Rancho Seco Nuclear Plant Back in Operation

The long-delayed restart of the Rancho Seco nuclear power plant began Wednesday, and plant officials predicted that the facility will be producing electricity within two weeks.

Officials hope the restart, which was delayed three times in the last week because of equipment malfunctions, signals a new era for the plant that was closed 27 months ago following a severe over-cooling accident.

But opponents of the plant say the restart will not hurt their campaign to persuade voters to approve a June ballot measure calling for the plant’s closing.

“The thing has such a history of running so poorly and being unsafe that no one would bet it won’t do the same thing in the future,” said Bob Mulholland, political director of Campaign California, an environmental and consumer’s group working on the shutdown effort.

A competing ballot measure sponsored by the plant operator, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, asks voters to approve operation of the plant for at least 18 months.

The restart began at 7:04 a.m., just minutes after plant officials received final approval in an electronically transmitted letter from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

If all goes well, plant officials plan to operate the reactor at 25% power for five weeks before testing the automatic shut-off, which will be followed by five weeks of testing at 40% power. Full-power operation, when the plant can produce 900 megawatts of electricity, is scheduled for mid-October.

The utility has spent more than $400 million over the last 27 months to overhaul equipment and management at the plant, which has generated an average of only 40% of the electricity it was designed to produce.

Opposition to the plant has grown during the long series of restart delays. A majority of the Sacramento City Council, including Mayor Anne Rudin, and at least one county supervisor have announced support for the June ballot measure calling for the plant’s closure.