Julie Dermansky /Photojournalist

Waterford3 nuclear power plant, located on the Mississippi River in the stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, is part of a large concentration of chemical and oil companies that was formerly referred to as the "Petrochemical Corridor," but now is know as "Cancer Alley." Many cases of cancer have occurred in communities on both sides of the river. Waterford 3 is directly across the street from a Mississippi RIver levee that was recently in danger of over topping, prompting the spillways to be opened. The record high levels of the Mississippi River in the spring of 2011 brought on by what some scientists classify as climate change, threaten the environment with the potential flooding of industrial complexes and nuclear facilities along the river.