Energy Northwest plant back to full power

Energy Northwest's nuclear power plant near Richland is again operating at full power.

Work to free a stuck valve was finished Wednesday evening and the Columbia Generating Station was ramped up to 100 percent power just after midnight Thursday morning, said Energy Northwest spokesman John Dobken.

The Pacific Northwest's only commercial nuclear power reactor had been operating at 65 percent power because of the malfunctioning valve since the reactor reconnected to the grid in late June. It had been shut down for a 50-day refueling outage. The plant produces enough power to meet the electricity demand of a city the size of Seattle.

The valve is needed only in refueling outages and a full repair will be done in the next refueling outage in 2017, according to Energy Northwest.

This story was originally published July 23, 2015 at 10:17 AM with the headline "Energy Northwest plant back to full power."