PORT GIBSON — The halt by Entergy in its application for a construction and operating license for a second nuclear plant in Claiborne County is temporary, and companywide hiring begun last year continues, company officials said here Monday.

“There’s no recession going on at Grand Gulf,” Randy Douet, site vice president for Grand Gulf, told about 40 people gathered for a community information meeting at City Hall.

Fifty new hires at the Claiborne County power-generating facility in the past year have offset 39 employees who took early retirement, with 11 hired since Jan. 1, utility officials said during the 45-minute session, hosted by Entergy to update the public on company news and its community outreach efforts.

In addition to paying almost all property taxes collected in the city and county, Entergy is frequently tapped for donations in the community where the state’s only nuclear plant operates.

Grand Gulf is one of two sites for which early site permits were won in 2007 after a five-year application process. The second is in St. Francisville, La. The second phase also was expected to take about five years. Then, if a decision to build is made, a five-year construction period is expected.

Speaking in Vicksburg last week, Entergy Mississippi President Haley Fisackerly said the delay, due to a stall in progress with GE Hitachi, selected to supply the main reactor component, meant a completion date would not come before 2020.

Jim Cooley, human resources manager for Grand Gulf, told Monday’s audience the employment picture at the plant has changed only slightly and through attrition, without any layoffs, and detailed multiple positions sought by Entergy Nuclear to staff the current reactor, including operations manager, information technology personnel, project managers and training operation supervisors.

Total employment at the facility between U.S. 61 South and the Mississippi River in Claiborne County was reported at 550 as of November.

Completed in 1985 for $3 billion, the facility combines to generate about 40 percent of Mississippi’s electricity. The majority is generated from natural gas.

Kenneth Hughey, Entergy vice president for business development, reiterated Monday the utility’s overall general support for expanding nuclear power.

“We were in a very unique situation where we could take (the application) and leave them in an active state with (NRC), document what we’ve completed to date and pick them back up,” Hughey said, adding the halt in the process was “simply to reassess our path going forward.”

Entergy’s partnership with Alcorn State University has resulted in 10 scholarships of $5,000 each, said Tommy Trichell of the Alcorn Radiation Protection Program, geared to stimulate interest in energy-related jobs with the company.

“It’s not only to help students find a path to getting a good job and stay in the Claiborne County area, but in building that pipeline that we think can fill positions that we’ll need in coming years,” Trichell said.

Additional contributions to the community in 2009 will come through grants and other funding from the company. They include a $30,000 grant for the Family First Resource Center to promote healthy living in the community and $10,000 in funding for the Main Street Heritage Festival, set for Saturday.

Also, two studies funded by Entergy will look at short-term economic development in Claiborne County and surrounding counties and a comprehensive plan examining the area’s infrastructure, said community development manager Steve Kelly.

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Contact Danny Barrett Jr. at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com.