$700M makeover at NW’s only nuclear power plant will power 100,000+ more homes

One of the largest electricity producers in Washington state will get a $700 million upgrade that would eventually power about as many homes as there are in the Tri-Cities and Yakima.

Plans are in place to increase the power of the Northwest’s only commercial nuclear power plant, the Columbia Generating Station in Eastern Washington, to boost electrical output by 162 megawatts within six years.

It would be enough electricity, which could be reliably produced around the clock, to power about 125,000 more homes.

With some additional energy efficiency upgrades to boost the reactor’s capacity by 24 megawatts, the total gain would be 186 megawatts.

“This is a great value for ratepayers in the Pacific Northwest,” said John Hairston, BPA administrator and chief executive officer, in a statement. “Upgrading an existing resource to provide additional reliable energy will help BPA keep pace with its customers growing electricity needs and keep rates low.

The project, called an extended power uprate, would be done over the next three biennial spring refueling outages in 2027, 2029 and 2031.

Columbia Generating Station, a 1,207-megawatt plant near Richland, is already the third-largest electricity generator in Washington state. It provides enough electricity to power approximately 1 million homes in the Pacific Northwest.

BPA approval

The plan to increase reactor output was approved by the Bonneville Power Administration on Tuesday following 18 months of analysis, Energy Northwest said.

BPA and Energy Northwest will collaborate on planning and implementation of the plant improvements.

Columbia Generating Station is owned and operated by Energy Northwest, but BPA markets the energy produced and pays for all of the costs that are included in the revenue requirements of the power services rate structure.

The increased output would be achieved by replacing and upgrading reactor equipment, including turbines, heat exchangers and the generator, Energy Northwest said.

Significant modifications would be needed on major pieces of equipment, but the work would coincide with equipment replacement already planned, BPA said on its website.

The upgrades include replacing aging equipment with components designed for better performance and to help the reactor operate reliably for another 20 or more years.

The reactor began commercial operation in late 1984 under a 40-year license that was issued a year earlier and already has been granted one 20-year license renewal.

About 30 individual upgrades, primarily focused on increasing the size of pumps and motors, are planned.

For the nuclear plant’s spring outage currently underway, 2,000 additional workers were hired and the upgrades planned for the next three outages will create more new job opportunities for skilled workers, Energy Northwest said.

During outages, a third of the reactor’s 764 fuel assemblies are swapped out for new ones and maintenance and other work that cannot be done while the plant is operating is undertaken.

Energy Northwest’s nuclear future

Nuclear energy facilities have successfully implemented extended power uprates since the 1970s to boost clean energy generation at existing plants, said Energy Northwest.

“We applaud BPA for its decision to approve this project and for its strategic vision in advancing our region’s future with additional, reliable capacity that nuclear energy can provide,” said Bob Schuetz, Energy Northwest chief executive officer.

“Their leadership in supporting this initiative underscores a commitment to affordable and carbon-free electricity for the Northwest region, including our public power member utilities and their customers,” he said.

Energy Northwest also is pursuing separately a plan to add a small modular nuclear reactor project using advanced X-energy reactors placed near the Columbia Generating Station.

It got a jump start in October when Amazon announced that it would pay for the initial feasibility phase of the project. The project, which would be developed in phases, could eventually have a total generating capacity of up to 960 megawatts.