The Cook nuclear power plant near Bridgman is now back up and fully in service. Cook plant spokesperson Bill Downey tells WSJM News the refueling outage for Unit One wrapped up Thursday and the unit was back in service by 5:30 p.m. During the 65 day refueling outage, more than 1,700 extra workers were brought in for maintenance projects.
“They come from all walks of life, and these workers are highly skilled,” Downey said. “We have pipe fitters, we have welders, folks that are very specialized in their trade and highly accustomed to nuclear work. Many of them travel around the country from plant to plant during refueling outages.”
Downey says those workers are a shot in the arm for the local economy. During the refueling outage, workers performed 12,000 maintenance, inspection, and equipment modification jobs totaling 325,000 work-hours during 12 hour shifts. Downey says the next refueling outage will be on Unit Two in the fall.
