Fort Calhoun Station nuclear reactor restart hearing with OPPD and NRC is tomorrow 9/24. The meeting will be held from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Comfort Inn and Suites near 72nd Street and Interstate 80 in Omaha. We need you there!!! Fort Calhoun Station Nuclear Power Background Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station is a nuclear reactor located on the bank of the Missouri River about 20 miles north of Omaha, Nebraska. It is owned and operated by Omaha Public Power District (OPPD). The management of the reactor has now been contracted to Exelon Corporation. The reactor was first licensed in 1973. In June of 2011 the reactor was surrounded by floodwater from the Missouri River. Fortunately, the reactor was shut down at the time for refueling. During the time the reactor was flooded, a fire broke out due to improper installation of electrical circuit breakers. The fire resulted in a “red” finding by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the most severe status for a nuclear reactor. When the floodwaters receded and the NRC was able to enter the facility for inspection, numerous problems, many having been present and ignored for many years, were discovered. This led to Fort Calhoun being placed on a special oversight status, called 0350. In June of 2012, the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club filed what is called a 2.206 petition, asking that the NRC revoke Fort Calhoun’s license. On May 13, 2013, the NRC’s Petition Review Board accepted four issues for review: ● Structural support beams and columns are not within allowable limits for stress and loading. ● Flood protection measures at Fort Calhoun are inadequate and create an on-going, high-risk danger to public safety. ● The flood risks of the six dams upstream of Fort Calhoun are either unevaluated or unresolved. ● 614 primary reactor containment electrical penetration seals containing Teflon had not been replaced, even though the NRC notified all reactor operators almost 20 years ago that Teflon seals should be replaced. The 2.206 petition has not yet been ruled upon and is still pending. As OPPD and Exelon make modifications to the Fort Calhoun reactor, it is clear that the reactor will need a license amendment for these modifications. NRC regulations, 10 C.F.R. § 50.59, require a license amendment for any modification that affects safety. The primary modifications that we believe require a license amendment are: ● Modifications for flood protection, including for protection of severe flooding in the event of upstream dam failures. ● Reconstituting the design basis and licensing basis documents. ● Modifications to repair or replace the inadequate structural beams and columns. ● Modifications necessary to address the problem that the Fort Calhoun reactor was built above karst terrain.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 19:27:14 +0000
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