Fort Calhoun going nuts on Us.

June 29, 2015

You would think after spending all that money post flooding they would stay out of trouble. Remember they restarted after three years of shutdown. They continue to have a poor record.

Why did it take some twenty some odd days to decide they need a special inspection?

Did the vendor provide unsafe materials or did employees purchase unsafe material...   

NRC to Begin Special Inspection at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a special inspection at the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant to review circumstances surrounding a June 5 reported failure of an auxiliary feedwater valve that controls water flow to the steam generator. The plant, operated by Omaha Public Power District, is located 19 miles north of Omaha, Neb. During a refueling outage, workers replaced seal material in a valve that controls cooling water flow into one of the steam generators. During testing, the valve failed to open as designed. Workers discovered that the new seal material was not adequate for the operating temperature of the valve. The seal material was replaced with a material rated for higher temperatures. Following successful testing, the plant resumed start up activities.

Originally Posted 6/19/2014

June 23:

They never required a shut down...

June 22:

Advance Hydrological Prediction Service...last 30 day precipitation levels 

So the ground is saturated. How long should Fort Calhoun be shutdown. Say they start up in a few days...will they then have to shut down by the end of the week because of new flooding? Remember the industry says every shutdown damages non safety and safety components in a nuclear plant...they been bragging about their plant damage for decades as a excuse for not shutting down when required or for limiting safety regulations.

Do we want them shutting down and restarting all the time on a weekly bases...popping up and down all the time?

Should they remain shutdown until there is good proof this abnormally wet period is over...

Break in storms should keep Missouri River from flooding Omaha and Bluffs

Posted: Sunday, June 22, 2014 12:04 pm

Break in storms should keep Missouri River from flooding Omaha and Bluffs

By Kevin Cole / World-Herald staff writerThe Omaha World-Herald

A meteorologist said Sunday that an expected break in the recent cycle of thunderstorms should keep the Missouri River from reaching flood stage at Omaha and Council Bluffs.

"I’d expect the river to go up a little bit over the next 24 hours before starting to decline fairly quickly," said Tom Kines of AccuWeather.

"Monday will be kind of a transition day as the river holds steady for a time."

The National Weather Service in Valley reported the river at 27.8 feet Sunday morning for Omaha and Council Bluffs where flood stage is 29 feet. The weather service is predicting the river at Omaha will be at 24.8 feet by Wednesday and down to 18 feet Friday.

"The wide spread storms that we’ve seen are probably done with for awhile," Kines said. "There is a chance of a pop-up shower on Monday, but most of the day will be dry."

That’s good news for college baseball fans as Virginia and Vanderbilt begin their best-of-three championship series Monday night at 7 p.m. in TD Ameritrade Park. The teams will meet again Tuesday night, and if necessary, on Wednesday.

A weak front dropping down from the northwest is expected to bring drier, less humid air to eastern Nebraska and western Iowa on Tuesday, Kines said. He said Tuesday’s forecast is for a "really good day" with drier, less humid air and temperatures in the mid-80s.

"I suppose the grass will grow 20 feet, but Tuesday will be about perfect for anything you want to do outside," he said.

By mid-week the front is expected to push back north, creating a chance for the return of rain showers, Kines said. As the humidity returns, he said, the chances for rain will increase.

"There will be chances of thunderstorms both Wednesday and Thursday," he said. “How much rain we’ll get and how wide spread the storms will be is hard to say right now."

One could look at the number of LERs a plant gets per year to give yourself an idea of how far out of licensing the Fort Calhoun plant has been…

Normally a plant gets 3 or 4 LERs per year, maybe less….

2014: 12

2013: 35

Once you get onto the north side of 2005 till today,  it is amazing the escalation of the numbers of LERs. I wonder what has changed?

2005:3

2004:3

2003:5

Do you see how abnormal this is…two shutdowns within 3 years because of flooding?  Most plants don’t challenge their flooding limits through the life of their license. Obviously today it is a siting design defect. The plant isn’t designed for the climate. How many more shutdowns will this plant face in the future?

It is a Fukushima siting thing…2000 feet west of the plant the elevation rises 100 feet.  

The Ongoing 2011 Accident at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant

Event Notification...Is this part of a strengthening El Nino?

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION REQUIRED SHUTDOWN

"The National Weather Service predicts that the Missouri River level at Fort Calhoun Station will exceed 1004 feet above mean sea level on 6/20/14 at approximately 2300 CDT. Fort Calhoun Station will begin a ramp down in power to satisfy technical specification 2.16 which states, 'When the Missouri River level reaches elevation 1004 feet mean sea level, the reactor shall be in a HOT SHUTDOWN condition [Mode 3] and in Cold Shutdown [Mode 4] within 36 hours following entry into Hot Shutdown.' The river level is currently 998 feet 3 inches and rising approximately 0.5 inches per hour. At time 0001 CDT 6/20/14 Fort Calhoun station will initiate a plant shutdown to Hot Standby and will proceed to a Cold Shutdown condition within 36 hours following entry into Hot Shutdown, as required."

The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector.

River Levels on the Rise – The NRC At The Ready

by Moderator

Lara Uselding

Public Affairs Officer

Region IV

Three years ago this month marks the anniversary of the record Missouri river floods. Now, due to heavy rains, the NRC is once again watching rising Missouri River levels impacting Nebraska’s Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant, north of Omaha.

Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville is not anticipating a major impact this weekend.

Fort Calhoun’s procedure requires them to declare a Notice of Unusual Event and be shut down by the time river levels at the site reach 1,004 feet mean sea level. Thursday afternoon, river levels were at 998 and rising. Normally, river levels at the site range from 980 to 990 feet mean sea level.

Over the past week, NRC’s Region IV in Arlington, Texas, has been engaged in routine calls with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, National Weather Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, states, and local response organizations to understand changes in the predicted river levels and assess potential impacts on the plants.

Simultaneously, the NRC has been overseeing actions that Omaha Public Power District (Fort Calhoun) and Nebraska Public Power District (Cooper) are taking to protect the plant against impending flood waters. At this time, river levels at Cooper are not projected to be high enough to require a plant shutdown.

OPPD’s actions involve the use of sand bags, flood doors, and readying mobile pumps as river levels are projected to rise. They have also ordered equipment to protect certain buildings on site. NRC resident inspectors, who live in the area and work at the plant, have been monitoring the flood preparations.

The NRC is sending more staff to the plant to support the resident inspectors and provide around the clock coverage. During the 2011 flood, river levels at Fort Calhoun reached about 1007 feet and the plant remained in a safe shutdown condition. The plant restarted late last year only after extensive flooding improvements and other safety upgrades mandated by the NRC. Fort Calhoun remains under increased NRC regulatory oversight.

Region IV will continue monitoring the situation for both plants over the weekend.