Progress Fla. Crystal River 3 nuclear back on grid

PHOENIX, March 21 (Reuters) - After a three-week maintenance outage, the 838-megawatt Crystal River nuclear power Unit 3 synced to the power grid on Friday morning, said a spokesman for its operator, Progress Energy Inc (PGN.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

The unit went off line on March 1 to fix a reactor water coolant pump. During the shutdown, workers found other issues to fix and now that those issues have been remedied, it is hoped the plant will run smoothly for the high-demand summer, said Marc Harris, company spokesman.

Unit 3 began reconnecting to the regional power grid just after 4 a.m. EDT on Friday, and later that same morning was operating at 25 percent of capacity and was continuing to ramp up, Harris said.

Crystal River is in Citrus County about 85 miles north of Tampa on Florida's Gulf Coast. The plant has a single nuclear power reactor and four coal-fired units. The five units combined can generate about 3,150 megawatts of power, which is enough to serve about 1 million Florida homes.

Progress Energy operates the 31-year-old reactor and all four coal units. It fully owns the coal units, which are numbered Units 1, 2, 4 and 5.

The nuclear Unit 3 is owned by Progress (90.45 percent), Seminole Electric Cooperative (1.7 percent), Orlando Utilities Commission (1.6 percent), Gainesville-Alachua City Utility (1.41 percent), Tallahassee Electric Department (1.33 percent), Ocala Utilities Division (1.33 percent), Leesburg Municipal Electric Department (0.82 percent), Kissimmee Utilities (0.68 percent), New Smyrna Beach Utility Commission (0.56 percent), Alachua Electric Department (0.08 percent) and Bushnell Utility Department (0.04 percent). (Reporting by Bernie Woodall)