Midwest Floods: Waters Breach Berm at Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station in Nebraska

http://abcnews.go.com/US/minot-north-dakota-floods-community/story?id=13932406&cid=ESPNheadline

By DAVID KERLEY (@David_Kerley) and MICHAEL S. JAMES
MINOT, N.D., June 26, 2011
A berm at a nuclear power plant in Fort Calhoun, Neb., collapsed early this morning, allowing Missouri River flood waters to reach containment buildings and transformers and forcing the shutdown of electrical power.

Tonight, backup generators are cooling the nuclear material at the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station.

The plant has not operated since April, and officials say there is no danger to the public.

A spokesman for the Omaha Public Power District, Jeff Hanson, told The Associated Press that the breached berm wasn't critical to protecting the plant, though a crew will look at whether it can be patched.

"That was an additional layer of protection we put in," Hanson said.

Nevertheless, federal inspectors are on the scene, and the federal government is so concerned the head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is headed to the plant.

There was no protecting thousands of homes in Minot, N.D., where massive flooding of the Souris River hit its peak today, flooding more than 4,000 homes, including Leslie Dull's.

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