A Non-Event
The Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant is not in any danger of melting down. It has been in cold shutdown since early Spring for maintenance and wasn’t restarted because of the floods. The fuel is not in the reactor, it is in a fuel pond outside the reactor. Any kind of pump can circulate the cooling water for the fuel pond, as it isn’t a high pressure system that is used in reactors.
They only need one back-up generator to supply power to the facility, and they have three on site.
The FAA didn’t place a flight restriction over the Fort Calhoun site, they reminded people that there have been flight restrictions imposed over all nuclear sites following 9-11. It was a reaction to the media violating those restrictions to get video of the plant.
As an additional safety measure, they installed a giant temporary berm that is a large plastic and fabric tube filled with water. Someone punctured it with ground equipment and the water leaked inside. As the water was approaching an electrical transformer, they switched to a back-up generator while they fixed the berm and cleaned up the water.
Fort Calhoun is probably the safest nuclear facility in the world at the moment. They have a team of NRC inspectors on site, and they have other resources in the area, that are well in excess of what was available to Japan. The Strategic Command is headquartered at Offutt AFB south of Omaha, and there are rumors that they have nuclear accident response capabilities for some reason.
If this flood had occurred last year, Fort Calhoun would have been a major concern because they had been dragging their heels at fixing a lot of deficiencies. That is why they have NRC team on site. Fort Calhoun was required to fix everything and pass an in depth inspection before it would have been allowed to restart. That is why it is probably the single most prepared facility in the US for flooding, and why they have three back-up generators, instead of two.
Yes, you need high ground clearance and hip-waders if you drive to the plant because the parking lot is flooded, but that is the worst of their problems.
