Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant Goes Offline for Maintenance Work

Operators at the Omaha Public Power District’s Fort Calhoun Station nuclear power plant manually took the unit offline Monday morning to repair a water leak on one of the plant’s four reactor coolant pumps. The public, the employees and the plant remain safe.

Reactor coolant pumps are machines that move water through the plant as part of the reactor coolant system. The water was kept inside the plant’s containment structure, where it was collected and treated.

The timing of this maintenance outage was coordinated with the Southwest Power Pool to ensure reliability of the electrical grid. This maintenance outage will not cause an interruption of electrical service to OPPD customers as any additional energy that customers may need can be purchased through the grid. The duration of the maintenance outage depends on the extent of the repairs required.

OPPD is one of the largest customer-owned electric utilities in the United States, serving more than 360,000 customers in 13 counties in southeast Nebraska.

From Source: http://www.nbcneb.com/home/headlines/Fort-Calhoun-Nuclear-Power-Plant-Goes-Offline-for-Maintenance-Work-317662211.html