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By RUSTY DENNEN
North Anna Power Station's two nuclear reactors will be generating more power by next summer.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission this week approved Dominion power's application to increase the reactors' output by a total of 23 megawatts.
Unit 1's generating capacity will rise by 18 megawatts to 980; Unit 2, by 8 megawatts, to 973, according to the NRC.
The process is good for Dominion because it can increase its electricity output without having to build an expensive new generating plant elsewhere.
Scott Burnell, a spokesman for the NRC, said yesterday that the uprates involve adjustments that increase the amount of heat produced in the reactor core. Additional heat produces more steam, which turns turbines faster, putting more electricity on the power grid.
North Anna will boost power primarily through more accurate means of measuring feed water to the reactors. The change should be completed by July.
"The industry has been able to prove to us that they have methods that can increase the output of the core and still maintain safety," Burnell said.
The NRC's safety evaluation focused on steam systems, instrumentation and control systems, electrical systems, accident evaluations, radiological consequences, fire protection, operations and training, testing and technical specification changes.
Power uprates, as the NRC calls them, are nothing new.
The first ones were issued in the 1980s, Burnell said. There are three types of uprates that can increase reactor output from 2 percent to 20 percent.
The type of uprate in the works at North Anna has been used in the industry for about a decade.
Including North Anna, there have been 129 uprates approved by the NRC. Another seven applications are pending.
Located on Lake Anna near Mineral, North Anna's two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors came online in 1978 and 1980, respectively.
Meanwhile, Dominion has an application pending with the NRC to add a third reactor at the plant.
Rusty Dennen: 540/374-5431
Email: rdennen@freelancestar.com
