"The safe, successful completion of this refueling outage will enhance operations and reliability during Calvert Cliffs Unit 2's operating cycle," said Jim Spina, vice president of Constellation Energy's Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant.

"This success is a tribute to the significant role played by the entire Calvert Cliffs outage team - our Calvert Cliffs employees, shared resources from Constellation Energy's Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station and R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant in New York, the generation services department in Baltimore and our contractors - in safely and efficiently executing the refueling outage."

The proactive maintenance completed during the outage enhances safety and reliability of Calvert Cliffs Unit 2 and enables the reactor to continue record-setting performance. The 862-megawatt reactor operated nonstop, 24 hours per day for more than 692 days before beginning its refueling outage, setting a world record for pressurized water reactors.

In addition, Unit 2's capacity factor in 2008 was a world-record high of 101.37 percent, according to Platts, a utility industry publication. Capacity factor is a measure of efficiency.

Spina noted that shorter refueling outages and longer operating cycles at Calvert Cliffs benefit Constellation Energy's customers by providing a reliable source of emission-free electricity. Unit 2 returned to the electrical grid at 2 a.m. March 17. Unit 1 continues to operate at full power.

In addition to standard refueling activities, plant staff replaced and inspected systems and equipment as a proactive measure to ensure continued equipment reliability through the remainder of Unit 2's operating license, which expires in 2036.

Constellation Energy owns and operates the Calvert Cliffs facility. The output of electricity from the site's two operating units is enough to meet the needs of more than one million homes, or about 20 percent of all Maryland residents. In 2000, Calvert Cliffs became the first nuclear power plant in the nation to earn extended licenses from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission - through 2034 for Unit 1 and through 2036 for Unit 2.

Share This Article With Planet Earth

del.icio.us	Digg	Reddit
YahooMyWeb	Google	Facebook

Related Links
Constellation Energy
Nuclear Power News - Nuclear Science, Nuclear Technology
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com