NEI Nuclear Notes

Here's a summary of the performance of the U.S. nuclear fleet in September: For the third month in a row, U.S. monthly nuclear generation lagged compared to the same periods in 2011. September 2012 nuclear generation was 3.7 percent lower than September 2011 generation and year-to-date nuclear generation was 0.9 percent lower than generation in the same period in 2011, 585.1 bkWh vs. 590.6 bkWh, respectively. The capacity factor in September 2012 was 88.2 percent compared to 91.6 percent in September 2011. The average capacity factor for the nuclear fleet for the nine months of 2012 was 87.7 percent compared to 88.9 percent for the same period in 2011. Nineteen units have refueled or are currently refueling during Fall 2012 as of October 17th compared to 16 units in Fall 2011 as of the same date. The FitzPatrick and Palo Verde 2 units are refueling after completing 702 days and 518 days of continuous operation, respectively, from their previous refueling outages. Fo...

The NRC has renewed Entergy's operating license for the FitzPatrick nuclear plant , located in Scriba, New York. Per Reuters , NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission renewed the operating license for of Entergy Corp's 852-megawatt FitzPatrick nuclear station in New York for an additional 20 years, the NRC said Tuesday in a release. The FitzPatrick plant began commercial operation in 1975. Its license was set to expire in 2014. The renewal extends the license to 2034. Entergy applied to renew the license in August 2006. The FitzPatrick renewal brings the total number of license renewals to 49 units, the NRC said.