NRC Approves Increased Power Output for Lasalle Nuclear Power Plant

Lasalle Nuclear Plant- Source NRC -

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a request by Exelon Generation Co. to increase the power generating capacity of LaSalle County Station Units 1 and 2 by 1.65 percent each.

The NRC staff determined that Exelon could safely increase the reactors' power output primarily through more accurate means of measuring feedwater flow. NRC staff also reviewed the company's evaluations showing the plant's design can accommodate the increased power level.

The NRC's safety evaluation of the plant's proposed power uprate focused on several areas, including the nuclear steam supply systems, instrumentation and control systems, electrical systems, accident evaluations, radiological consequences, fire protection, operations and training, testing, and technical specification changes.

The power uprate for LaSalle, located approximately 75 miles southwest of Chicago, will increase each unit's power generating capacity from approximately 1,179 to 1,192 megawatts electric. Exelon intends to implement Unit 1's uprate in September, and Unit 2's uprate following its 2011 spring refueling outage.

The NRC previously published a notice about the power uprate application in the Federal Register (http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-10820.pdf , page 26289). The agency's evaluation of the LaSalle power uprate will be available through the NRC's ADAMS electronic document database by entering ML101830361 on this webpage: http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm

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