RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — Workers at the Northwest’s only nuclear power reactor are nearly midway through the longest refueling outage in the 26-year history of the plant.
About one-third of the uranium fuel rods are being replaced at the Columbia Generating Station on the Hanford nuclear reservation. The plant’s condenser is also being replaced in the $154 million project.
Operators are giving reporters a look Tuesday at the progress. The nuclear plant generates enough electricity for a city the size of Seattle.
The outage began April 6 and is scheduled to end June 15. Spring was selected for the outage because the Bonneville Power Administration is getting plenty of electricity this time of year from hydroelectric dams.
