Elevations of Flood Protection at Fort Calhoun

This is a breakdown of the elevations above sea level of some crucial gear at the Fort Calhoun plant.  All of this data is taken directly from this World Herald article:
http://momaha.com/article/20110627/NEWS01/706279901

Water is currently at about 1006.5 feet above sea level.

Electrical switchyard:  Protected by a 9 foot earthen berm to 1010 feet.  (3.5 foot to go).  Of note here is that this type of berm has an increased chance of failure within the last couple feet.  They are building it up higher apparently. 

Electrical Components within the Switchyard:  Sandbagged individually to 1011 feet.

2 Backup Diesel Generators:  Protected to 1014 feet above sea level by unknown means.  Note we do not know what level these generators sit at, only the level to which they are protected.  (7.5 feet to go)

Secondary backup generators:  1036 feet.  (30 feet to go).

Spent Fuel Pool:  1038.5 feet.  Apparently this is up very high, which is good.  I would like to know the lowest height of the circuit for the coolant pumps.

Reactor height is not given.  OPPD states that it does not matter since the reactor is an air-tight fortified structure that can sit in the water.

Spent Fuel Dry Casks:  These are protected to 1014 foot and they say they weigh 88 tons and cannot float away.  These would need to be hermetically sealed as well as they are essentially mausoleums for cool spent fuel.  I can't figure out why they would have ever spent the time and money to store this radioactive fuel on such low ground though.

So OPPD also mentions a contingency plan to hook directly into overhead power transmission lines, which sounds a bit crazy but I'm sure there is a daredevil or two that can do it.  I assume this would be attempted if the water hit 1014 feet, as a measure on top of the back-up, back-up generators.

Well, the bottom line seems to be that 1010 feet above sea level is where it becomes a nailbiter.  At 1011 feet they lose external power for sure and are on diesel backups.  At 1014 the diesel backups are in trouble, and water will over take the dry cask storage.  Pretty much at 1014 they will be relying on miracles.  Luckily that is 7.5 foot of river swell to go.

Also the river is so wide now, it rises much more slowly, as noted in the World Herald article.  The Army Corps of Engineers predicts the river will crest not much higher than 1008 feet as long as the rains aren't too heavy in the northern plains.

Let's all hope for the best.