One of the region’s major economic boosts starts another cycle this week, as the Cook Nuclear Plant enters another ‘Shutdown/Refueling’ period. That means more than a thousand additional workers will be involved at the Bridgman plant for at least several weeks. And many will be purchasing accommodations, food and other goods and services in the area during that time. As the tourist season winds down, the impact of the Cook plant’s refueling activity is welcome to business owners, particularly in the hospitality sector of the economy.
The details of the Cook refueling are provided by Cook spokesperson Bill Downey in a statement today:
Indiana Michigan Power’s Cook Nuclear Plant Unit 1 will begin its thirty-first refueling outage Saturday, October 14, at 3:00 a.m. Power on Unit 1 was reduced on Wednesday, October 11, to allow for equipment testing before the outage begins. The unit will have operated for 11,876 hours during its last cycle at a capacity factor of 97.8 percent, generating 12,351,923 megawatt-hours of electricity.
Cook Unit 2 remains at 100 percent. Power to customers is not expected to be disrupted by the planned Unit 1 outage. AEP does not provide a return to service date for competitive reasons.
In addition to refueling the reactor and performing regular maintenance and testing work, the outage will also include replacing a Reactor Coolant Pump (RCP) motor, as well as RCP seal inspection and refurbishment activities. Motor work will also be performed on the component cooling water system, and rotors will be removed and inspected on the unit’s main generator low pressure turbine and main feedwater pump.
Over 1000 additional contracted workers will supplement the regular 1,000-person plant staff leading up to and during the outage. Nearly 12,000 maintenance, inspection and equipment modification job activities totaling 171,343 work-hours are scheduled for two daily 12-hour work shifts.
Cook Nuclear Plant is owned and operated by Indiana Michigan Power, an AEP company. At full capacity, the 1,084-net MW Unit 1, and 1,194-net MW Unit 2 combined produce enough emission-free electricity for more than one and one half million average homes.
Indiana Michigan Power (I&M) is headquartered in Fort Wayne, and its approximately 2,200 employees serve more than 607,000 customers. More than 80% of its energy delivered in 2022 was emission-free. I&M has at its availability various sources of generation including 2,278 MW of nuclear generation in Michigan, 450 MW of purchased wind generation from Indiana, more than 22 MW of hydro generation in both states and approximately 35 MW of large-scale solar generation in both states. The company’s generation portfolio also includes 1,497 MW of coal-fueled generation in Indiana.
