What Caused The Columbia Nuclear Plant Shutdown In Washington?

The Columbia Generating Station, the only operating nuclear power facility in Washington state, located just 10 miles from Richland, WA on the Hanford Reservation has been shut down.  

What Happened?

The announcement was made on Thursday (2/12/26) that the facility had been manually shut down at about 2:49 a.m. due to the two recirculation pumps that move water into the core of the reactor, where it’s converted to steam, spins turbines, then cools down and hits the recirculation pumps again, automatically shut down. Even if one recirculation pump failed, the reactor could continue to operate safely with just one pump. 

According to seattletimes.com,
Energy Northwest workers shut the plant down at 2:49 a.m. after both of its recirculation pumps shut down. If they had not shut down the plant, it would have automatically shut down, according to Energy Northwest.
There is no estimated time when the plant north of Richland might return to operations and be reconnected to the electric grid.
It remains in a safe and stable condition, according to Energy Northwest.’ 

Energy Northwest has said that even if workers at the plant hadn’t manually shut down the nuclear power plant, it would have been automatically shut down.  

When Was the Last Shutdown?

The last time the Columbia Generating Station was shut down was for a planned outage in 2025 for refueling the reactor. The Columbia Generating Station is the third largest power producer in Washington state. 

As of right now, there’s no estimated time when the plant will come back online. Energy northwest says the plant remains in a safe and stable condition.