Dozens of towns, one oil refinery and 3 nuke plants about to be flooded by the Mississippi flood

This is quite something... a one every 500 years flood?

Here Are The Refineries And Nuclear Power Plants Threatened If The Morganza Spillway Is [Opened|Shut]

As we reported previously, Obama has found himself on the verge of another environmental scandal now that he has no choice but to redirect the Mississippi river via the Morganza spillway - either lose millions in barrels of daily refined production and potentially the impairment of the Colonial Pipeline, two events which would promptly cause gas prices to soar to new records, or redirect the river via the Spillway, and cause the flooding of millions of acres, and numerous towns and cities, and possibly another New Orelans bases crisis. It seems Obama has picked the lesser of two evils: i.e., protect the oil: "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said on Friday it anticipates opening the Morganza Spillway on the western bank of the swollen Mississippi River to divert floodwaters into the Atchafalaya River basin and protect Baton Rouge, Louisiana, New Orleans and refineries from flooding. The Corps of Engineers had been planning next week to open the spillway, about 45 miles (72 km) northwest of Baton Rouge, but could do so as soon as Saturday as high water continues making its way downriver." On the other hand, opening the spillway will also lead to plant impairments: " Opening the spillway will disrupt operations at Alon USA Energy's 80,000-bpd Krotz Springs, Louisiana, refinery. An Alon spokesman said on Friday that the plant was operating normally as crews continued to build a second levee to prevent Atchafalaya River waters from flooding the refinery within 10 to 14 days of the Morganza opening. The new levee will supplement existing levees."

But that's not all... 3 nuclear power plants are also in big trouble :

And there is more: it appears that not only are refineries in danger, but three nuclear power plants are also in danger of being flooded: Entergy's 1,176-megawatt Waterford nuclear plant in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana; its 978-megawatt River Bend nuclear plant in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, and the 1,268-megawatt Grand Gulf nuclear station in Clairborne County, Mississippi."

This is truly disgusting. And 3 nuclear power plants might be flooded... and one oil refinery too... that's so nice.

Anyway this whole situation is awful, hopefully the flooding stops and the levees stand.

I hope the nuclear power plants engineers are smarter than those who built Fukushima and I hope they don't have spent nuclear fuel pools in areas where it might be flooded... because otherwise it won't be pretty.

Yea, I would hate to see what a flood combined with oil everywhere would do!

His name is Robert Paulson!

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/bef4abbd5928.jpg[/atsimg]

You guys are too defensive, even when people agree with you, but not your source!

Originally posted by AnteBellum
Yea, I would hate to see what a flood combined with oil everywhere would do!

xxx

Except it would be flooding a refinery... and they have about a week to get all that oil out of there. So...

And oil isn't just laying there in the refinery.

And sorry but nuclear power plants that could go into meltdown is way worse than a little oil.

reply to post by Vitchilo


From personal experience oil washes off of my doggies fine.
I cannot say the same of radioactivity.
Bad planning, bad response, just bad all the way around is how I see it.

I'd rather have an oily flood than a radioactive flood.

You poor Americans what the hell is your government doing. I thought we had it bad over here in the UK with extremely high fuel prices, human rights for prisoners and illegal immigrants .. The list goes on. But your country is getting ruined. I'd live to see the landscape sites in the US im sure there are areas of natural beauty and your government is wrecking it for the black gold.

I don't know how trustworthy this article is, so I will reserve judgement. However, the article has no sources and it is written by a guy who has named himself after a character from the movie "Fight Club".

OP, could you provide some additional sources?

Originally posted by Aggie Man
I don't know how trustworthy this article is, so I will reserve judgement. However, the article has no sources and it is written by a guy who has named himself after a character from the movie "Fight Club".

OP, could you provide some additional sources?

Well Zerohedge is very reliable... they never make stuff up. Many people here can confirm this.

Originally posted by Vitchilo

Originally posted by Aggie Man
I don't know how trustworthy this article is, so I will reserve judgement. However, the article has no sources and it is written by a guy who has named himself after a character from the movie "Fight Club".

OP, could you provide some additional sources?

Well Zerohedge is very reliable... they never make stuff up. Many people here can confirm this.

I'm not questioning Zerohedge's reliability. I'm questioning the source of the writer's information that the power plants may flood. Is that just the writer's speculation or is it based on any empirical data?

reply to post by Aggie Man


I find zerohedge to be an awesome source of news.If they don't open the Spillway, at least one nuke plant will have some problems. Here is an article. I haven't researched any others.

af.reuters.com...

