U.S. plants operated at near record 2003 levels, NEI reports

Washington (Platts)--16Jun2004

U.S. nuclear plants continued operating at high levels of production and
efficiency in 2003, the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) said today, citing
performance indicators compiled by the World Association of Nuclear Operators
(WANO). The industry performed at near-record levels even though many plants
undertook major projects such as vessel head replacements that extended
shutdowns beyond normal refueling outages, NEI said. The 103 operating
reactors in the U.S. generated 764-million megawatt-hours (MWH) last year, a
2% drop from 2002's record of 780-million MWH, NEI said. WANO reported the
industry's unit capability factor at 89.8%, the fourth highest on record, NEI
said. The industry also continued to operate at high levels of safety, NEI
said. Charts of the WANO performance indicators are at
(http://www.nei.org/documents/Wano_Performance_Indicators_2003.pdf).