Clean clothes are a must for workers involved in the outage and power-up at Grand Gulf Nuclear Station.

For Lori Stigler, of Kalamazoo, Mich., it’s a trip a week to wash bedsheets and blue jeans at Caldwell’s Laundrymat on U.S. 61 South.

“I usually have about two loads,” said Stigler, a scheduling contractor. “And the machines are great.”

Janet Stanley, a busy “outage mom” from Georgia, and daughter, Anna, 11, have taken to Laundry Plus on Halls Ferry Road for afternoon outings to tidy up pants and polo shirts for her husband, Byron. As was the case for places to stay, eat, park an RV and find leisure in the area, word of mouth landed their wash load there.

“We’ll be doing this again somewhere in January,” said Stanley.

The Stanleys, originally from Vidalia, Ga., travel around the country doing speciality work for power plants.

They joined more than 4,000 workers from 76 companies under contract to Entergy at the Claiborne County plant, which shut down Feb. 19 to refuel the boiling-water reactor and increase its generating capacity by 13 percent. Expected to be completed in June, it will be the nation’s most powerful single reactor.

Running in and out of laundromats is part of life for the legion of workers — making price and convenience a must, said Larry Hovater, a contract welder from Muscle Shoals, Ala.

“I’m paying $533 a week for a motel — do the math on the month,” Hovater said after picking up a basket of denims and towels from Caldwell’s. “Ninety-nine cents a pound isn’t bad.”

The nuclear plant isn’t alone in hiring people and making capital improvements, thanks to the mad dash on coin-operated washing machines and pickup services.

“It’s been a rush,” said Holly Ross, hired as extra help for daytime worker Ruthie Anderson for a work load at Caldwell’s that brought in up to 20 loads during the day.

“We’ve had clothes from one end to the other end in here,” Anderson said.

An enclosed fold-and-sort area was built in a previously empty corner at Laundry Plus when they were slammed with outage workers, said co-owner Carol Ann Carter.

“About 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. is the hot time,” Carter said.

Mary Wood, who operates Wishewashy on Washington Street, made contacts with outage workers from a 2010 refueling mission at the plant. Many have returned and spread the word about her service, which picks up clothes at motels, apartments, campgrounds and other places, and launders them at the store.

“They’re all gonna be here til June, so I’ll be busy,” Wood said.