The Columbia Generating Station, Washington's only commercial nuclear plant, was manually shut down early Thursday after both recirculation pumps failed. Energy Northwest workers initiated the shutdown at 2:49 a.m. when the pumps stopped operating, preventing an automatic shutdown.

The 1,207-megawatt facility near Richland had been operating continuously for 227 days following a May refueling outage. Plant officials emphasized that safety protocols were followed, with Chief Nuclear Officer Dawn Sileo stating the conservative approach protected both the plant and public. No timeline has been provided for when operations might resume.

This marks the first unplanned outage since May 2018, when a grid disturbance caused a transformer failure. The plant serves as Washington's third-largest electricity generator behind the Grand Coulee and Chief Joseph dams. While the facility can operate with a single pump, both units went offline simultaneously, requiring complete shutdown. The incident highlights the vulnerability of nuclear operations to mechanical failures, even at well-maintained facilities.