Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station Gets Green Light from Federal Regulators to Restart

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Released by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station, which is located in Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, began restarting on Tuesday, December 17, 2013. It will take five or six days to attain full power, said Jeff Hanson, a spokesman for Omaha Public District, which owns the station.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission "has concluded that the plant, people and processes are ready to support the safe restart of the Fort Calhoun Station," regional administrator Marc Dapas said Tuesday in a letter to the utility.

The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station has been given the green light from federal regulators to restart after being idled for almost three years. Fort Calhoun, which sits across from Iowa on the Missouri River, initially shut down in April 2011 for scheduled routine maintenance and refueling. But significant flooding, a small fire and a series of safety violations forced it to remain closed.

Since then, OPPD has spent $177 million to recommission the plant. Federal inspectors spent 23,000 hours reviewing the progress, and Fort Calhoun employees clocked 8 million worker-hours to return the plant online.

Omaha Public District also hired a private consultant, Exelon Corporation (NYSE:EXC), to manage the plant at a cost of more than $20 million for the first year.

"My thanks to everyone at Fort Calhoun Station who has put in long hours over many months to bring this about," OPPD Chief Executive Gary Gates said in a press release. "I also thank everyone companywide who supported the safe restart of the plant. All of you have made sacrifices to help make this happen."

Federal oversight and public meetings will continue. In addition to the two resident inspectors at the plant, three NRC inspectors will stay on site to observe the restart, and the agency said it is planning more meetings to keep the public up to date on the plant's progress.

The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station has one generating unit, which began operations in 1973, and a total generating capacity of 482 megawatts when at full load.

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