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Richland Nuclear Power Plant Sets New Production Record by Staff Tri-City Herald, January 6, 2015

The nuclear power plant near Richland produced more electricity during 2014 than in any year in its 30-year history, Energy Northwest announced Tuesday.

The Columbia Generating Station sent nearly 9.5 million megawatt hours of electricity to the grid in the year just ended, beating its previous generation record of 9.3 million megawatt hours in 2012. The next year, 2013, the station had a planned refueling outage.

"During 2014 Columbia operated at a 98.6 percent capacity factor," said Mark Reddemann, chief executive of Energy Northwest. "That number directly reflects our team's commitment to excellence in performance."

The record production was the latest in a string of records set by the plant. Fiscal 2014, which ended in June, set a record for production during a fiscal year.

The plant also operated every day in 2014, breaking its record for consecutive days online in November and marking five years without an unplanned shutdown.

The Columbia Generating Station is the Northwest's only commercial nuclear energy plant. It generated 1,170 megawatts of electricity, which is sold at its cost to produce to the Bonneville Power Administration.