Columbia Generating Station was shut down early in the morning of Feb. 12 after operators found issues with the pumps circulating water through the reactor’s core. 

The nuclear power plant north of Richland, which generates more than 1,200 megawatts of electrical power, has not had an unplanned outage in nearly a decade. Energy Northwest said in a release that the facility is in a safe and stable condition following a controlled manual shutdown by operators at 2:49 a.m. 

It is not known when the power plant will be brought back online. 

“Safety is always our top priority, and our team took conservative steps consistent with our commitment to protecting the plant and the public,” said Dawn Sileo, executive vice president and chief nuclear officer, in a statement. “While an unplanned outage is not our desired operating state, this response reflects our dedication to being a reliable and top-performing energy provider for the region.”  

Technical staff are focused on evaluating the power plant’s reactor recirculation pumps in determining when the station can be brought back online.  

The power plant was last offline for its routine refueling process nine months ago. A week after it was reconnected to the grid operators disconnected it for several days to rebalance its turbines. 

It was during the recent refueling process that a $700 million deal between Energy Northwest and Bonneville Power Administration to upgrade the 42-year-old power plant was announced. 

Planned improvements include equipment upgrades affecting 30 individual components, ranging from turbines, heat exchangers and the generator itself, along with increasing the size of motors and pumps. Already the region’s third largest energy generation source, the improvements will add 162 megawatts to its current power output by 2031. 

Additionally, 24 megawatts of energy-efficiency upgrades will be incorporated during the next three refueling outages in 2027, 2029 and 2031, bringing the total increase to 186 megawatts. 

Energy Northwest is also working on a separate initiative with Amazon and X-energy to deploy small modular nuclear reactors, or SMRs, near the Columbia Generating Station.  

Demand for energy in the Mid-Columbia continues to climb significantly in the coming years, and only in part because of population growth. Companies tied to artificial intelligence technology are eyeing the region for their energy-hungry data centers.