The Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, near Fort Gibson, Mississippi, began a scheduled refueling outage late last week, owner Entergy Corp. said.
The outage is a regularly performed procedure to replace a portion of nuclear fuel assemblies and perform other maintenance operations that can't be done during normal operations.
This outage will employ approximately 1,200 contracted employees alongside the plant’s full-time staff of approximately 600 individuals.
“Routine outages are necessary to refuel the plant in order for us to provide safe and reliable electricity in a cost-effective manner. These outages provide an economic boost for local businesses and temporary housing providers,” Grand Gulf Vice President Kevin Mulligan said.
Scheduled maintenance tasks include upgrading plant components and conducting necessary repairs and inspections that could not be done while the reactor is online and in operation. Entergy did not say when the plant is expected to complete this outage.
The Grand Gulf Nuclear Station has a maximum operational capacity of approximately 1,266 megawatts of electricity and serves the local community.
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