Grundy Reporter

Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Unit 2 issued the following announcement on Oct. 22.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved a request by Southern Nuclear Operating

Co. Inc. to increase the reactor capacity of the Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2, by

approximately 1.7 percent.

The NRC staff determined that Southern Nuclear could safely increase both reactors’ heat

output, primarily through more accurate means of measuring feedwater flow. Southern Nuclear is

also improving some plant systems not regulated by the NRC to more efficiently convert the

increased reactor output to electricity.

The power uprate for Farley, located approximately 18 miles east of Dothan, Ala., will

increase Unit 1’s generating capacity from approximately 910 to 944 megawatts electric and Unit

2’s generating capacity from approximately 910 to 953 MWe. Southern Nuclear intends to

implement Unit 1’s uprate within 180 days of completing the unit’s spring 2021 refueling outage

and Unit 2’s uprate within 180 days of completing that unit’s fall outage this year.

The NRC’s safety evaluation of the plant’s proposed power uprate focused on several areas,

including the nuclear steam supply systems, instrumentation and control systems, electrical systems,

accident evaluations, radiological consequences, fire protection, operations and training, testing, and

technical specification changes.

The NRC published a Federal Register notice regarding the Farley power uprate application

in February that provided the public an opportunity to comment or request a hearing. The agency’s

evaluation of the Farley power uprate is available through the NRC’s ADAMS electronic document

database.

Original source can be found here.