|
3 April 2006 -- U.S. nuclear power plants continued to operate at high levels of safety and efficiency in 2005, according to plant performance indicators compiled by the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO).
For the fourth time in the past five years, the U.S. nuclear energy industry's unit capability factor -- a measure of efficiency -- topped 90 percent. The 90.3 percent capability factor for 2005 was within one percentage point of the 91.2 percent record set in 2002 and matched in 2004. Unit capability factor is the percentage of maximum electricity a plant can supply to the electric grid, limited only by factors within the control of plant managers.
Excellent levels of efficiency at nuclear power plants, which supply electricity to one of every five U.S. homes and businesses, produced a near- record 783 billion kwh of electricity. This nearly equaled 2004's all-time record electricity output of 789 billion kwh, despite the fact that more than 40 percent of the nation's 103 nuclear reactors conducted scheduled refueling outages last spring, as compared to only 25 percent with refueling outages in spring 2004.
The nuclear energy industry similarly sustained near-record levels of safety and operating performance in areas including safety system performance, worker safety, unplanned automatic plant shutdowns and programs to protect workers from radiation exposure.
"The stellar 2005 performance indicators exemplify the nuclear industry's ability to achieve excellence over a period of many years," said Frank L. "Skip" Bowman, the Nuclear Energy Institute's president and chief executive officer.
"These performance measures clearly demonstrate that the United States continues to be a world leader in safe and secure nuclear plant performance."
The performance data compiled by WANO is analyzed by the Atlanta-based Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO), which promotes excellence in U.S. nuclear power plant safety and operations.
Source: Nuclear Energy Institute
| 
Articles 
| View all PennWell sites | View all PennWell events
Add RSS Feed
