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Crane Nuclear finds a way to give back to the community while supporting Cooper’s 33rd refueling outage
Every two years, the communities surrounding Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS) drastically change as hundreds of supplemental personnel travel from across the country to support the refueling outage. These visitors provide an inject to the local economy through housing rentals, eating at restaurants and food vendors, and shopping at local stores. During Cooper’s 33rd refueling outage, contracted teammates from Crane Nuclear took the concept of giving back to the community one step further when they organized a fundraiser and donated nearly $500 to the area Tags on Trees Christmas gift-giving program.
“As we travel across the country for outages, we see how much work local communities put into accommodating contract personnel,” explained Crane Nuclear Training Coordination Administrator Sharon Hays. “This fundraiser is one small way that we can thank the local communities that have graciously welcomed us during our stay.”
During refueling outages, contract teammates from Crane Nuclear will explore charitable causes around the power plant that they are supporting and then decide where their funds will be donated. For Cooper’s 30th-32nd refueling outages, the team donated to the Auburn, Nebraska, volunteer fire department, an organization that supported Crane Nuclear by allowing the contractor to use their building during outage in-processing efforts.
“Since the Cooper team already organizes a Tags on Trees donation event at Christmastime, we decided that the RE33 donation would go towards helping with those upcoming gift-giving efforts,” said Hays.
In November, Cooper’s Employee Committee (EC) and North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NAYGN) members will kick off the annual Tags on Trees event, where teammates purchase Christmas gifts for families from southeast Nebraska and Southwest Missouri. During last year’s Tags on Trees event, a total of $9,000 in gifts were purchased and delivered to 240 community children through the generosity of the Cooper team.
According to Cooper EC member Kari Fritz, “Tags on Trees is a program that is very special to the team at Cooper, and we are so grateful that the Crane Nuclear contract workers have made a contribution to this wonderful cause.”
Crane Nuclear is a leading provider of valves, valve services, valve diagnostics and training. 82 Crane Nuclear contract teammates were on-site at Cooper for their 33rd refueling outage supporting the Mechanical Maintenance and Valve teams with Air Operated and Motor Operated valve and actuator maintenance and diagnostic testing.