Duke Energy's 934 MW Oconee 2 nuclear generating unit in Seneca, South Carolina, was operating at 100% Monday, after returning to service Thursday and ending a refueling and maintenance outage that was the shortest ever for that unit, plant spokeswoman B.J. Gatten said Monday in an email.
Oconee 2 shut for refueling the evening of October 16, meaning the outage lasted about 26 days. The average length of nuclear reactor refueling outages in the US was 35.2 days in the first half of 2015, according to Platts data.
During the outage, workers replaced the unit's main step-up transformer in addition to routine refueling, maintenance and inspections, Gatten said.
Oconee 2 was operating at 20% Thursday, 90% Friday and reached full power Saturday morning, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its daily reactor status report. The adjacent Oconee 1 and 3 units, also 934 MW each, also were operating at 100% capacity Monday, NRC said.
