Columbia Generating Station

Nuclear Power Facility

Columbia Generating Station produces approximately 1,150 megawatts of electricity, equivalent to about 4 percent of all electric power used in the Pacific Northwest.

It is the only commercial nuclear power facility in the region. All of its output is provided to the Bonneville Power Administration at the cost of production under a formal “net billing” agreement in which BPA pays the costs of maintaining and operating the facility. 

Columbia began delivering power to the region in 1985. Since then it has provided billions of dollars worth of electricity while emitting virtually no greenhouse gases or carbon emissions commonly associated with natural gas, coal and other fossil fuel powered plants.

Benefit to the Region

Nuclear power is a reliable energy producer. Columbia is not dependent on weather conditions as are hydro, wind and solar generation facilities. Nuclear plants produce electricity 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

Columbia’s nuclear operators are able to adjust power levels to meet BPA needs at any given time. When water levels in the Columbia River are high and hydropower dams are producing full power, operators can reduce Columbia’s power to help meet regional needs.

Refueling and maintenance outages occur every other year and are scheduled when springtime water conditions in the Columbia River Basin are typically high, allowing the federal hydropower dams to produce ample supplies of power.

How Columbia Makes Electricity

Columbia operates like most thermal plants by boiling water into steam which in-turn spins a generator to make electricity. The nuclear plant uses uranium, a naturally occurring element, as the primary fuel source.

Heat is released when a subatomic particle, called a neutron, strikes (and is absorbed into) the nucleus of a uranium atom causing the nucleus to split. The splitting of the atom, called fission, produces heat and additional neutrons. The additional neutrons then cause other uranium atoms to fission, resulting in a self-sustaining chain reaction.

Each splitting of a uranium atom releases a relatively small amount of heat. Billions of atoms, however, are splitting in the fuel core every second collectively producing the heat necessary to boil the large volume of water in the reactor into high-pressure steam.

The steam is piped to large turbines, where it pushes blades that cause a shaft to spin at high speed (1,800 rpm). The turbine shaft is connected to the electricity generator, causing it to also spin and produce electricity.

After flowing through the turbines, the steam is cooled in a unit that condenses it back into liquid water.

The water is then pumped back to the reactor to be reheated and turned back into steam, repeating the steam cycle. The heat from the condenser, carried by non-radioactive water, is released into the air in the form of water vapor through six cooling towers located near the plant.

Controlling the amount of heat, or fission, in the reactor at any given time is the reactor operator’s responsibility. Control rods form a barrier between fuel assemblies, and can be moved in and out of the fuel core to prevent or regulate the nuclear chain reaction.

In boiling water reactors, control rods enter the core from the bottom and move upward. To stop the reaction completely, rods are fully inserted upward into the core. This can be done very quickly (within seven seconds). The rods can also be inserted partially to regulate reactor energy levels. 

Environmental Attributes

Since nuclear power plants do not emit air pollutants or greenhouse gases, nuclear power is considered "clean energy." The Nuclear Energy Institute estimates that the nation's 104 operating nuclear plants accounted for the avoidance of the following total emissions in 2009:

• 1.99 million short tons of sulfur dioxide

• 0.56 million short tons of nitrogen oxides

• 647 million metric tons of carbon dioxide

Emissions avoided by Columbia in 2009 were approximately: 

• 6,900 tons of sulfur dioxide

• 7,500 tons of nitrogen oxide

• 5,500,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide

All commercial nuclear plants create radioactive byproducts; the most significant being used nuclear fuel. Every two years Columbia is powered down for refueling. Fuel assemblies that have been in the reactor for six years are removed and placed in underwater storage in the reactor building before being moved to above ground dry storage. Energy Northwest has an on-site dry storage installation , which allows for storage of used fuel in specially designed and manufactured casks.

Even after six years powering the reactors, these used fuel rods still contain more than 95 percent of their energy potential. Recycling of used nuclear fuel – common practice in foreign countries but not yet in practice in the U.S. – will dramatically reduce the need for long-term storage facilities and minimize the need for additional uranium mining.

The production cost of nuclear power is relatively inexpensive. Columbia’s cost of power averages 3.37 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Information

Type: Boiling water reactor (nuclear)

Generating Capacity:  Approximately 1,150 megawatts (net)

Location: 10 miles north of Richland, WA

Site Size:  ~1,089 acres

History

Construction Permit Issued:  March 1973

NRC Issued Plant Operating License:  December 1983

Operating License December 2043

First Electricity Produced:  May 1984

Commercial Operation:  December 1984

First Refueling Completed:  April 1986