The NRC said that it had approved a request by AmerGen to increase the generating capacity of the Clinton plant by about 20%, or 186MWe. This would increase the capacity of the plant to 1116MWe.
AmerGen plans to implement the power increase in two phases, starting this spring. The NRC said the plant’s power output could be safely increased primarily by using new fuel in the core and making some plant modifications.
Separately, the NRC said that it had also approved an application from Entergy to increase the generating capacity of Waterford 3 by 1.5%, or 16MWe, bringing the generating capacity up to 1169MWe. Entergy plans to implement the power increase during the current spring maintenance and refuelling outage.
In addition, the NRC has prepared a draft environmental assessment of a request by Carolina Power and Light for a licence amendment to increase the maximum thermal power capacity at Brunswick 1 and 2 from 2558MWt to 2923MWt, an increase of 14.3%.