APNewsBreak: More issues found at Neb. nuke plant (AP)

OMAHA, Neb. – Several new problems have been found at a Nebraska power plant that suffered flood damage earlier this year, federal regulators said Tuesday, so inspectors will be watching the plant north of Omaha even more closely as repairs from flooding are made.

The tougher oversight for the Omaha Public Power District plant in Fort Calhoun will likely further delay its restart from early next year until sometime in the spring as it makes repairs from the summer flooding. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said none of the new issues represents a public safety threat, but the growing number of problems, combined with the prolonged shutdown, requires more scrutiny.

Fort Calhoun has been shut down since April, when it was being refueled. Flooding along the Missouri River then forced it to remain closed as floodwaters surrounded the plant.

NRC spokesman Victor Dricks told The Associated Press that the new problems at the plant include deficiencies in the Omaha Public Power District's emergency response and either a design or installation flaw that contributed to a fire in June. Inspectors also found flaws in the way the utility's analysis of how the plant would withstand different accident conditions such as earthquakes, tornadoes or loss of coolant.

The plant was already facing extra oversight because of the failure of a key electrical part during a test in 2010 and deficiencies in flood planning that were also found last year. Fort Calhoun might not be receiving so much attention if it hadn't had the other recent regulatory problems.

"In light of all that, the senior managers of the NRC are going to increase oversight at Fort Calhoun even further," Dricks said.

Utility officials began looking for ways to improve Fort Calhoun's operations earlier this year after the first couple of regulatory concerns were identified. The utility has submitted a detailed improvement plan to the NRC that regulators approved. The utility's chief nuclear officer, Dave Bannister, has acknowledged the performance problems at Fort Calhoun and promised to improve.

Utility officials say they are committed to doing whatever it takes to repair Fort Calhoun.

"OPPD has and will continue to aggressively and thoroughly address these issues until they are resolved," said utility President and CEO W. Gary Gates. "We are committed to returning Fort Calhoun Station to its normal high-performing plant status as soon as possible."

David Lochbaum, nuclear safety director at the advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists, said he could think of only a handful of times when the NRC has used this inspection approach, but that's partly because the nation's 65 nuclear power plants are rarely shut down as long as Fort Calhoun has been. He said many of the regulations the NRC uses to measure how well a nuclear plant is operating are based on things that happen while it is running.

Lochbaum praised the way the NRC is handling the situation.

"The good news is the NRC is doing its job," said Lochbaum, a former nuclear plant engineer.

At the height of the summer flooding, the Missouri River rose about 2 feet above the elevation of the base of the plant. The utility erected a network of barriers and set up an assortment of pumps to help protect its buildings. The plant remained dry inside, and officials said Fort Calhoun could withstand flooding up to 7 or 8 feet higher.

Two of the new violations are related to a small fire at Fort Calhoun that briefly knocked out the cooling system for used fuel in June. Temperatures at the plant never exceeded safe levels and power was quickly restored.

The utility declared an alert when the fire happened, but Dricks said it failed to notify state emergency response officials within 15 minutes, as required. NRC inspectors also determined that the part that caused the fire was either designed incorrectly or installed wrong.

Utility officials said last month that Fort Calhoun might resume generating electricity as early as January, but the additional inspections announced Tuesday will likely delay that a couple of months.

Before Tuesday's announcement, Fort Calhoun was one of only two nuclear power plants in the nation at level four of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's oversight system. This new move will put Fort Calhoun in a special category for plants that are shut down where regulators will have broad authority to conduct inspections.

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Online:

Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov

OPPD Fort Calhoun plan: http://www.oppd.com/AboutUs/22_007203

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APNewsBreak: Joplin victims offered existing homes (AP)

JOPLIN, Mo. – Some of the people left homeless by the Joplin tornado could be placed in rental homes nearly an hour's drive away, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said Monday it will consider bringing in trailers, as it did for New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, if enough homes are not available.

FEMA's first option for housing the thousands of displaced is to find them existing rental housing within a 55-mile radius of Joplin, because isn't much housing left in in the city of nearly 50,000 residents that was left badly damaged by the May 22 tornado, spokeswoman Susie Stonner told The Associated Press. Nearly a third of the city was damaged by the violent storm.

Stonner said that despite the distance, putting people in permanent housing is preferable to trailers — especially in an area prone to tornadoes and severe weather.

"Wouldn't you prefer to be in a stable building over a mobile home?" she asked. Stonner also noted that getting things like water, sewer lines and developing pads for trailers would take substantial time.

Temporary housing will be made available for up to 18 months. Some people along the Gulf Coast still live in FEMA trailers nearly six years after Hurricane Katrina.

Another FEMA spokesman, Bob Josephson, said the agency will consider bringing trailers to Joplin if enough existing housing isn't available. He said every effort will be made to find existing rental units closest to Joplin and that many residents may simply choose to find their own housing options.

People who lived in the 8,000 structures smashed in the storm have scattered to the homes of friends and relatives or camped out in emergency shelters in the city. Some may leave town — New Orleans lost nearly one-third of its population after Katrina.

Penny Musgraves is happy — and almost surprised — to be alive. But for Musgraves, whose low-income townhouse was ripped away above her head as she protected her cowering 6-year-old daughter, the joy of surviving is beginning to give way to confusion and anxiety about the future.

"I'm kind of scared," said the 45-year-old mother, who is unemployed and currently living with her daughter at the Red Cross shelter set up at Missouri Southern State University. "There isn't much low-income housing. I can't rent a place. I don't know what I'm going to do."

While many of the survivors had insurance, it could be months, if not years, before they can rebuild. Removing the millions of tons of debris and remaking the city's destroyed infrastructure will likely take well into the summer if not longer.

Rebuilding homes can't start until that work is finished. For low-income residents, the Housing Authority of Joplin provides some housing. But it was not known how many, if any, of the homeless it can accommodate.

Recent history suggests many people won't be able to wait for the answers to emerge or for the rebuilding to be completed. The current population could drop substantially.

New Orleans lost 29 percent of its population after Hurricane Katrina as residents left and settled elsewhere. Greensburg, Kan., which was leveled by a tornado in 2007, lost about half its population even though the town was rebuilt. It dropped from 1,574 before the tornado to 777 in 2010.

At the Red Cross shelter, 150 people seemed grateful for the cot, warm food and donations of clothing. Many were trying to figure out where to go next.

Ask 64-year-old William Whittenback where his home is, and he has a quick answer. "Plum off the map," the retiree said.

Whittenback and his 67-year-old wife, Lorna, narrowly made it through the tornado. The roof of the home they've lived in for 15 years collapsed, leaving Lorna with a massive gash on her forehead and her cheeks black and blue. Every house in their neighborhood was a total loss.

The couple has insurance, and Whittenback said he'll rebuild in the same spot. With no family in the area, though, he's wondering where they can live until then.

The weather brought Gerry Guitierrez to Joplin. Now it's forcing him to leave.

"What brought me here? Snow," said Guitierrez, a 29-year-old massage therapist who arrived in Missouri just last month from San Banito, Texas. "I love the cold weather and the snow. I wanted to stay. Now I've got to come up with the money to go back."

Guitierrez lived in an apartment with a friend. But since his friend's name was on the lease, not his, he doubts that FEMA will provide for him since he wasn't a registered resident of Joplin.

"How does it feel being homeless? Honestly, horrible," he said. "It's just so bad."

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