US nuclear plants generate most power ever in 99-EIA

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

Friday March 31, 1:19 pm Eastern Time

US nuclear plants generate most power ever in 99-EIA

WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - U.S. data released on Friday showed 
nuclear power plants in 1999 generated more power than in any 
previous year, surpassing 700 billion kilowatt hours for the first 
time and increasing its share of the electricity pie to 19.8 percent 
from 18.6 percent in 1998.  

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) said a decrease in 
nuclear plant outage time helped the industry top previous generation 
records, even though the number of operating commercial plants has 
dropped to 103 from 112 in 1990.  

Total 1999 nuclear generation was 727,913 million KWH, an 8 percent 
increase on the previous year and around 53 billion KWH higher than 
the prior record of 674,729 million KWH from 1996.  

The capacity utilization rate last year was also at an all-time high 
of 85.5 percent, EIA said. The rate is the ratio of electricity that 
could be produced at full power with continuous operation compared to 
the amount actually produced.  

``This was accomplished, at least in part, by reducing the outage 
time for refueling the nuclear units,'' EIA said.

Four times during the year, the monthly net capacity factor topped 90 
percent, the statisticians noted.

Nuclear's share of the nation's electricity generation mix rose to 
19.8 percent in 1999, the first time the level was measured above 19 
percent since 1996. 

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Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	
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