Rancho Seco Plant Restarted

The long-delayed restart of the Rancho Seco nuclear power plant began this morning, just minutes after plant officials received final approval from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

An electronically transmitted letter from the NRC approving the restart arrived at 6:53 a.m., said Kerry Shearer, a spokesman for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, which owns the problem-plagued plant. The restart began at 7:04 a.m. Starting up the plant, which has been closed since a severe over-cooling accident in December, 1985, was to take eight to 10 hours.