August 8, 2009 in City

Workers rush to reopen plant

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YAKIMA – Crews were set to work through the weekend to clean up and repair damage caused by a fire at the Northwest’s only commercial nuclear power plant, which is losing power sales estimated at $800,000 a day, officials said.

The shutdown after Wednesday’s fire at the Columbia Generating Station in Richland hasn’t resulted in an electricity shortage in the region, thanks to recent cool weather following a week of record high temperatures.

Energy Northwest, a public power consortium, was formed as a Joint Operating Agency in 1957 to provide low-cost power for its publicly owned utility members.

The electricity is distributed through the Bonneville Power Administration.

BPA estimates the value of the lost power that could be generated at $800,000 a day at current power prices, spokesman Michael Milstein said.

The plant will remain offline until an investigation and all repairs have been completed. A spokesman declined to speculate how long that might take.

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