The commercial nuclear plant at Hanford won't be shut down early, despite a report out of Portland indicating termination was an option, a federal official said Friday.

"It's far from being a recommendation of any kind," said Ed Brost, the Bonneville Power Administration official charged with overseeing the commercial reactor.

An 11-member panel has been examining ways Bonneville could cut its costs. On Thursday, some members of the group hinted one way to reduce agency expenses might be to close the Washington Public Power Supply System plant.

WPPSS has about 1,200 workers. They are among the best-paid in the Mid-Columbia and an important element in the area economy.

Bonneville has examined the possibility of terminating the WPPSS plant, but discarded the notion 18 months ago.

The reason: Costs would be prohibitive.

Bonneville still must pay about $2 billion to retire bonds used to finance the plant.

In addition, termination costs could reach about $450 million, Brost said.

But if the plant continues to operate for the next 27 years, as expected, it will actually make a "profit" of $20 million to $30 million annually.

However, Bonneville, a federal agency, technically can't make a profit. Brost calls it net revenues - "money we make so we can buy more fish or whatever."

Bonneville takes all energy generated at the WPPSS nuclear plant and pays all its bills.

So far, the panel has looked only at Bonneville costs, not revenues, Brost said.

Also, the panel has used numbers from the past, when WPPSS was less efficient than what its current projections suggest for the future, Brost said.

The panel was established under the auspices of the Northwest Power Planning Council to see how the cost of energy can be reduced throughout the region. Bonneville markets about half of the Northwest's electricity.

The panel can only make recommendations to Bonneville, Brost said.

Just 18 months ago, Bonneville and its parent, the Department of Energy, accepted a recommendation that the WPPSS plant stay open.

Nothing has changed, Brost said.

"Clearly, Bonneville doesn't see termination of the plant as an option," Brost said.