This summer, Oconee Nuclear Station near Seneca, SC, is celebrating 40 years of operation. And for months, some of the retired Oconee operators have been planning a reunion – a chance for them to relive the plant’s proud history with their colleagues who have helped keep the plant operating for the past four decades.
The event was the dream of several retired operators who sent invitations to all operators, past and present, to join them for a day of reminiscing. Attendees travelled from Florida, Maryland and Virginia, as well as the Carolinas, to join the fun. Current Duke nuclear leaders welcomed the operators “home” and thanked them for making Oconee a model for the Duke nuclear fleet. The World of Energy, Oconee’s education center, was the setting, which seemed very appropriate. The very first Oconee operators participated in operator training at the World of Energy – before there was an official Operations Training Center onsite. Those early operators also travelled to Shippingport, Pennsylvania, to train at the nation’s first operating nuclear plant.
For many of the operators, it had been decades since they had seen each other, but it didn’t take long for them to catch up and begin talking about the good old days. And just like a high school reunion, teammates were recognized for having travelled the farthest, changed the most and the least, and those who had held their operators’ licenses the longest.
Some of the early operators had been working at a Duke Power steam station when they first got the call to come to Oconee. They admitted they all had a lot to learn about nuclear power in those days, and they never dreamed they’d be together 40 years later celebrating the plant’s successes.
The group was amazed to hear that all three units at the site have been operating at the same time for more than 270 days.. One retired operator said he remembered betting a teammate that all three units would never operate at 100 percent power at the same time.
Oconee began operating in 1973, after just five years and five months of construction – the first nuclear plant built by the former Duke Power Company. At the time Oconee unit 1 began operating, there were just 17 other nuclear units operating in the nation.
Today, Oconee is one of Duke’s seven nuclear sites, and one of only three nuclear plants in the U.S. with three reactor units. Oconee has been producing more than just power for 40 years – it has helped to transform the community and created a family-like culture that makes reunions like this one possible.