Reminder: Both Fort Calhoun and Cooper nuclear power stations in Nebraska both in danger from Missouri river flooding

Date: 6/14/2011 published
by: Jason Chan

Last week, on June 6, 2011, Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station issued an NOUE (Notice of Unusual Event) to the NRC (Nuclear Regulatory Commission) due to the flooding of the Missouri river, which is the least severe emergency classification, or level 1. There are four emergency classifications which I have penciled in to the following screen grab of the top part of the original NRC PN (Preliminary Notification) report PNO-IV-11-003 from June 6, 2011 titled Fort Calhoun Station: Fort Calhoun Station Declaration of a Notification of Unusual Event Due to High River Level:
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Another event was issued to the NRC on the following day (June 7, 2011) by the utility which operates the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station, the OPPD (Omaha Public Power District), based on a fire in a room containing electrical equipment.  The report issued was of type "Alert" which is the second (level 2) emergency classification.  Here is the top part of the NRC report PNO-IV-11-004 titled Fort Calhoun Station: Fort Calhoun Station Declaration of an ALERT Due to Fire Affecting Plant Safety Systems:
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When interviewed by an Omaha, Nebraska newspaper officials from the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station told reporters that the flood waters had encroached upon several parking lots but that there were no verified reports of the power plant building being flooded. Quoting the Omaha World Herald which is dated June 10, 2011:

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Nuke plant: No floodwater has breached the nuclear power plant at Fort Calhoun, say officials from both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Omaha Public Power District. NRC spokeswoman Lara Uselding and OPPD spokesman Mike Jones said Thursday that some floodwater is pooling in some of the plant's parking lots, but there had been no confirmed reports of floodwater entering the currently idle plant, they said.
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However, news reporters from KMTV Action 3 News who traveled directly to the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station (I am assuming on June 6, 2011) shot footage clearly showing flood waters right up to the walls of the buildings in the facility.

My personal feeling is that when the Fort Calhoun nuclear plant officials issued their statement to the Omaha World Herald they were perhaps trying to downplay the severity of the flooding situation?

A citizen journalist who runs the MaryGreeley YouTube channel (I assume her name is Mary Greeley, but this could be a pseudonym) says that the emergency severity at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station is now level 4 but I was unable to confirm this based on official sources.  Here is the video:


I read the event reports directly at the NRC site which has at the highest a level 2 for Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station, and the most recent Preliminary Notification or event report at emergency severity for Fort Calhoun is dated 6/8/2011.  Perhaps Mary Greeley is ahead of the curve and I am behind?  In any case, I think this astute lady has the right idea in general to be concerned regarding these nuclear plants being situated right on top of flood plains even if she may have jumped the gun on the emergency severity level.

Another nuclear power plant flagged by Mary Greeley as being in the Missouri river flood danger zone is the Cooper Nuclear Station in Brownville, Nebraska.  This nuclear power plant is still online according to the NPPD's (Nebraska Public Power District) own site.  A level 1 NOUE (Notice of Unusual Event) will not be triggered until the Missouri river level reaches 42.5 feet.  As I am writing this article the highest current river level I am aware of is 40.1 feet.  Following is a diagram taken from the NPPD website which illustrates their flooding emergency procedure regarding Cooper Nuclear Station:

I did scan the NRC site to verify that there are no emergency level events for Cooper Nuclear Station (yet) recorded.  There was a recent non-emergency event regarding discharging sludge in to the Missouri river but that is all.

Here is Mary Greeley's video regarding Cooper Nuclear Station:


As Arnie Gundersen points out in a recent interview with Robert Knight of the a-Infos Radio Project, it would only take an unexpected event such as a dam or levee breaking that raises water levels to an extent which could put either the Fort Calhoun or Cooper nuclear power plants in jeopardy of some sort of nuclear disaster (skip ahead about 1 minute for Mr. Gunderson's interview with Robert Knight):


Having dams or levees breaking does not seem to be such an unusual occurence. ABC affiliate KETV Newswatch 7 reports that two levees have indeed broken recently in Northwest Missouri:

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HAMBURG, Iowa -- The rising Missouri River has ruptured two levees in northwest Missouri, sending torrents of floodwater over rural farmland toward the Iowa town of Hamburg and the Missouri state park and resort of Big Lake. The levee failures both happened Monday morning.
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The video broadcast by KETV Newswatch 7 can be found here.

6/14/2011 | Japanese government props up ailing TEPCO utility

Date: 6/14/2011 published
by: Jason Chan

Shorts got an unpleasant surprise yesterday (June 13, 2011) as TEPCO shares spiked up 25% after news that the Japanese government approved a disaster compensation bill which would help TEPCO pay compensation to victims of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.  In addition, the Tokyo Stock Exchange raised margin requirements which discourages short selling of TEPCO. [1]

As we have seen from other examples, margin rule requirements when implemented can cause drastic changes in the previous direction of stocks or commodities. For example the recent silver crash is due primarily to aggressive margin hikes on the part of the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange).  Due to the timing of news from both the Japanese government and Tokyo Stock Exchange margin hike on short selling TEPCO stock (both being released on the same day), one might wonder if there were not some form of coordinated activity between the Japanese government and the Tokyo Stock Exchange in order to artificially prop up the TEPCO stock. Note that this is just speculation and not what the text of the Bloomberg article I am referencing says. In the case of the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) the aggressive margin hikes recently on silver also seemed a little suspicious and in this case I also wondered if there were not perhaps some form of communication or coordinated activity with another entity (or entities) with a vested interest in keeping the price of silver down. I will let you guess who I mean. The official story in both the case of the Tokyo Stock Exchange or CME for why they increased their margin requirements is that their mathematical risk management model has been triggered and margins are hiked in a robotic fashion in response. I am not sure if I personally buy that line.

