60 is not the “new 40″.
As a Federal facility inspector one very obvious thing was apparent, you can never “inspect” quality into a plant. Same with planes, sure some still fly into old age, but that is due to love of the craft and nostalgia.
After 40, they get shut down, all of them.
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How in hell can anyone keep up with all of this “CRAP?!”
Next time someone say’s “it’s not that bad” refer them to this information….
“There is no safe dose of radiation”
~ Prof. Edward P. Radford, Physician and Epidemiologist
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/page/greenmedinfocom-why-there-no-safe-level-radiation-fukushima
ALSO: This evening… RENSE RADIO
Michael Collins
Fukushima Radiation Here
AND…
From Hong Kong
Yoichi Shimatsu
Fukushima Deteriorating
http://www.renseradio.com/listenlive.htm
Broadcast starts at 10:00 PM Eastern time USA
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Hello, Z-Planet,
I used Michael Collins’ info. to guide me in purchase of new HEPA filters for home. Thanks for posting the info. on him. He’s a sharp guy — seems well-rounded.
As a side note, respiratory system doing much better since getting new HEPA filters. West Coast, inland from San Francisco, CA.
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Try adding a good negative ion generator. They work together much better than apart.
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What if no radiation was released? Then their is no dose received.
and Jeff Rense. Nuff said lol
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then we lucked out…..
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“i’m so bored of cowards/
who say they want/
and then they can’t handle”
Bjork.
Just came to me. Well, comes to me often, but seems fitting somehow, just those three lines.
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NRC to Hold Public Meeting about Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant
http://enformable.com/2012/01/nrc-to-hold-public-meeting-about-fort-calhoun-nuclear-power-plant/
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to meet with Omaha Public Power District officials on Jan. 19 to discuss the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant, which is 20 miles north of Omaha. The public can ask questions at the 6 p.m. meeting at Omaha’s Doubletree Hotel downtown.
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Maybe we can find a link to the minutes for this & post it. Or maybe Admin could find that?
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Shut. It. Down.
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AGreenRoad
January 9, 2012 at 5:05 pm · Reply
The reason I say this is because the plant lost power… and then the back up generators also failed, correct?
They where very lucky that the river stayed high to keep the fuel pools cool, the fuel rodes may have been damaged because of excess cooling by the water. This gave them time to get a new generator to the site, had they not it would have made Fukushima look like a fire cracker.
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