Exelon Unfazed By Juno; NRC To Look Into Pilgrim Shutdown

Nuclear Street News Team

Exelon Corporation said that its seven nuclear reactors in the path of winter storm Juno ran at full capacity throughout the blizzard.
While the storm dumped from 10 to 40 inches of snow across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern portions of the country, Exelon's seven plants in New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania operated without a hiccup, producing 10,832 megawatts of electricity per hour, the company said, adding that this was enough power for more than 10 million homes.

While other power sources struggle to maintain production, nuclear power plants are engineered to run uninterrupted for up to two years. “Beyond that, highly skilled plant workers prepare nuclear facilities months in advance for the worst conceivable winter storm,” Exelon said. “When extreme weather hits, procedures are in place to increase equipment monitoring to minimize or eliminate weather-related problems,” Exelon said in a statement.

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NRC issues mid-cycle assessments for US nuclear power stations

September 5, 2014

By PennEnergy Editorial Staff

Source: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued mid-cycle assessment letters to the nation’s 100 operating commercial nuclear power plants regarding their performance through the first half of 2014. The mid-cycle assessment period concluded June 30, with 90 plants in the two highest performance categories.

“These assessment letters are the result of a systematic NRC review of performance indicators and inspection findings at each domestic power reactor facility,” said Scott Morris, director of the Division of Inspection and Regional Support in the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. “In addition to ensuring that the nation’s nuclear power plants are safe by inspecting them and rating their performance regularly, our goal in issuing these letters is to ensure all our stakeholders clearly understand the basis for our assessments of plant performance and the actions we are taking to address any identified performance deficiencies.”

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