Several major plant components were replaced during the outage, including the reactor vessel head, a main transformer, and expansion bellows
- By Stephen Heiser -
Unit 1 at the South Texas Project nuclear power facility has been refueled and is back online. STP Unit 1 returned to full power operation shortly after 11 a.m. today, following a 49-day shutdown for refueling and maintenance.
Several major plant components were replaced during the outage, including the reactor vessel head, a main transformer, and expansion bellows in the unit’s condenser. In addition, a reactor coolant pump was refurbished, main steam valves were modified to improve their performance, and vital equipment was inspected and tested.
STP employees and a 1,200-member contractor workforce safely completed approximately 12,000 maintenance, testing and inspection tasks during the outage.
"Our team has done an outstanding job, safely and efficiently completing the outage with the best human performance rate – virtually error-free – we’ve ever achieved,” said STP Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer Ed Halpin. “The large scope of the scheduled and preventive maintenance we performed prepares the unit to run continuously until its next refueling, about 18 months from now.”
Unit 1 was shut down for the outage on Sept. 30, 2009. It completed the plant’s fifth consecutive continuous production run between refuelings and broke STP’s own U.S. nuclear power industry record.
No other nuclear power facility has accomplished that in the five decades since the first commercial reactor in the U.S. began operations in 1958.
During the past five years, STP has 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 in 2007.
The facility is also a consistent leader in safety. STP has operated more than two years without a restricted-duty or lost-time injury among its 1,200-member workforce. It has a Total Safety Industrial Accident rate of 0.0, which places the company in the top 10 percent of all U.S. nuclear plants in terms of personal safety.
The plant is managed by the STP Nuclear Operating Company and owned by Austin Energy, CPS Energy and NRG Texas. STP's twin reactors produce 2,700 megawatts of carbon-free electricity, enough to power two million homes.
To learn more about the South Texas Project, visit www.stpnoc.com.