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Power Outage at Part of Hanford Nuclear Site. What We Know About Today's Early Outage by Staff Tri-City Herald, October 21, 2024

"We need more power to make more stuff"
-- Karl Dye, president of the Tri-City Development Council

An issue with the Bonneville Power Administration power system took out power in part of Richland and the Hanford nuclear site Monday. BPA said a line tripped about 4:15 a.m. but it quickly had the line back in service.

The city of Richland said its power outage due to the BPA issue was mostly in the center of the town and power in town had been restored by shortly after 6 a.m. But the Department of Energy continued to report problems in buildings in the 200 West Area of central Hanford as late as noon on Monday.

A circuit breaker at a substation opened during the morning storm and caused multiple central Hanford facilities to lose power, according to DOE. Some facilities had backup generators.

It sent a message to Hanford workers at about 5:20 a.m. advising them that power was out at the Federal Building on Jadwin Avenue in Richland, where many Hanford contractor employees work, and at places in the center of the nuclear reservation. It recommended that workers telecommute if possible. Some residents of Pasco and West Richland also reported on social media they also had power outages or flickering lights before 5 a.m.

Richland residents posted on social media that their internet connections were spotty early in the morning.