Owner/Operator: FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co.
Nuclear plant owners understand the economic importance of squeezing every last megawatt-hour from their power generation assets and minimizing outage durations that cost them millions of dollars a day. When First Energy assumed operating responsibility for Beaver Valley Power Station in late 1999 the plant’s operating record was unspectacular. Today the plant has established itself as a routine top-quartile performer, thanks in part to its Full Potential Program.
The U.S. nuclear industry hasn’t built a new plant in a generation, but uprate programs have added the equivalent of 5,640 MW of new capacity. Another nearly 500 MW worth of uprates are pending Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approval, and 1,713 MW more are expected in the NRC’s approval queue by 2013. The nuclear industry will have added the equivalent of eight more low-cost plants to our nation’s inventory of power generation facilities through uprates by 2013. Add to that the significant increase in the nuclear industry’s average capacity factor: from 56% in 1980 to just shy of 92% in 2007. That improvement, and much-shortened refueling outages, account for perhaps another dozen new nuclear plants. In sum, the industry has been building nuclear plants one uprate at a time for years.
The Beaver Valley Power Station (BVPS), located in Shippingport, about 25 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, Pa., is one such plant (Figure 1). Not only has it completed multiple plant uprates, but it also has upgraded many major equipment items while improving plant nuclear and personnel safety. But most importantly, the operating results for its two units are particularly satisfying to a project team that spent eight tough years contributing to efforts that made BVPS an industry Top Plant.
1. Keystone project. The Beaver Valley nuclear power plant features two pressurized water reactors rated at 911 MW and 868 MW after uprates and performance improvements. Both were originally rated at 810 MW. The plant is located in western Pennsylvania. Courtesy: FENOC
BVPS is located next to the site of the first American nuclear power station, the Shippingport Atomic Power Station (which closed its doors in 1982 after 25 years of commercial operation) and is owned and operated by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. (FENOC), a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. Each unit’s three-loop pressurized water reactor (PWR) was originally designed by Westinghouse and rated at 810 MW when installed. Unit 1 entered service on July 2, 1976, and was followed by Unit 2 in August 1987.
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