From STP:The South Texas Project established a U.S. nuclear power industry record Sunday, completing four consecutive breaker-to-breaker production runs by repeatedly operating both its units continuously between refuelings. The plant shut down its Unit 2 reactor Sunday for routine refueling and maintenance.I'd say congratulations are in order!
No other nuclear power plant has accomplished this in the five decades since the first commercial reactor in the U.S. began operations in 1958.
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During the past four years, STP’s two units have produced more energy than any other two-unit nuclear power plant in the country. Both units have led the nation in production, and Unit 1 led all 439 reactors worldwide in electric generation last year.
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In its record-setting production runs, STP generated 65 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity. That equates to approximately 7.5 percent of all electricity used in Texas during that time.
Unit 1 operated continuously from April 2005 to October 2006, when it was shut down for refueling, and from November 2006 to March 2008, when it was refueled again. Unit 2 was continually online from October 2005 to March 2007, and again from April 2007 until yesterday. The units generated 32.7 billion kWh and 32.3 billion kWh, respectively, during those production runs.
Picture of STP.
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STP's operating procedures require it to take both its reactors offline, before the storm's landfall, if hurricane-force winds are predicted to affect the plant site.
And the second press release said this:
Based on current projections for Hurricane Ike, both units at the South Texas Project (STP) Nuclear Operating Company remain online, and power is not expected to be reduced as long as the transmission grid can support full operation.
As of Friday morning, Hurricane Ike is projected to make landfall in the vicinity of Galveston Bay, potentially as a Category 3 storm. Current forecasts indicate sustained wind speeds can get as high as 55 miles per hour at the STP site at the peak of the storm. The projected wind speed is substantially less than hurricane force. The units can safely operate under these projected conditions.
The buildings that house STP’s reactors, vital equipment and spent fuel have steel-reinforced concrete walls, four to seven feet thick, that are built to withstand major hurricanes and the tornadoes they can spawn. The plant site is 10 miles inland and at an elevation of 29 feet, well beyond the reach of even a Category 5 storm surge.
Congrats to STP and some really remarkable plant operation.
And yes, the breaker-to-breaker runs are "precious" precisely because that's what nukes were meant to do.
I work for a company that is involved with safety-related functions, design, maintenance and review of many nuclear power plants around the country and there are far less safe places with much more volatile materials, equipment housed by less safe buildings than being inside a nuclear power plant during a tornado or a hurricane.