Press Release-08-043, NRC Approves Power Uprate for Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant

Press Release-08-043: NRC Approves Power Uprate for Vogtle Nuclear Power Plant

ML080640536
Person / Time
Site:	Vogtle
Issue date:	03/04/2008
From:	Office of Public Affairs
To:
References
Press Release-08-043
Download: ML080640536 (1)

Text

NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov Site: http://www.nrc.gov No.08-043 March 4, 2008 NRC APPROVES POWER UPRATE FOR VOGTLE NUCLEAR POWER PLANT The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, on Feb. 27, approved a request by Southern Nuclear Operating Company to increase the generating capacity of Units 1 and 2 at the Vogtle nuclear power plant by 1.7 percent each. Both reactors are about 26 miles southeast of Augusta, Ga.

The NRC staff determined that Southern Nuclear could safely increase the reactors output primarily through more accurate means of measuring feedwater flow. NRC staff also reviewed Southern Nuclears evaluations showing the plants design can handle the increased power level.

The NRC's safety evaluation of the plants proposed power uprate focused on several areas, such as the nuclear steam supply systems, instrumentation and control systems, electrical systems, accident evaluations, radiological consequences, operations and training, testing, and technical specification changes.

The power uprate will increase Vogtle Unit 1s generating capacity from approximately 1109 to 1174 megawatts electric, and Unit 2s generating capacity from approximately 1127 to 1173 megawatts electric. Southern Nuclear intends to implement Unit 1s uprate at the completion of the spring 2008 refueling outage and Unit 2s uprate at the completion of the fall 2008 refueling outage.

The NRC previously published a notice about the power uprate application in the Federal Register providing the public an opportunity to comment or request a hearing. No requests were submitted. The agencys evaluation of the Vogtle Units 1 and 2 uprates is available through the NRCs ADAMS electronic document database by entering ML080350345 on this Web page:

http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm .

News releases are available through a free listserv subscription at the following Web address:

http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web site.