OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha-based public power utility paid out nearly $1 million in severance and vacation benefits to seven employees who resigned from its Fort Calhoun nuclear power plant in eastern Nebraska — well over the $400,000 the utility initially reported.
The payouts came when Omaha Public Power District hired Chicago-based Exelon, the largest U.S. operator of nuclear power plants, in 2012 to run the troubled Fort Calhoun plant.
A Douglas County judge this week ordered OPPD to release the payout documents after a labor union sued to see them.
The documents show that former OPPD Chief Nuclear Officer David Bannister was paid nearly $256,000 in severance and more than $100,000 for unused vacation.
Several other employees who agreed to resign were paid nearly $600,000 in severance and unused vacation.
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