No damage to power lines from Nevada earthquake

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An earthquake Thursday morning in northeast Nevada did not cause any damage to the region's power grid, local power companies said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.0 magnitude earthquake was centered 15 miles southeast of Wells, Nevada, near the border with Idaho and Utah, about 180 miles west of Salt Lake City.

The quake hit about 400 miles north-northeast of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the U.S. Department of Energy's proposed repository for spent nuclear reactor fuel and other radioactive waste.

The biggest power line in the area of the earthquake is the 345-kilovolt Humboldt-Midpoint transmission line, which runs from Sierra Pacific's Humboldt substation in Nevada to Idaho Power's Midpoint substation in Idaho.

Sierra Pacific, the Western Electricity Coordinating Council, Idaho Power and the Western Area Power Authority all said they had not heard of any damage due to the earthquake.

Sierra Pacific Resources of Nevada, owns and operates generating facilities, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes power to nearly 1.2 million customers in Nevada and northeastern California.

WECC, of Salt Lake City, coordinates and promotes electric system reliability from Canada to Mexico, including all or portions of 14 western states, the provinces of Alberta and British Columbia in Canada and the northern portion of Baja California in Mexico.

Idaho Power, a subsidiary of IDACORP Inc of Boise, Idaho, owns and operates generating facilities, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity to more than 470,000 customers in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon.

WAPA, of Lakewood, Colorado, markets and delivers hydroelectric power from dams operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, among others, in 15 central and western U.S. states.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Walter Bagley)