Richland nuclear plant reaches full power again
The nuclear power plant near Richland returned to full power at 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Energy Northwest’s Columbia Generating Station shut down automatically Dec. 18 when the Bonneville Power Administration had a problem with the 500 kilovolt line connecting the nuclear plant’s main output transformers to the nearby BPA substation.
The substation handles all of the electricity produced by the nuclear plant.
Columbia Generating Station was reconnected to the substation and began operating shortly before 11:30 p.m. Christmas Eve. Operators have been slowly raising the power level to 100 percent since then.
This story was originally published December 27, 2016 at 11:54 AM with the headline "Richland nuclear plant reaches full power again."