GNF is re-awarded fuel contract from Xcel Energy

28 July 2010


Xcel Energy has picked Global Nuclear Fuel-Americas (GNF) to supply nuclear fuel and reload engineering services for its Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant in Minnesota.

Under the $12 million contract, GNF will deliver the enriched fuel to Monticello at the beginning of 2013, prior to the unit’s next fuel reloading outage.

The fuel bundles will be GNF’s GE14 BWR fuel design. They will be fitted with Defender lower tie plates, filter technology that protects the fuel by capturing any foreign debris that may exist in a reactor, preventing damage to fuel rods and potential fuel failures.

GE (later GNF, a GE-led joint venture with Hitachi Ltd. and Toshiba Corporation) has been Monticello’s primary fuel supplier since the unit began operating in 1971. Monticello is a 585MW (net) GE-designed, BWR-3 reactor.

Xcel Energy has proposed an extended power uprate (EPU) at Monticello. The proposal, which is pending before the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, would boost the facility’s capacity to approximately 120% of the plant’s originally licensed thermal power. In 2007 GE was awarded a contract to provide critical components and engineering to support the implementation of the Monticello EPU project.


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