Outages, 24 hours: (696) 412-0511

Oregon NuclearSixes River Station · Curry County, Oregon
The two containment domes of Sixes River Station on the bluff above the Pacific at golden hour, the mouth of the Sixes River below

Sixes River Nuclear Generating Station · Curry County, Oregon

Clean power for the South Coast.

Two reactors on a bluff above the mouth of the Sixes River have made enough electricity for about 1.8 million homes, for more than three decades, without smoke and without carbon. This is what we do, how it works, and how to reach us.

How it worksVisit the stationEmergency information
  • Unit 1Full power
  • Unit 2Full power
  • South Coast LoopNormal
  • SirensNext test: the first Wednesday, noon
  • Visitor centerOpen Wednesday to Sunday

What we promise

Clean. Safe. Here.

  • Clean

    No smoke, no carbon

    The station's only exhaust is seawater returned to the Pacific a few degrees warmer than it came in. Nothing goes up a stack but filtered air, and that is measured every minute of the year.

  • Safe

    Three barriers, two domes, inspectors every day

    The fuel's cladding, the steel of the reactor and its pipes, and a containment dome 200 feet tall stand between the fuel and the coast. Resident inspectors from the federal regulators walk the plant every day.

  • Here

    1,140 neighbors, one grid

    We own the plant and the wires that carry its power from Bandon to Gold Beach. When a winter storm takes a line down, the crew that puts it back lives up the road.

At a glance

The station in numbers

  • 2,270 MWnet output from two units
  • 1.8 millionhomes' worth of electricity
  • 1,140people who work here
  • 93%+capacity factor: the share of the year at full output

Inside the fence

Four ways in

  • The Unit 1 control room: curved panels of indicators and recorders under soft light, two operators at the desks

    The station

    Two pressurized-water units on the bluff, the seawater cooling, the switchyard and how a day runs.

    Learn more
  • The turbine hall: the long green turbine-generator on its deck, overhead crane rails and a polished floor

    How it works

    Fission makes heat, heat makes steam, steam turns the turbine. One drawing, six steps, no smoke.

    Learn more
  • The dry cask pad: a row of tall grey concrete casks on a slab inside the fence, the sea behind

    Safety

    Defense in depth, what a trip is, who inspects us, the drills and the record.

    Learn more
  • The Sixes River estuary at low tide: mudflats, eelgrass, a heron, the bluff and the domes in the distance

    Environment

    The estuary program, the elk and the herons, kelp on the intake screens, the water temperature.

    Learn more

Notices

From the station

All notices
  • A line crew in a bucket truck working on a pole beside the highway in low coastal light

    Your power · Before the storm season

    Before the winter storms: how the loop gets ready

    Trimming, pole inspections, spare transformers in every yard and a storm roster of crews: what Grid Operations does every autumn before the first big Pacific system arrives.

    Read more
  • The visitor center: a timber-and-glass building on the bluff with the model control room visible inside

    Community · October

    October open house at the visitor center

    The visitor center opens its doors on a Saturday for the whole South Coast: the model control room, the fuel assembly mock-up, the estuary team's tanks and the line crew's bucket truck in the lot.

    Read more
  • The intake structure on the shore: screens and pumps in a concrete building, surf beyond

    Environment · Late summer

    A late-summer kelp bloom on the intake screens

    Warm water and a run of calm days sent more drift kelp than usual into the offshore intake. The traveling screens handled it, and every strand went back to the sea.

    Read more

Neighbors

Come and see for yourself

  • The visitor center: a timber-and-glass building on the bluff with the model control room visible inside

    Visitor center & tours

    The model control room, the fuel assembly mock-up and the estuary tanks, Wednesday to Sunday. Plant tours by appointment.

    Learn more
  • A grant presentation at the Port Orford harbor: adults in rain jackets beside the ice plant, boats on their dollies behind

    The Sixes River Fund

    A quarter of a million a year in grants to South Coast organizations, decided by employees and neighbors.

    Learn more
  • A line crew in a bucket truck working on a pole beside the highway in low coastal light

    Your power

    The South Coast Loop from Bandon to Gold Beach: the substations, planned work and how to report an outage.

    Learn more

A quiet plant is a well-run plant. Our best days are the ones nobody notices.

Lights out?

The outage line, (696) 412-0511, is answered around the clock by the Grid Operations desk at the station. The clinic, the harbor, the city's water plant and the airport yard come back first; then the feeder with the most people waiting.

Report an outageEmergency information