Texas plant sets record

The South Texas Project (STP) has set a new US nuclear industry record by completing four consecutive breaker-to-breaker production runs by repeatedly operating both its units continuously between refuellings. During the past three and a half years, STP’s two pressurized water reactors have produced 65TWh of electricity, more energy than any other two-unit nuclear power plant in the country. The units produced some 7.5% of all electricity consumed in Texas over that period. STP Unit 1 operated continuously from April 2005 until October 2006, when it was stopped for refuelling. It then restarted in November 2006 and ran through to March 2008, when it was again refuelled. Unit 2 operated continuously from October 2005 to March 2007, and again from April 2007 until October 5, 2008, when it was brought down for routine maintenance and refuelling. The units generated 32.7TWh and 32.3TWh, respectively, during those production runs. According to Nuclear Engineering International, STP unit 1 had an average load factor of nearly 102% to the year ended March 2008, the highest worldwide. STP unit 2, meanwhile, had a load factor of nearly 97%. The worldwide average over this period was 75%.
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