Region IV

 OMAHA, Neb | Mon Aug 15, 2011 1:29pm EDT

 (Reuters) - About 120 Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station employees moved back into the flooded plant's administration building on Monday.

 The plant, which was idled April 9 for routine refueling and maintenance, remained shut down this summer after Missouri River floodwater spread across the riverside site near Blair, Nebraska, in June.

 The river has dropped about two feet since its crest, allowing workers to dismantle elevated walkways and parking lots to reopen at the 478-megawatt plant.

U.S.NRC Blog

Posted by Moderator on June 28, 2011

 Chairman Jaczko views flood preparations at Cooper nuclear power station near the Missouri River.

The Missouri River usually meanders past Nebraska towns like Fort Calhoun, Omaha and Brownville at a placid 5-7 m.p.h. These days it’s racing past at about 15 m.p.h., and spreading out over the surrounding farmland, turning the rich Midwestern soil into a boggy light brown bayou. And it’s creeping up around the two nuclear plants – Ft. Calhoun and Cooper — that sit hard by the Missouri upstream and downstream of Omaha.

NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko visited both plants this week and also flew over the Fort Calhoun plant. He was checking in with the full-time NRC staff who work at the plants and the reinforcements the agency has sent to these sites, talking with plant officials and workers, and inspecting the substantial flood preparations made at both plants.

An aerial view of the Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant in eastern Nebraska, surrounded by Missouri River flood waters June 24, 2011.  Credit: Reuters/Lane Hickenbottom

By Michael Avok

BROWNVILLE, Neb | Mon Jun 27, 2011 12:06am EDT

BROWNVILLE, Neb (Reuters) - A top regulator said on Sunday that a nuclear power plant threatened by flooding from the swollen Missouri River was operating safely and according to standards.

"I got to see a lot of efforts they're taking to deal with flooding and the challenges that presents," Gregory Jaczko, the chairman of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said after touring the Cooper Nuclear Station near the village of Brownville and meeting with plant officials and executives.

"Right now, we think they're taking an appropriate approach. This is a plant that is operating safely and meeting our standards," he added.