1979 outage experience of nuclear electric-power generating plants

Journal Article · Fri May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981 · Nucl. Saf.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5775851

Scott, R L

This article summarizes the 1979 outage experience of 67 licensed nuclear power plants. Operating statistics and data are presented for each plant that was in commercial operation at the end of the year and had sufficient electrical generation for meaningful analyses. The one exception is Three Mile Island 2; operational data for this unit covers only the period January 1 through July 19, 1979. Included in this article are the data for 25 BWR plants; 41 PWR plants; and Fort St. Vrain. During 1979 the 25 operating BWRs experienced an average of 2419 h of outage time compared to an average of 3169 h for the 41 operating PWRs. The percentage of forced outage time at BWRs was 37% compared to 46% at PWRs. The primary cause of forced outages at BWRs was equipment failure. At PWRs the primary cause of forced outages was regulatory requirements. Refueling was the primary cause of scheduled outages at both BWRs and PWRs. Implementation of new regulatory requirements and maintenance or testing accounted for large percentages of the scheduled outage time at both types of plants. The dominance of regulatory requirements as the cause for large percentages of forced and scheduled outages was the result of action taken with regard to aspects of the Three Mile Island 2 incident and with regard to concern for seismic design deficiencies in safety-related piping. Fort St. Vrain, an HTGR, declared commercial operation July 1, 1979. For the remainder of the year, the unit acquired an availability factor of 22.2%, having experienced eight forced outages and three scheduled outages for a total outage time of 3434 h.

• OSTI ID: 5775851
• Journal Information: Nucl. Saf.; (United States), Journal Name: Nucl. Saf.; (United States) Vol. 22:3; ISSN NUSAA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210801* -- Nuclear Power Plants-- Economics-- Construction & Operation-- (-1987)
BWR TYPE REACTORS
DATA
DATA COMPILATION
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
GAS COOLED REACTORS
GRAPHITE MODERATED REACTORS
HELIUM COOLED REACTORS
HTGR TYPE REACTORS
INFORMATION
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
NUMERICAL DATA
OUTAGES
PERFORMANCE
POWER PLANTS
POWER REACTORS
PWR TYPE REACTORS
REACTORS
STATISTICAL DATA
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
VRAIN REACTOR
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS