Constellation Energy Nuclear Group has said that its Nine Mile Point nuclear station unit 2 in Scriba, NewYork, has completed a scheduled refueling outage and maintenance. The unit returned to the electrical grid on May 3, 2010.
During the outage, workers performed more than 2,800 inspections and maintenance activities on a variety of plant components and systems. These activities included replacing a third of the reactor’s fuel.
Sam Belcher, vice president of Nine Mile Point, said: “Successful completion of the equipment maintenance and inspections performed during this refueling outage will enhance operations and reliability during Nine Mile Point Unit 2’s operating cycle over the next two years.
“This success is a tribute to the significant role played by the entire Nine Mile Point outage team – our Nine Mile Point employees, shared resources from CENG’s Calvert Cliffs and RE Ginna Nuclear Power Plants, our Baltimore offices, Constellation’s Generation Services and more than 1,500 contract workers – in safely and efficiently executing the refueling outage.”
Constellation Energy Nuclear Group owns 100% of unit 1 and 82% of unit 2 – 1,553MW of Nine Mile Point’s 1,758MW of total generating capacity. The Long Island Power Authority owns 18% of unit 2. In October 2006, Nine Mile Point received renewed operating licenses for both generating units from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The renewed licenses permit both units to operate an additional 20 years from their original 40-year licenses – unit 1 to operate until 2029 and unit 2 until 2046.