* VIDEO: Tour of Fort Calhoun Nuclear Plant after cleanup
Frustration and fear over the troubled nuclear reactor north of Omaha spilled into the open Thursday at a public meeting featuring federal regulators and Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station officials.
Images of the reactor surrounded by Missouri River floodwaters last summer left a stunning impression of its potential vulnerability.
Brian Kean of Missouri Valley, Iowa, took the reactor's owner to task for ongoing mistakes — beyond flooding — that have prompted heightened federal oversight.
His children are in harm's way if something goes wrong at the plant, Kean said.
"Iowa doesn't benefit from your plant. All we get is your risk," he said. "Why is it that the nuclear industry feels so entitled to endanger communities? Because, frankly, your performance is abysmal."
Fort Calhoun, owned by the Omaha Public Power District, is the first reactor in about 10 years to require the level of oversight it is receiving from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The federal agency has convened a special panel of experts to oversee the flood recovery and improvement process.
Additionally, the NRC has taken control of deciding when the plant can restart.
Troy Pruett, the NRC official who is heading up the panel, described the oversight under way as "extraordinary."
Jeff Clark, a regional NRC official, said the agency convened the panel for three basic reasons:
» Fort Calhoun has been offline for a long time, so typical benchmarks for performance can't be used to evaluate it. The plant was shut down April 9, when it went offline for routine maintenance.
» The workforce and administration have ongoing difficulties with problem-solving.
» An electrical fire in June posed potentially significant safety problems.
Clark said the NRC plans to keep the public informed, so it will return to Omaha this spring for another meeting. It also will set up a website dedicated to Fort Calhoun.
About 100 people attended Thursday's meeting at the Doubletree Hotel in downtown Omaha. Most were from OPPD and the NRC.
Questions from the public probed how the agency and utility will determine whether the plant will be safe to restart, given the potential for unseen flood damage and risk of future flooding.
Mike Ryan of Omaha asked for a detailed explanation of how officials would know that cables, piping and support structures had survived the flood.
Pruett said complete answers aren't available because that's the immediate task in front of the panel: figuring out how it will assess conditions at the site.
Over the course of the meeting, both OPPD and the NRC provided a broad answer to Ryan's question: detailed, methodical inspections are taking place.
"They've been down in the manholes looking for signs of flood damage, they've used ground-penetrating radar to determine if there has been any voiding of the subsoil, they've looked at underground cabling and piping. It's very systematic," Pruett said
Elmo Collins, regional head of the NRC, said the agency also is taking a fresh look at the flood threat to Fort Calhoun. The best available science will guide future decisions about the reactor, he said.
After the meeting, OPPD board member Lloyd Scheve said the public's skepticism was logical, given what's happened.
"We have a lot of work to do," Scheve said.
Board member Anne McGuire concurred.
"I would hope the public would know we are taking it seriously and will do everything we possibly can," McGuire said.
Gary Gates, president and chief executive officer of OPPD, said after the meeting that the changes required have to do with processes, not expensive equipment.
The current issues should not prompt a major rate hike. The utility, he said, will have a better idea on costs this spring.
Additionally, he said, he still believes the plant can resume operations this spring.
"The plant is in very good physical condition," Gates said.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1102, nancy.gaarder@owh.com
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