Fort Calhoun plant returns to normal NRC oversight

The Fort Calhoun nuclear plant will return to normal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) oversight, a year-and-a-half after the facility 19 miles north of Omaha, Nebraska, was restarted following a 32-month shutdown.

NRC increased its oversight of the plant, operated by the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), following a 2011 refueling outage that was complicated by flooding, an electrical fire and issues with how the plant was being run. Since December 2011, the agency has spent thousands of hours inspecting, assessing and licensing the plant.

“Fort Calhoun Station has operated safely since plant restart,” NRC Region IV Administrator Marc Dapas said. “In addition, OPPD has made significant improvements to its corrective action program, continues to implement its long-term improvement plan and has effectively addressed the performance deficiencies that resulted in NRC’s increased oversight.”

NRC will continue to monitor the plant closely to make certain OPPD staff there lives up to its commitments.