The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has approved a proposal by Progress Energy to raise the power generating capacity of the Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant located in North Carolina, US by 1.66%.
The power uprate for the pressurized-water reactor, located about 20 miles southwest of Raleigh, North Carolina, will raise its power generating capacity to 930MW from 900MW electric.
An NRC evaluation confirmed that Progress Energy could increase the reactors’ power output primarily through more methods of measuring feedwater flow.
As part of its evaluation, NRC reviewed the operator’s analysis which showed that the plant’s design can accommodate the increased power level.
The NRC’s safety evaluation of the plant’s proposed power uprate checked several areas, including the nuclear steam supply systems, instrumentation and control systems, electrical systems, accident evaluations, radiological consequences, fire protection, operations and training, testing, and technical specification changes.
Progress expects to implement the uprate within four months after completing its spring 2012 refueling outage.