NRC OKs power uprate for PSEG NJ Hope Creek reactor

NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission approved of Public Service Enterprise Group Inc's request to increase the generating capacity of the 1,061-megawatt Hope Creek nuclear power plant by 15 percent to about 1,225 MW.

In a release Wednesday, the NRC said PSEG intends to utilize about 11 percent of the uprate this summer, increasing the reactor's capacity to about 1,185 MW.

The company however has not indicated when it will implement the remainder of the uprate.

The 3,403 MW Salem/Hope Creek station is located along the Delaware River in Salem about 40 miles south of Philadelphia.

There are three reactors at the station, the 1,174 MW Salem 1 (which entered service in 1977), the 1,130 MW Salem 2 (1981) and Hope Creek (1986), along with the 38 MW Salem 3 oil-fired turbine (1971).

One MW powers about 800 homes in New Jersey.

PSEG owns all of Hope Creek and about 57 percent of Salem. Exelon Corp (EXC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) owns the remaining 43 percent of Salem.

PSEG told the NRC it planned to file for a 20-year extension of the original 40-year operating licenses for Hope Creek and both Salem units in September 2009.

Public Service Enterprise Group, of Newark, New Jersey, owns and operates more than 16,500 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity to 2.1 million customers and natural gas to 1.7 million customers in New Jersey and another 2.9 million customers around the world.