OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The Nebraska nuclear plant that sat idle for nearly three years while regulators evaluated problems should reach full power sometime on Christmas Day. The Omaha Public Power District received permission on Dec. 17 from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to restart Fort Calhoun.  OPPD spokesman Jeff Hanson says the restart process that began last week has gone smoothly.

Fort Calhoun initially shut down for routine maintenance in April 2011, but significant flooding that summer, a small fire and a series of safety violations forced it to remain closed for an extended period. The utility has spent more than $180 million as it addressed more than 450 concerns at the plant, and federal inspectors double-checked the work.

The repair bill may grow because that cost estimate just runs through November.

No injuries were reported following a two-vehicle collision Monday afternoon, in Villisca. Sheriff’s officials say a 2011 Hyundai Sonata owned and driven by 63-year old Gale Arvin Premer, Sr., of Villisca, was traveling east on east 1st Street at around 2:10-p.m., when he tried to stop at the intersection with north 4th Avenue. Due to the icy road conditions, the car skidded through the intersection and hit the right rear of a 2012 Dodge Ram truck, owned and operated by 23-year old John Dale Beem, of Villisca.

Damage from the collision amounted to $6,500.  No citations were issued.

The 64 Rotary Clubs in the southern half of Iowa are helping finance a shipment of food to the Philippines. One-and-a-half million meals were made by the “Outreach” organization a couple from Union, Iowa, founded to feed the hungry. Jackie Matt is the executive director of business development for the non-profit. “Floyd Hammer and Kathy Hamilton, who are the co-founders of Outreach, when the typhoon hit the Philippines just knew they needed to do something,” Matt says.

Meal-packaging events were held in Minnesota and Missouri. “And Rotary stepped up to the plate to help with the funding to actually ship the meals over to the Philippines,” Matt says. The meals were being loaded into huge shipping containers Monday, in Des Moines. “It’s pretty costly to be able to send things over to the Philippines because it does have to go by rail and then also by actual freight,” Matt says, “and it takes about 45-60 days to get to the Philippines.”

Rotarians in Manilla plan to meet the containers and monitor distribution, to ensure the meals get to disaster victims. Matt says this project fits with Rotary’s core mission, and that’s why Rotary Clubs in southern Iowa and in other parts of the country are helping to pay to ship these meals to typhoon victims.

(Radio Iowa)