| The Nuclear Regulatory Commission
has approved a request by Exelon Generating Co. to increase the generating
capacity of its Dresden 2 and 3 and Quad Cities 1 and 2 nuclear power plants.
The power uprate at Dresden 2 and 3, located near Morris, Illinois, will
increase the power of each reactor by 17 percent to about 912 megawatts of
electricity per unit. The power uprate at Quad Cities 1 and 2, located near
Moline, Il., will increase the power of each reactor by 17.8 percent, to about
912 megawatts of electricity per unit.
The application for the increases was submitted to the NRC in December
2000. Exelon intends to implement the power uprate immediately for Dresden
Unit 2. Uprates for the three other reactors will be implemented during outages
scheduled for 2002 and 2003.
The NRC's safety evaluation of the requested power uprate for the units focused
on several areas, including nuclear steam supply systems, instrumentation and control
systems, electrical systems, accident evaluations, radiological consequences,
operations and technical specification changes. The NRC staff determined that
the licensee could safely increase the power output of the reactors with modifications
to plant equipment and use of new fuel.
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