WINTERSBURG, Ariz. (AP) — The Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station's operator says employees completed a recent refueling and maintenance outage of one of the plant's three reactor units in record time.
Arizona Public Service Co. says workers reconnected Unit 3 to the electricity grid late Saturday after an outage that lasted 28 days and about 18 hours.
The outage was about four hours shorter than the plant's previous record set during a Unit 2 outage in 2014.
APS says it has now had three refueling and maintenance outages of less than 30 days and says industry data puts the average length of such outages at U.S. reactors in 2015 at over 36 days.
Palo Verde began operation in 1986 and is located about 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix.