Advertisement Fort Calhoun nuclear plant shuts down Monday Share Shares Copy Link Copy

The nation's smallest nuclear power plant is set to permanently shut down on Monday.The Omaha Public Power District's board decided earlier this year that the Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant is no longer financially sustainable.But the shutdown is only one of the first steps of a decommissioning process that could stretch on for as many as 60 years and cost more than $1 billion.During that process, the utility will have to decontaminate and disassemble elements of the power plant.The nuclear plant sits on the Missouri River across from Iowa and is about 15 miles north of Omaha.Monday afternoon, outside the plant, exhaust clouds were no longer visible as staff shut down the reactor.Inside the plant, an announcement:“Attention all plant personnel, operations is commencing a power down.”In an historic moment, the reactor trip button was pushed inside the plant's control room.OPPD provided KETV with video they recorded as it happened.Residents say it’s disheartening.“Another establishment being shut down in the Washington County area, and we've had quite a bit of that in the last few years,” said Blair resident Katie Steckler.People living and working in Blair have been watching as more “Open” signs go dark, and “For Rent” signs go up.Some are concerned that the Fort Calhoun shut down means tough times ahead.“I couldn't tell you how many homes went up for sale after they announced that they were shutting down,” Steckler said.KETV broke the news in May that after 43 years, OPPD officials determined the plant was too expensive to run, and that around 400 people would lose their jobs.“There's an individual inside who's worked more than 30 years here,” says OPPD career transition manager Tad Leeper.Leeper says the company is doing everything it can to help laid-off employees find other jobs. They set up a career transition center in Blair for on-the-spot interviews and skills training.“They come out here, spend 60 days with us, basically their job is to find a transition path,” Leeper said.Leeper has also worked to support the Fort Calhoun Station for nearly 30 years.He says he still vividly remembers the day it came back online after the 2011 Missouri River flood.“That was a moment of quiet jubilation for me. That was probably my fondest memory of working at the plant,” he says.Now, almost three years after that moment, the plant is off-line forever.