The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located on 660 acres (270 ha) between Fort Calhoun, and Blair, Nebraska adjacent to the Missouri River between mile markers 645.6 and 646.0. The utility has an easement for another 580 acres (230 ha) which is maintained in a natural state. The power plant is owned and operated by the Omaha Public Power District of Omaha, Nebraska and normally accounts for 25 percent of OPPD's net generation capabilities. The plant has been shut down since April 2011 because regulators have found several problems.
This plant has one Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor generating 484 megawatts of electricity. This is currently the smallest rated capacity among all operating commercial power reactors in North America, and as a single-unit plant, this also qualifies it as the smallest rated capacity nuclear power plant. OPPD's two Nebraska City coal-fired plants at 682 (opened 2009) and 649 (opened 1979) MW are both significantly larger.
Fort Calhoun houses spent fuel rods in a 40 foot deep spent fuel pool next to the reactor, and when the pool had nearly reached capacity in 2006, OPPD began to store spent fuel rods above ground in dry cask storage as well. In total, the Ft. Calhoun reactor has 600,000 to 800,000 pounds of high level nuclear waste. The storage was not designed to house spent fuel permanently, but when plans for Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository were terminated, OPPD stated that they are "prepared to safely store material on-site as long as necessary".
The plant underwent refurbishment in 2006 by having its steam generators, pressurizer, reactor vessel head, low pressure turbines and main transformer replaced. In 2003, the plant had its operating license renewed for an additional twenty years. With the renewal, the license for Fort Calhoun was extended from August 9, 2013, to August 9, 2033.
The 2011 Missouri River floods surrounded the plant with flood water. The nuclear reactor had been shut down and defueled in April 2011 for scheduled refueling. A fire caused electricity to shut off in the spent fuel pools resulting in 90 minutes without cooling qualifying as a "red event", signifying a high-level threat to Fort Calhoun operations. As of May 2012, the plant remains closed due to "extensive inspections and repairs needed" and is not expected to reopen until Fall 2012. The flood and resulting fire was called "one of the most serious safety incidents in recent years".
In August 2012 OPPD signed a deal for Exelon Nuclear Partners to manage the plant although OPPD would maintain ownership.
Read more about Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station: Surrounding Population, Seismic Risk, Flooding Risk, Events
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