Exelon Corporation said Thursday that the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station's Unit 3 in York County, Pennsylvania, had reached a generation milestone of 1,355 megawatts following successful completion of an extended power uprate (EPU) that began in 2009.
With equipment upgrades completed, the plant can now generate an additional 270 megawatts of carbon-free electricity, “enough to power more than 250,000 regional homes and businesses while saving more than two million tons of carbon dioxide each year,” said Exelon Senior Vice President for Mid-Atlantic operations Tom Dougherty.
Plant uprate projects require the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's blessings, which requires extensive design reviews to go along with equipment upgrades. Peach Bottom's EPU application called for replacing high pressure turbines, feed pump turbines, condensate pumps and motors, and steam dryers on both units.
The station is home to two boiling water reactors capable of powering a total of 2.25 million homes and businesses. They both began commercial operations in 1974.
Almost every major component in the plant has been refurbished or replaced, said Peach Bottom Site Vice President Mike Massaro, making for a plant that is “safer and more efficient,” he said.
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