Reported by Statewide Correspondent Bill Kelly

It was state of the art when the first electricity surged out of its generators in 1973. The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Station has at times been a challenge for the Omaha Public Power District. The plant had been open only a couple of years when the disaster at Three Mile Island put the public on edge about nuclear power. In the 1980's a series of technical problems caused the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to put OPPD on notice to shape up operations. In the past ten years, problems gave been few and the plant utility claims it has been officially putting out about 40% of the electricity used by the utility's customers.
[Ralph Phelps]"As long as you do that, you maintain it, replace what needs to be replaced, it will run indefinitely."
That is now a plan, if not indefinitely, at least for another 33 years. Ralph Phelps gave us a tour.
[Ralph Phelps, OPPD Project Manager] "Right now we're putting out about 6.5 million pounds of steam per hour. It goes on into our high pressure turbine."
Those turbines are pushed by steam. The steam comes from boiled water, water boiled by nuclear power.
[Phelps] "..Shows a representation of the reactor coil system with both of the steam generators. The reactor is in the middle. The flow patterns are shown by the lines here. The hot leg water coming out of the reactor is at 592 degrees right now as it shows."
In the control room where engineers keep watch on the nuclear reaction, the dials and gauges lining the consoles no longer look futuristic. In fact, it has the look of a 30-year-old industrial plant, after all it is.
[Jim Cook, plant shift manager] "Many gaskets and things like that in valves and stuff, the seals on the reactor coil pumps, for instance, have all been replaced numerous times over the years, but the piping, the steam generators, the reactor, those are the original."
In the next two years, OPPD must find out if the big things-- the steam generators and the major components of the nuclear reactor itself-- can take another three decades of service.
[Gary Gates, OPPD, Nuclear Operations] "The plant has been maintained over the years at a very current state. With a nuclear plant, you tend to update all the equipment that you need to so it's not a 30-year-old plant at this point but it has been updated enough that it is a very current plant."
Gary Gates is OPPD's vice president in charge of nuclear operations. Fred Peterson is the utility's president. They believe it's in the customers' best interest to see if the plant should stay open.
[Fred Peterson] "Nuclear power has been great for Nebraska. It's kept our rates low. Our rates are 20% below the national average, and nuclear power has played a key part in that."
Last month, the OPPD board of directors approved spending $13 million to pay for studies and paperwork needed to renew the license required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
[John Green, OPPD board member] "If the study comes back and says it's not a viable option, then it's not a viable option. The technology and the money will dictate it."
John Green sits on the OPPD board.
[Green] "If the study comes back and says this thing can go on for another 10, 15, or 20 years and the economics are such that the marketplace is not changed and it still can be an economically efficient plant, then there's no reason not to continue it."
A couple of years ago, scrapping this plant was a realistic option.
[Peterson] "Yes, it was."
What changed?
[Peterson] "A number of things have changed. The process with the N.R.C. became more clarified, it became more understandable.
The length of the inspection reports has shrunk significantly."
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is the body that gives nuclear power plants permission to run and make sure they continue to run safely.
[Peterson]"The focus now is trying to be smart. Which pieces of equipment, for example, are most important."
Over the years, the N.R.C. created such a horrendously complex system for inspecting and relicensing nuclear plants, many utilities figured it would not be worth the cost or the effort to fight their way through the process. The N.R.C. agreed to streamline the process. Now OPPD is one of many plants ready to ask for an extension on their licenses. Critics could hear "easier process" and define that as less stringent process.
[Gates] "It's not an easier process and by all means, not less stringent. The level of detail and the requirements have stayed the same but rather how you approach answering those questions has changed to become more defined and consistent, but the depth of inquiry and the rigor of that process has not changed at all."
There is a great deal at stake. Even before the final decision is made to keep the plant open, OPPD will have to spend $6.5 million on scientific and financial consultants making their recommendations. Finishing the application process takes the total to $13 million. Is it worth the risk?
[Peterson] "Yes."
Even if you find yourself behind the ball?
[Peterson] "The $6.5 million and $13 million are a lot of money. Don't misinterpret that. But in the total scheme of things, when you look at the fact that OPPD has $500 million a year in revenues, it's an investment and it's moving in a direction that we think we should move."
One private consultant has already told OPPD that the benefits outweigh the risks. Constellation Nuclear Services advised OPPD that Fort Calhoun "is in an excellent position to pursue license renewal." They added, "there are no known roadblocks" to the cost effective operation of Fort Calhoun beyond the current license life. But how long?
[Gates] "Our steam generators have come through the 28 years very successfully."
So you could get another 30 years out of them possibly?
[Gates] "We'll continue to monitor that. Industry history would say we won't be able to run them out completely 30 years and that's why into our study we said what if we have to replace these, does it still look like a viable option for us? And it does."
The condition of those 30-year-old steam generators that feed those giant turbines are one major concern. The condition of the reactor itself is another.
[Gates] "The real purpose is to contain the reactor core and the water. Why it's important to us going forward is over time as the reactor runs and the reactor runs on neutrons causing the fission process, some of those neutrons do hit the reactor vessel as you run and they change the characteristics of the metal inside that reactor and it becomes more brittle."
[Green] "If the brittle aspects of the containment unit are such that it cannot-- the life of the plant cannot be extended, that's too expensive of a proposition to simply put in a new containment facility. So that you would look at it at that point in time and say we will get what we can out of it but it's time to move on."
If the technical and scientific studies done in the next two years discover that either the reactor vessel or the steam generators need to be scrapped, that could be enough to pull the plug on the Fort Calhoun Station. There are eight other areas that could cause problems, from environmental issues to maintaining enough skilled workers to keep the plant running. There's also the issue of nuclear waste, both the low level waste like tools and clothing used near the reactor and the highly radioactive leftovers from the nuclear fuel rods. The State of Nebraska and the federal government still have no satisfactory permanent disposal plan or a dump site.
[Green] "And it's disheartening at the least to say that here we are at the end of the license of these plants and that issue has never been resolved and it doesn't appear to be resolved or resolving."
[Gates] "I think we do know technically what to do with it. With regard to how we do it, that will have to go through the process."
Until the solution comes, the high level waste will remain right at Fort Calhoun. There are reasons OPPD's managers and its board of directors want this plant to keep humming along. The cost of shutting down this facility and building a brand new coal plant is breathtaking.
[Green] "If we build a new base load unit at the same size of the current Nebraska City unit, you're talking about $800 million to a $1 billion to build this facility."
There are also the headaches of finding a politically acceptable site for a brand new coal plant and the high voltage lines. There are other policy reasons. Right now electricity generated by coal is cheaper than nuclear. The possibility of changes in environmental laws that could raise the price of coal or the cost of cleaning its emissions could make a nuclear plant the bargain in the future.
[Peterson] "We just think that having the diversity in our generation mix has tremendous value and we should maintain that diversity and that's what we're about doing."
Whether it's all economical for OPPD's customers, that's for the consultants to decide. The first indications are, barring those major hardware problems that could be lurking inside, the application for the new license will be put before the federal regulators. Just a couple of years ago, OPPD was ready to walk away from Fort Calhoun. Now they're ready to make a $13 million commitment believing there's another 30 years of nuclear power to be gained from keeping it open.

Captioning by Nebraska Captioning Center, Lincoln, Nebraska .