Powered by Westinghouse-developed pressurized water reactors, the twin-unit nuclear station is owned by Alabama Power, and operated by Southern Nuclear.

Each unit of the power station is designed to generate 900MW, and requires new fuel every 18 months.

During the outage, the company refueled the reactor and performed regular maintenance. Italso tested and upgraded plant systems and components.

Southern Nuclear Plant Farley vice-president Cheryl Gayheart said: "Safety is our top priority, and our team is to be commended for completing this outage safely and efficiently.

"Unit 1 is positioned not just for the next 18 months, but for years of continued safe and reliable electricity production."

While Unit 1 was offline and refueling, the Farley Unit 2 continued to generate electricity.