According to Dr. Bernard Shanks (bio: http://wildfishconservancy.org/...) the six dams upstream from the Ft. Calhoun and Cooper nuclear plants are in some danger of collapse. They are all between 50 and 70 years old, all in various states of disrepair and neglect, all filled to the brim, and they are all made of earth.
http://www.youtube.com/...
Here in an audio interview with KMOX St. Louis, Dr. Shanks envisions a failure of the Peck dam (the first and highest of the six, and one of the least stable) producing an inevitable domino effect further downstream. The consequences of such an event would be so horrific as to defy description.
The point of this diary is to emphasize the fact that this scenario is anything BUT beyond the realm of possibility. Maybe not yet in the realm of probability, but too close to it to be simply ignored. There is still a LOT of snow up in the mountains feeding this water system.
Mainstream news won't touch this story, but in light of recent events at Fukushima I find it to be pertinent and timely. Of course it's too late to do anything about it now, other than pray, but it speaks volumes about infrastructure neglect, nuclear "safety", climate change, foresight, and hindsight.