I also thought it strange the way the news about the first nuclear plant shut-down was reported. (I hadn't heard about the second one.) This author provides a much more realistic picture of the possible dangers that flood-waters can cause to these nuclear plants.
While neither of these shutdowns is considered catastrophic, they are not as trivial as the plant operators and federal regulators would have you believe. First, emergency shutdowns–scrams–are not stress-free events, even for the most robust of reactors. As discussed here before, it is akin to slamming the breaks on a speeding locomotive. These scrams cause wear and tear aging reactors can ill afford.On second thought it became clear to me that if there actually were real threats posed to these plants that could lead to catastrophes, mainstream media would handle such reports precisely this way.