Feb. 15, 2001 (PRNewswire) — FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company's (FENOC) Perry Power Plant will begin its regularly scheduled refueling on Saturday, February 17, 2001, after finishing the year 2000 as one of the top-producing nuclear power plants in the world.
More than 1,000 craftsmen, technicians and laborers will team with Perry employees and 100 other FirstEnergy employees to replace 304 — or about 40 percent — of the 748 fuel assemblies in the reactor core. The new fuel assemblies are equivalent to more than 75,000 train carloads of coal. Other work will include replacing a turbine rotor, which is the final step to increase the plant's output by 5 percent, or to 1,320 megawatts per hour. The plant is scheduled to return to service in late March.
"Our work schedule is ambitious, but I am confident our employees will meet the challenge," said John Wood, FENOC vice president at Perry. "We expect to complete some 7,500 maintenance activities during the refueling to help continue strong operations until our next refueling in 2003."
In 2000, the plant generated more than 10.4 million megawatt-hours, ranking it 14th in the world and sixth in the United States for the amount of electricity generated by a nuclear power plant. Since its last refueling in May 1999, Perry has operated 644 out of 655 days, yielding a 98.2 percent availability factor. During that period, the plant posted its longest continuous run — 399 days.
The Perry Power Plant is owned by FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE - news) of Akron, Ohio, and is operated by its FENOC subsidiary. FirstEnergy is a diversified energy services company with more than $18 billion in assets and more than $7 billion in annual revenues. The company's electric utilities — The Illuminating Company, Ohio Edison, Toledo Edison and Penn Power — comprise the nation's 10th largest inventor-owned electric system.
SOURCE: FirstEnergy Corp.