US-based energy provider Exelon has completed the planned refuel outage of its Quad Cities nuclear generating station unit 1 and resumed operations to full production.
Unit 1 of the nuclear facility was taken off line on 11 March 2013 and a scheduled refuel outage was performed for 28 days, during which over 12,000 activities were carried out to improve the unit’s efficiency to provide clean, safe, and reliable electricity.
The company performed many activities, including extensive safety inspections and tests, and numerous improvements.
Exelon also replaced one-third of the reactor’s fuel, performed preventive maintenance activities and walkdowns and inspections of valves and power supply systems that could be needed in response to an earthquake or flood.
Quad Cities Station site vice president Tim Hanley said, “It takes a great deal of coordination and hard work to successfully disassemble, inspect, test and reassemble the reactor and associated equipment to ensure that this unit continues operating in a safe and reliable manner throughout the next operating cycle.”
The two-unit nuclear power plant located near Cordova, Illinois, on the Mississippi River, at full power can produce over 2,200MW of electricity, which is enough to power more than one million typical homes.
During the outage program of unit 1, the unit 2 was working at full capacity.
