Outage Completed in 28 Days
Company Website:
http://aps.com
WINTERSBURG, Ariz. -- (Business Wire)
For the third time in Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station history,
Arizona Public Service Co. employees completed a refueling and
maintenance outage in less than 30 days. This outage set a station
record for the shortest outage ever.
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The sun rises behind Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station Unit 3 as the unit reconnects to the electrical grid on November 5 after setting a record for the shortest refueling and maintenance outage in plant history. Palo Verde's three 1,330-megawatt generating units are on an 18-month refueling cycle, with two refueling outages scheduled each year - one in the spring and another in the fall. Palo Verde is operated by APS. (Photo: Business Wire)
When Palo Verde Unit 3 reconnected to the electricity grid at 5:37 p.m.
Arizona time on Saturday, November 5, the record was officially in the
books at 28 days, 17 hours and 37 minutes. By comparison, the average
length of a refueling and maintenance outage at all U.S. reactors in
2015 was 36.3 days, according to industry data.
Palo Verde has three virtually identical 1,330 megawatt reactors. Unit
3’s planned refueling outage bested the previous Palo Verde record,
which was established during the 2014 refueling outage for Unit 2. That
outage lasted a total 28 days, 22 hours. The first sub-30 day refueling
outage in plant history was set in 2013 when Unit 1 was refueled in 29
days, 18 hours.
The latest achievement positions Palo Verde to effectively serve APS
customers with around-the-clock electricity and further underscores the
plant’s strong operating record over the past decade, said Bob
Bement, APS Executive Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer,
adding that customers directly benefit from shorter refueling outages
because “the more days Palo Verde is operating rather than in a
refueling outage, the more low-cost energy is available to customers
across Arizona and the Southwest.”
“This refueling outage is another example of the world-class performance
we have come to expect from Palo Verde, which is the nation’s largest
carbon-free energy resource,” said Bement. “The efficiency and safety
with which our employees conducted this outage will enable us to
continue providing clean, reliable service to our customers at the
lowest possible prices.
“Just as important, using electricity produced from Palo Verde’s three
units is the equivalent of removing 2.8 million cars from our streets
and highways every year. As a result, our customers have been enjoying
cleaner air since the plant first started producing electricity in 1986.”
In 2015, Palo Verde achieved its 24th consecutive year as the
nation’s largest power producer with total electricity production of
32.5 billion kilowatt-hours of carbon-free electricity. In addition,
Palo Verde Unit 1 produced the highest electricity output of any nuclear
unit in the world, and all three Palo Verde units, individually, ranked
among the top seven international producers.
Since it began operation in 1986, Palo Verde has produced more than 780
million megawatt-hours of electricity, providing environmentally
friendly energy to more than 4 million people. About half the plant’s
output serves Arizona customers with the remaining power spread among
California, New Mexico and far west Texas. Palo Verde’s three reactors
are part of 99 operating nuclear units in the U.S. and 435 in the world.
Its three units can generate more than 4 million kilowatts of safe,
clean, reliable electricity every hour.
Palo Verde is a critical asset to the entire Southwest and a powerful
economic engine. In addition to the energy produced, the plant has an
annual economic impact of more than $1.8 billion in Arizona through
taxes, salaries, purchases of materials and services, and more.
Palo Verde is operated by APS
and jointly owned by APS, Salt
River Project, Southern
California Edison Co., El
Paso Electric Co., Public
Service Co. of New Mexico, Southern
California Public Power Authority and the Los
Angeles Department of Water & Power.
APS
serves about 2.7 million people in 11 of Arizona’s 15 counties, and is
the Southwest’s foremost producer of clean, safe and reliable
electricity. Using a balanced energy mix that is nearly 50 percent
carbon-free, APS has one of the country’s most substantial renewable
energy portfolios, and owns and operates the Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station, the country’s top power producer and largest
producer of carbon-free energy. The company is also a proven leader in
introducing technology and services that offer customers choice and
control over their energy consumption. With headquarters in Phoenix, APS
is the principal subsidiary of Pinnacle
West Capital Corp. (NYSE: PNW).
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161116006449/en/
Contacts:
APS
Media Contact:
Alan Bunnell, 602-250-3376
Analyst
Contacts:
Ted Geisler, 602-250-3200
Chalese Haraldsen,
602-250-5643
Website: aps.com/newsroom
Source: APS
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