Nuclear Refueling Pulls 22,700 Megawatts Off Line

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Nuclear Refueling Pulls 22,700 Megawatts Off Line LCG, Oct. 10, 2000--Twenty-three of the 104 U.S. commercial nuclear reactors were off-line this morning, or nearly so, as refueling season got into full swing at the nation's atomic power plants. More than 22,700 megawatts of electrical generation was missing from the national grid as a result.

Much more than replacing bundles of fuel rods goes on at a refueling outage. The down time is the operator's opportunity to inspect the facility from top to bottom, perform routine maintenance and make repairs that will keep the plant as good as new -- a condition required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Entergy Corp. of New Orleans, for example, is taking advantage of a refueling outage at its Arkansas Nuclear 2 power plant to replace aging steam generators before they start leaking and forcing unplanned shutdowns. There is a lesson there for Consolidated Edison Co. of New York.

When one electric utility announced this morning that it would shut down a plant for refueling, EnergyOnline Daily News knew there must be others. Here's the list:

Arkansas Nuclear 2, a 912 facility owned by Entergy Corp., began a refueling outage on September 15. This one could take a while because the company is replacing steam generators.

Beaver Valley Unit 2, an 835 megawatt reactor owned by Duquesne Light Co., shut down for refueling on September 22, and is now defueled.

Byron Unit 1, a 1,175 megawatt nuclear plant belonging to Commonwealth Edison Co., was this morning exiting a refueling outage that began September 22. Nineteen days won't break any records at ComEd, which is getting awfully good at running its nukes.

Catawba Unit 1, 1,130 megawatts of nuclear capacity owned by Duke Energy Corp., was coasting down for refueling this morning.

Clinton, the 930 plant AmerGen Energy Co. bought from Illinois Power Co., began this morning to coast down to refuel.

Comanche Peak Unit 2, a 1,150 megawatt reactor owned by TXU Utilities Electric Co., began a refueling outage on September 30. Diablo Canyon Unit 1, Pacific Gas & Electric Co.'s 1,100 megawatt facility, began a refueling outage on Sunday.

Fitzpatrick, the 780 megawatt plant owned by New York Power Authority, shut down for refueling last Saturday.

Ginna, Rochester Gas & Electric Co.'s 490 megawatt nuclear station, is exiting a refueling outage that began on September 18.

Hatch Unit 1, Georgia Power Co.'s 785 megawatt nuclear plant, began a refueling outage on September 29.

McGuire Unit 2, another 1,130 megawatt Duke Energy facility, was this morning getting ready to restart after completing a refueling outage that began on September 1.

Oyster Creek, the 640 megawatt facility belonging at least for now to GPU Inc., began this morning to coast down for refueling.

Palo Verde Unit 2, the 1,270 megawatt whopper owned by Arizona Public Service Co., began a refueling outage a week ago today.

Quad Cities Unit 1, an 810 megawatt plant owned by ComEd, began to coast down for refueling this morning, and it could be a fast outage.

Salem Unit 2, Public Service Electric & Gas Co.'s 1,115 megawatt station, began a refueling outage last Thursday.

San Onofre Unit 2, a 1,180 megawatt reactor owned by Southern California Edison Co., began a refueling outage last Saturday.

Seabrook, the 1,150 megawatt nuclear plant belonging to Northeast Utilities, began coasting down to refuel this morning.

Sequoyah Unit 2, a 1,180 megawatt reactor owned by the American taxpayer and operated by Tennessee Valley Authority, began this morning to coast down for refueling. Sequoyah Unit 1, a twin sister, was taken off-line last Friday because a pump was vibrating.

Summer, South Carolina Electric & Gas Co.'s 900 megawatt plant, worked all summer and began its 12th refueling outage last Saturday.

Surry Unit 2, an 820 megawatt reactor owned by Virginia electric & Power Co., began a refueling outage on September 30 and is now defueled.

Turkey Point Unit 4, one of two 760 megawatt reactors at the Florida Power & Light Co. plant, began a refueling outage on September 24, and is now defueled.

Vogtle Unit 1, 1,220 megawatts of nuclear power owned by Georgia Power Co., was this morning installing new fuel rod bundles in an outage that began September 17.

Wolf Creek, a 1,185 megawatt nuclear plant owned jointly by Kansas City Power & Light Co. and Western Resources Inc., began a refueling outage on September 29.

http://www.energyonline.com/Restructuring/news_reports/news/1010nuk.html



-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 12, 2000

Answers

This lifts energy vulnerability considerably - 22,000 is a lot of megs.

-- Chance (fruitloops@hotmail.com), October 12, 2000.

Switching the nation's light bulbs from incandescent to compact fluorescent would save more energy than is generated by these nuclear reactors, which generate ultrahazardous wastes that cannot be detoxified.

Solar power has a 93 million mile emergency evacuation zone ....

-- mark (mrobinowitz@igc.org), October 12, 2000.


BEAVER VALLEY 2 0%
FITZPATRICK 1 0%
GINNA 1 0%
INDIAN POINT 2 0%
SALEM 2 0%
BROWNS FERRY 1 0%
HATCH 1 0%
MCGUIRE 2 0%
SEQUOYAH 1 0%
SUMMER 1 0%
SURRY 2 0%
TURKEY POINT 4 0%
VOGTLE 1 0%
BYRON 1 17%
COOK 1 0%
ARKANSAS NUCLEAR 2 0%
COMANCHE PEAK 2 0%
DIABLO CANYON 1 0%
PALO VERDE 2 0%
SAN ONOFRE 2 0%
WOLF CREEK 1 0%


-- spider (spider0@usa.net), October 12, 2000.

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