( CNN ) -- The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is expected Monday to visit a Nebraska power plant surrounded by Missouri River floodwater . The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station , about 20 miles north of Omaha , Nebraska , is one of two in the state that has been getting increased attention from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission amid historic flooding along the Missouri River . The Fort Calhoun plant , which has been shut down since April for refueling , has as much as two feet of water in places . The plant 's parking lot is among the areas flooded , requiring plant workers to navigate a catwalk to reach the plant . The other plant , Cooper Nuclear Station , sits on higher ground and continues to operate . NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko is scheduled to visit the Fort Calhoun plant on Monday morning . Although an inflatable water-filled structure called an aqua berm surrounding the plant was punctured by machinery early Sunday morning , key areas of the facility are not in danger of being flooded , the NRC and the owner of the Fort Calhoun plant said . `` The plant is still protected . This was an additional , a secondary , level of protection that we had put up , '' said Mike Jones , a spokesman for the Omaha Public Power District . `` The plant remains protected to the level it would have been if the aqua berm had not been added . '' Plant workers briefly switched to diesel backup generators to keep nuclear fuel at the site cool because water had gotten too close to electrical transformers , Jeff Hanson , a spokesman for the utility , said Monday . The plant was again drawing power from the electrical grid , he said . In addition to the berm , authorities have put in place floodgates , sandbags and other barriers to help protect the facility . As precautions , workers have been given satellite phones and extra food is stockpiled at the plant according to the NRC . Plant managers also have brought in additional diesel fuel should the site lose electricity , according to the NRC . The aqua berm -- an 8-foot-tall , water-filled berm , 16 feet wide at its base -- surrounded the reactor containment structure and auxiliary buildings , according to the NRC . A representative of the manufacturer is at the plant helping assess whether the berm can be repaired , Hanson said . With or without the berm , the chances of floodwater getting into the building where the core is kept are almost zero , said Dave Van Der Kamp , with the Nebraska Public Power District . The plant is designed to withstand water up to 1,014 feet above mean sea level , according to the Omaha Public Power District . The river currently stands at 1,006.3 feet and is not expected to exceed 1,008 feet , the OPPD said . `` We built the plant up high enough based on history , based on the flooding in the past . If the flood would rise for some reason above that level we have taken precautions , again , per our procedures to sandbag the important equipment for the reactors , '' Van Der Kamp said . It was catastrophic flooding from Japan 's March 11 tsunami that knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant , resulting in three reactors melting down and producing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl . This year 's Midwestern flooding has also led to a spate of rumors about the Fort Calhoun plant that OPPD and the NRC have been trying to knock down . The utility has set up a `` flood rumor control '' page to reassure the public that there has been no release of radioactivity from the plant . An electrical fire June 7 did knock out cooling to its spent fuel storage pool for about 90 minutes , but the coolant water did not reach a boiling point before backup pumps went into service , it has said . Heavy rainfall in Montana and North Dakota , combined with melting snow from the Rocky Mountains , have sent the Missouri surging downstream this summer . The river washed over and punched through levees in northwestern Missouri , spurring authorities to urge about 250 nearby residents to leave their homes . The 6 to 12 inches of rainfall in the upper Missouri basin in the past few weeks is nearly a normal year 's worth , and runoff from the mountain snowpack is 140 % of normal , according to forecasters . The Missouri River is forecast to remain at record or near-record levels from south of Omaha all the way to Atchison , Kansas , into next week . The flooding is affecting communities in Nebraska , Kansas and Missouri . CNN 's Patrick Oppmann and Ed Payne contributed to this report .
NEW : Aqua berm manufacturer at Nebraska power plant for a repair effort . The inflatable berm surrounding key buildings deflated Sunday . Comment: Some of the grounds are under water .