ONTARIO, NY— Operators returned R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant to full power at 1:00 p.m. today after successfully completing a refueling outage that began on Oct. 19. Ginna executes outages every 18-months to refuel the reactor and perform maintenance activities.
During the outage, Ginna’s nearly 600 employees worked closely with more than 700 highly-skilled contractors to replace one-third of the reactor’s fuel and perform thousands of inspections, tests and maintenance activities. Many of these activities cannot be performed while the plant is generating electricity and all are designed to ensure continued safe and reliable operations.
“I want to recognize our employees and supplemental workers for another safe, successful refueling outage,” said Joe Pacher, site vice president. “The important work performed over the past several weeks will help us continue to operate at world-class levels, generating clean, reliable energy for our region.”
R.E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant is located on 426 acres along the south shores of Lake Ontario in Ontario, NY, about 20 miles northeast of Rochester. Ginna is a Westinghouse, two-loop, pressurized water reactor (PWR) with an output of approximately 580 megawatts – enough electricity to power 500,000 homes. Nuclear facilities play a vital role in our country’s diverse electricity portfolio and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has licensed the plant to operate through 2029.
