It's the Spent Fuel Pool, Stupid.

Flooded Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant

Fukushima may end up being the worst disaster the world has ever seen, yet, we hear very little, if anything about it as Japanese authorities struggle to contain the fallout, and the mainstream media follows corporate orders to remain silent on this issue.

Yet, the Japanese government was well aware of the meltdown taking place since the earliest days of the accident, yet, they refused to admit it until they were forced,   (Tepco later admitted that it was a melt through, far worse than a meltdown)... more than two months later.  They not only avoided the word, "meltdown", they maintained its line that Fukushima had only leaked 10% of the radiation of Chernobyl, knowing it was much worse!

“In the first days after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station began spewing radiation in mid-March, the plant’s operator and Japanese safety regulators studiously avoided the word “meltdown”.

Yes, they said, uranium fuel rods in the tsunami-hit facility’s reactors might have been damaged after cooling systems failed. But the official view was that the rods were still mostly intact – and radioactive material was safely contained inside their zirconium sheaths.

Now, a little over two months later, new information on the state of Fukushima Daiichi’s three overheated reactors is making the m-word impossible to avoid. Fuel inside the cores, it is now understood, melted far more quickly and extensively than was initially believed – disintegrating just a few hours after the tsunami knocked out the plants electricity."

So, following right along, in Japan's footsteps,  the disinformation begins.

Disinformation: "no fly-over zone since 9/11":

The recently ordered no-fly zone over Fort Calhoun's nuclear island is now being reported that there has been a no-fly zone over nuclear power plants in the U.S., since 9/11. On June 6th, the FAA issued a directive banning aircraft from entering the airspace within a two-mile radius of the plant. OPPD spokesman Jeff Hanson said the flight ban was due to high power lines and 'security reasons that we can't reveal.' He said the flight ban remains in effect.Since 9/11, a "no-hover" or "no-loitering" order's been in place over nuclear power plants throughout the US.

Disinformation: "no-need-to-worry":

There is  no need to panic; nevertheless, there is much more to worry about, here, than the future agenda of Wiener's wiener that dominates the mainstream media right now. You will hear or read that because the plant is "shut down", there is no need to worry. However, considering the plant was shut down to refuel, that means the reactor head has been taken off the reactor, exposing the core; therefore it's even more vulnerable to security issues.  In addition, it's impossible to shut down a nuclear plant completley due to the "spent" fuel rods that need constant cooling, because, in reality, they aren't fully spent, nor are they fully cooled. As is the case with reactor # 4 at Fukishima, the rods will be active for centuries.  In other words, the real threat here is ensuring that spent fuel rods stay cool.

 In addition, the NRC ordered six new boats in order to transport their employees to and from the plant.

Whether or not this turns out to be nothing, or the story that ends all stories is not the issue, as much as, where the hell is news media, and what good are they when all they report on is bullshit

Oh, wait, NBC (GE) and CBS (Westinghouse) makes nuclear reactors.

Update:

Facility: FORT CALHOUN
Notification Date: 06/16/2011
Notification Time: 14:46 [ET]
Event Date: 06/16/2011
Event Time: 12:30 [CDT]
Event Text: ADDITIONAL PENETRATION IDENTIFIED FOR MITIGATION DURING WALKDOWN
“Operations identified a potential flooding issue in the Intake Structure 1007 ft. 6 in. level. The area of concern is a the hole in the floor at the 1007 ft. 6 in. level where the relief valve from FP-1A discharge pipe goes through the raw pump bay and discharges into the intake cell. There is one penetration of concern. Flooding through this penetration could have impacted the ability of the station’s Raw Water (RW) pumps to perform their design accident mitigation functions.“Efforts are in progress to seal the penetration.

“This eight-hour notification is being made pursuant to 10 CFR 50.72 (b)(3)(v).”
The licensee notified the NRC Resident Inspector.

Links:

Beyond Nuclear

Locations of Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations

Tepco Failed to Disclose Scale of Fukushima Radiation Leaks, Academics Say

World Nuclear Power Reactors & Uranium Requirements