Generating more power
TVA’s nuclear plants boosted the share of time they produced maximum power during 2014 to one of the highest capacity factor rates ever. TVA reactors ranked in order of their capacity factor performances last year were: * Sequoyah Unit 1 — 99.6 percent * Browns Ferry 2 — 98 percent * Browns Ferry 1 — 90.1 percent * Sequoyah 2 — 89.6 percent * Watts Bar 1 — 89.3 percent * Browns Ferry 3 — 88.5 percent Source: Nuclear Energy Institute analysis of Nuclear Regulatory Commission monthly operating reports. The average for all 100 operating nuclear reactors operating in 31 states was 91.9 percent, the highest capacity factor ever.
U.S. nuclear power plants generated electricity at a record high level of efficiency last year and the Tennessee Valley Authority averaged slightly better than the industry as a whole, according to operating reports filed with nuclear regulators.
The Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry trade group for the nuclear industry, calculates that the 100 nuclear reactors operating in the United States generated power 91.9 percent of the year during 2014. TVA’s six nuclear reactors ranged from a capacity factor of 88.5 percent at the newest reactor at Browns Ferry in Alabama up to 99.6 percent at the oldest reactor at the Sequoyah plant near Soddy-Daisy.
Actual electricity production from nuclear power plants in 2014 was the sixth highest year ever with an estimated 798.4 billion kilowatthours of power generation. The industry’s record generation was in 2010 when 104 reactors were operating. But four American reactors have shut down in the past four years.
“Our refueling outages have gone from three months to one month and plant technology and processes have gotten better over time to help keep plants on line more of the time,” David Bradish, the manager of energy and economic analysis at the Nuclear Energy Institute, said Friday. “Plants are running much better and more reliably than they ever have, which makes nuclear power that much more cost efficient for utilities.”