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Columbia Generating Station back online after manual shutdown; FSEC opens 14‑day SEPA comment period on warehouse addendum
Summary
Energy Northwest reported a manual shutdown of Columbia Generating Station on Feb. 12 to repair a glycol cooling filter that caused reactor recirculation pumps to trip; the plant returned to the grid Feb. 17. Separately, Energy Northwest asked FSEC to be SEPA lead for two warehouses; FSEC posted an addendum and opened a 14‑day public comment period.
Energy Northwest notified the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council that Columbia Generating Station was taken offline on Feb. 12 after a cooling system fault in the glycol system caused both reactor recirculation pump drives to trip. Katie Hall, speaking for Energy Northwest, said operators performed repairs and testing while the station remained in a safe, stable condition throughout outage and restart activities. Columbia returned to the grid on Feb. 17 at about 3:30 p.m.; operators were raising output toward 100% the following day.
"The station remained in a safe, stable condition throughout the outage and restart activities," Hall said.
Separately, Energy Northwest requested FSEC serve as SEPA lead for a proposal to construct two 16,500‑square‑foot warehouses and associated laydown yards on roughly 5.7 acres of previously disturbed land adjacent to the plant. Sean Green reported that FSEC and the utility agreed FSEC should serve as lead; staff found no likely significant adverse environmental impacts and recorded an addendum to the Columbia Generating Station EIS. FSEC opened a 14‑day public comment period on Feb. 18 that will run through March 3.
Councilors thanked Energy Northwest staff for the updates and said they appreciated the safety work and the rapid restoration during a cold snap when system reliability matters.
