Gunderson: Intake Structure that cools reactor probably most vulnerable at Ft. Calhoun nuke plant
June 29, 2011
Interview on WBAI monday night.
AP video from June 27.
FORT CALHOUN, Neb., June 28 (UPI) — The Fort Calhoun, Neb., Nuclear Station, marooned by the flooding Missouri River, poses no immediate threat to the public, the top U.S. nuclear regulator said.
“The risk is really very low at this point that anything could go wrong,” Gregory Jaczko, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said in Omaha Monday after touring the idled facility.
Jaczko toured the station 19 miles north of Omaha to see the flooding at the nation’s smallest nuclear power plant, the Omaha World-Herald reported. The river was more than 2 feet up around the building with months of flood conditions remaining.
“It’s certainly clear that this is not an issue that’s going to go away anytime soon,” Jaczko said.
The Omaha Public Power District plant went offline more than 11 weeks ago for a scheduled refueling outage. The plant will remain idle indefinitely, district officials said.