Nuclear plant adds workers for refueling, maintenance work May 10, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — A nuclear power plant in Washington state was shut down over the weekend for a planned 40-day refueling outage, welcoming about 1,400 new temporary jobs to help staff the outage. The Columbia Generating Station near Richland was disconnected on Saturday so workers can replace about a third of the fuel in the reactor’s core — 260 of 764 fuel assemblies — that has been used for six years, The Tri-City Herald reported. The temporary workers will assist about 1,000 permanent employees at Energy Northwest, the public utility company that operates the generating station.