The Columbia Generating Station (CGS), formerly known as WNP-2, is an operating nuclear electric generating station located near Richland, Washington, in Benton County. The project is sited on land leased from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) on the Hanford Site. The total area of the project is 1089 acres.

The Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS), now Energy Northwest, filed an application with the state in 1971 for the construction and operation of WNP-2. Hearings were held during that year and a Site Certification Agreement (SCA) was approved by the Governor on May 17, 1972. WPPSS also received construction (3/73) and operating (12/83) licenses from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for the plant. The NRC's Operating License (OL) expires in 2043.

General Information:

Following initial startup testing, the NRC issued a full power OL in March 1984 and commercial operations commenced in December 1984. The CGS has a net design electrical rating of 1,236 megawatts and the entire output of the plant is dispatched to the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA).

The CGS consists of a General Electric designed boiling water reactor and nuclear steam supply system; a turbine-generator; and the necessary transformer switching and transmission facilities to deliver the plant's output to BPA through a transmission substation located near the plant. The CGS consists of the following structures: the reactor building, the radioactive waste building, the turbine-generator building, the diesel generator building, the service building, six mechanical-draft evaporative cooling towers, the circulating water pumphouse, and the river takeup water pumphouse. The CGS also includes the Plant Engineering Center located adjacent to the main plant, the Plant Support Facility located one mile southwest of the main plant, and various administrative buildings in Richland.

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