You say if the Morganza floodway is opened.

I thinks its not 'if' anymore.

www.nola.com...

Best of luck guys.

Originally posted by Aggie Man
I'm questioning the source of the writer's information that the power plants may flood. Is that just the writer's speculation or is it based on any empirical data?

Well empirical data is hard to come by since a big flood like that in that area never happened since nuclear power was invented.

Corps flood scenarios

But about the nuclear power plant they say would be flooded...
Grand Gulf Nuclear Generating Station
Seems it won't be flooded under any scenario.

As for River Bend Nuclear Generating Station it is also very near the Mississippi...

Under all scenarios : flooded.

And Waterford Nuclear Generating Station too.

Flooded under scenario 2.

Fact is, all those three reactors use nuclear energy and steam to produce energy.... so they need water... water they get from the Mississippi... So if the Mississippi floods a great deal, those plants get flooded.

Originally posted by Vitchilo
Well empirical data is hard to come by since a big flood like that in that area never happened since nuclear power was invented.

Certainly, most things in close proximity to the river will flood; however, there are also certainly highs spots in the topography of the land that would sit above the projected crest of the flood.

The empirical evidence that I am looking for is the specific elevations of the power plants and how those elevations compare to river crest projections.

reply to post by Aggie Man

The empirical evidence that I am looking for is the specific elevations of the power plants and how those elevations compare to river crest projections.

Well that I don't know. We would need more detailed projected flood plans... and nuclear power plants plans... with where are the reactors... and where are the spent nuclear fuel rods pools.

I guess we'll only know when it'll be too late.

I just read this on CNN.com

Some officials said Thursday that spillover effects resulting from the flood could threaten other industries. That includes the possibility that the Waterford 3 nuclear power plant in Taft, Louisiana, could be closed, according to CNN affiliate WGNO.

The Mississippi River is expected to crest at 26.6 feet in Taft on May 23. If it reaches 27 feet, officials told WGNO, the plant's water intake system could shut down.

Carl Rhode of Entergy, the plant's operator, told WGNO that the threat to the intake system is not a matter of nuclear safety.

www.cnn.com...

reply to post by Aggie Man

Carl Rhode of Entergy, the plant's operator, told WGNO that the threat to the intake system is not a matter of nuclear safety.

And Fukushima is all safe... of course.

Oh wait... they did admit a meltdown... 2 months later, when no one is watching...

You cannot expect them to tell the truth. We shall see.

There seems to be some confusion on this thread. Go to nola.com, wwl.com, thedeadpelican.com, or any other louisiana based site. The river flood is pretty much what everyone is talking about down here. Opening the Morganza Spillway is a necessity to ensure the safety of Louisiana's two largest population centers. Opening the Spillway also makes the Louisiana Nuclear Plants safer (Not sure about how it will affect the Miss plant if at all). It will bring flooding to several small, rural communities. As it stands, Baton Rouge is already experiencing some sandboils and levee saturation. N.O. should be fine as long as the Morganza opens. It sucks that the small communities around the Atchafalaya Basin will flood and Morgan City and Houma will likely have some issues, but opening the Morganza will ensure safety for the largest number of people, at the cost of flooding for a small few, many of whom knowingly built in a projected flood plain. One that was bound to be flooded by the opening of the spillway structure. It is what the Spillway was built for. To act as a safety valve so that the Flood of 27 would never occur again. As a New Orleans kid, I feel sorry for the Cenla folks about to get flooded, but a levee failure in NO or BR would have catastrophic consequences that would make Hurricane Katrina seem like a little rainstorm.

Maybe its Gods will, like some said Japans earthquake and tsunami was Japans own fault because of Pearl Harbour, maybe this time its because of the 2 nukes on Japan.

God works in mysterious ways indeed.

reply to post by louieprima


I wonder what would happen to the nuke plants if the Old River control structure fails and the mississippi changes course down the Achafalaya river. Apparently it almost failed in the 1970's flood. I think thats something real interesting.

Watch the video report about it.

www.fox8live.com...

If the old River Structure fails, the nuke plant and all the refineries and chemical plants will be in deep doodoo since they rely on the Mississippi River for cooling. It would also effectively turn New Orleans into a salt water port.