Northwest heat wave puts nuclear power plant near Tri-Cities under ‘no touch’ order
The Northwest’s only nuclear power plant is under a “no touch” order to help keep air conditioners pumping out cool air during hotter-than-usual early September weather throughout the region.
The plant was also under a no-touch order for nine days in August from the 14th through the 22nd.
The latest order was issued by the Bonneville Power Administration this week as possible new record highs were forecast for Friday.
In the Northwest, the hot weather is expected to continue next week with temperatures in the high 90s in Eastern Washington and in the 80s and near 90 in Tacoma, Olympia and the Seattle area.
“When we have these extreme temperatures, the region relies on the full-time capacity that nuclear energy has to offer,” said Brad Sawatzke, Energy Northwest chief executive.
Columbia Generating Station near Richland has the capability to produce 1,207 megawatts of electricity, which is equivalent to the amount needed to power a city the size of Seattle and its metro area. It is the third largest electricity generator in the state of Washington.
BPA occasionally requests a “no touch” order for the nuclear plant when unusually hot or cold weather causes demand for electricity to peak.
The order restricts maintenance activities at the the nuclear reactor and related facilities that would either require a reduction in power or would pose a risk to sustaining 100% production.
Keeping the plant fully operational helps protect BPA from having to purchase power on the open market to supply utilities. When demand for electricity rises, so do the market prices for the power available for BPA to purchase.
Near-record generation
BPA markets electricity produced mostly by the Columbia Generating Station and hydropower projects, providing about 28% of the electric power used in the Northwest.
“We would be hard pressed to find another resource right now that is carbon free and provides the same amount of power and reliability as Columbia Generating Station,” said Kieran Connolly, BPA’s vice president of generating asset management.
Energy Northwest and BPA are working together under a new agreement that offers more options for quickly increasing or decreasing the nuclear power plant’s power generation to help provide a steady load to the electrical grid, a requirement for grid stability.
Earlier this summer it reduced power generation at BPA’s request to help the federal power marketing administration with economic supply and demand management. Hydropower was plentiful at the time.
The station produced nearly 9.6 million megawatt-hours of electricity during the fiscal year that ended this summer, its third-highest annual generation record.
Without the power reduction requested by BPA, it would have produced more than 10 million megawatt hours for the first time in a fiscal year.
This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Northwest heat wave puts nuclear power plant near Tri-Cities under ‘no touch’ order."