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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. Many of the activities performed during the outage cannot be performed while the unit is running and all are designed to ensure the continued safe and reliable production of electricity

 - By Linton Levy -

Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, LLC (CENG) has announced that its Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station Unit 2 in Scriba, N.Y., has completed a scheduled refueling outage and maintenance. Unit 2 returned to the electrical grid.

“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”

The refueling outage was completed in 30 days, 21 hours and 56 minutes. The previous Unit 2 refueling outage was 26 days.

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. Many of the activities performed during the outage cannot be performed while the unit is running and all are designed to ensure the continued safe and reliable production of electricity.

“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,” said Sam Belcher, vice president, Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station. “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 R.E. 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.”

Belcher noted that effective refueling outages and longer operating cycles at Nine Mile Point benefit customers by optimizing nuclear energy’s benefits as a reliable source of emissions-free electricity.

In addition to standard refueling and maintenance activities, plant personnel completed modifications and inspections to ensure continued equipment reliability.

Constellation Energy Nuclear Group owns 100 percent of Unit 1 and 82 percent of Unit 2 - 1,553 megawatts of Nine Mile Point’s 1,758 MW of total generating capacity. The Long Island Power Authority owns 18 percent of Unit 2. In October 2006, Nine Mile Point Nuclear station received renewed operating licenses for both generating units from the U.S. 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.

Constellation Energy Nuclear Group, LLC, (CENG), headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, is a strategic joint venture of Constellation Energy (NYSE: CEG) and EDF Group. CENG owns and operates three generating stations, Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, in Lusby, MD.; R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant in Ontario, N.Y and Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station in Scriba, N.Y. The 2009 annual electricity production was more than 32 million megawatt-hours, meeting the energy needs of 2.5 million homes. CENG has approximately 2,800 employees.