BORDERLAND

Davis-Besse may soon return to full power

5/10/2014

OAK HARBOR, Ohio — FirstEnergy Corp.’s Davis-Besse nuclear plant is expected to be operating at full power within a few days, possibly this weekend.

The plant went back into service earlier this week after an outage that began Feb. 1. It synchronized to the regional electric grid at 12:20 p.m. Thursday. The reactor needs to ascend up to about 20 percent power for that to happen. As of 6:29 p.m. Friday, the reactor had reached 65 percent power, said Jennifer Young, FirstEnergy spokesman.

The outage was one of the most important in Davis-Besse’s history. The plant’s new steam generators were replaced, a $600 million project that was years in the making. The reactor core was refueled. The utility is expected to learn this fall if the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will approve its request for a 20-year extension to Davis-Besse’s operating license.