Source:
[1] Tokyo Electric Jumps by Record 25% After Short Sale, Margin Rule Changes, Bloomberg

6/14/2011 | Dairy Farmers Fight Radiation with Boron

Source: Mercola.com
Date: June 14 2011
by: Dr. Mercola

An open letter from organic dairy farmers in Hawaii explains how to reduce radiation in milk and vegetables. The letter explains that boron can be used to capture radioactivity.
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Read full article here

6/14/2011 JST: Fukushima City to give dosimeters to 34,000 children from fall

Source: Kyodo News via Japan Today
Date: Jun. 14, 2011 - 12:59PM JST

FUKUSHIMA — The Fukushima city office in Fukushima Prefecture said Tuesday it will give dosimeters to all children attending preschools as well as elementary and junior high schools in the city amid growing concerns over exposure to radiation from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant nearby.

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Read full article here

6/13/2011 | 6 more Fukushima nuclear power plant workers receive radiation doses higher than the 250 millisievert government limit.

Source: Alexander Higgins Blog
Date: June 13, 2011 at 8:02 am

I previously reported that 2 Fukushima workers had exceeded the 250 millisievert government safety limit.
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Read full article here

6/13/2011 | (VIDEO) RT in Fukushima: Radiation 1000 times over normal outside no-go zone

Source: RT News
Date: 6/13/2011 upload date

Radioactive material has been detected in seawater around Japan's Fukushima plant, with concentration levels 240 times higher than safety limits. Scientists warn that the element, strontium, is highly dangerous to humans as it can accumulate in bones and possibly cause cancer.

6/13/2011 | Further Proof of Ongoing Nuclear Chain Reactions at Fukushima: Metallic Taste In the Mouth?

Source: Washington's Blog
Date: 6/13/2011


The Russian scientists and firefighters who fought the Chernobyl fire reported a "metallic taste" in their mouth. That taste was from radioactive iodine. (It is well known that all iodine has a metallic taste.)
For example, Colonel Grebeniouk - who led the Russian troops in charge of controlling the situation - said:

There was a metallic taste in our mouths, an acidity. They say radiation has no taste. It was only later we realized it was the taste of radioactive iodine.

There is substantial evidence of ongoing nuclear chain reactions.  Another piece of evidence - as pointed out by nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen - is that there are widespread anecdotal reports of people in Japan and the West Coast of the United States reporting a metallic taste in their mouths:

Hot Particles From Japan to Seattle Virtually Undetectable when Inhaled or Swallowed from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
Hot Particles From Japan to Seattle Virtually Undetectable when Inhaled or Swallowed from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.Note 1: Iodine 131 decays to xenon 131, a non-radioactive form of xenon. Therefore, it is unlikely that a non-radioactive form of iodine would be in the air.

Note 2: There are, of course, other sources of "metallic tastes".

6/12/2011 | Hot Particles From Japan to Seattle Virtually Undetectable when Inhaled or Swallowed

Source: Fairewinds Associates
Date: 6/12/2011

Hot Particles From Japan to Seattle Virtually Undetectable when Inhaled or Swallowed from Fairewinds Associates on Vimeo.
Original estimates of xenon and krypton releases remain the same, but a TEPCO recalculation shows dramatic increases in the release of hot particles. This confirms the results of air filter monitoring by independent scientists. Fairewinds' Arnie Gundersen explains how hot particles may react in mammals while escaping traditional detection. Reports of a metallic taste in the mouth, such as those now being reported in Japan and on the west coast, are a telltale sign of radiation exposure.

6/13/2011 | Victory! It's official. Nuclear power banned in Italy

Source: Beyond Nuclear
Date: June 13, 2011

Enjoy this exciting report from our colleague and "correspondent," Michael Leonardi: L'ABBIAMO FATTO WE DID IT!!!!! After an amazing mass mobilization of people all across the country with demonstrations, banner drops, critical mass bike rides, workshops, information booths, film screenings, an incredible use of the social networking and facebook, people running nude through the streets, die-ins, and a door to door neighbor to neighbor grassroots storm, the Italian people have won a historic vote to ban the construction of Nuclear Power plants now and forever!!!

A Vote to keep and return Water resources to public ownership and Prosecute the criminal behaviour of political leaders -- first and foremost Silvio Berlusconi. We managed to overcome the daunting task of a quorum of 50 % of all Italian voters + 1 in the face of a mass media completely controlled by Berlusconi and a government that was encouraging voters to go to the beach instead of vote on the first weekend of summer vacation for Italian grade school, middle school and high school students. This quorum had not been reached for over a decade on any referendum. This time the Italian people responded with 57% of the voters turning out to the polls and the Quorum being surpassed in every region of the country!!! 94% of the voters have voted SI to say NO to NUCLEAR POWER, This evening we'll be dancing and singing in the streets and celebrations have already started!!!! This vote on NUCLEAR ENERGY and WATER is not only a vote against the nuclear lobby and government here, but also a resounding rejection of the attempts by the US government and its NATO allies to force Italy into the nuclear arena. Let's hope that this victory can act as a boost to the anti-nuclear movement Internationally and in the United States that seems slowly coming to life in some hotspots.