Indiana Michigan Power’s Cook Nuclear Plant Unit 1 will begin its thirty-second refueling outage Saturday, March 22, at 3:00 a.m. Power on Unit 1 was reduced on Wednesday, March 19, to allow for equipment testing before the outage begins.
Cook Nuclear Plant is located on the shore of Lake Michigan in Bridgman, Mich.
The unit will have operated for 11,811 hours during its last cycle at a capacity factor of 99.5 percent, generating 12,387,620 megawatt-hours of (net) electricity. Cook Unit 2 remains at 100 percent power. 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, inspection and maintenance activities associated with the main turbine and main generator, and replacing important battery systems for both safety-related and non-safety-related equipment. An upgraded overspeed protection system will also be installed for the main turbine and main feed pump turbines.
Over 1,000 additional contracted workers will supplement regular plant staff leading up to and during the outage. Approximately 12,500 maintenance, inspection and equipment modification job activities totaling 179,000 work-hours are scheduled for two daily 12-hour work shifts.
Cook Nuclear Plant is owned and operated by Indiana Michigan Power (I&M), an AEP company, headquartered in Fort Wayne, IN. 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. I&M’s approximately 2,000 employees serve more than 600,000 customers. More than 85% of its total energy delivered in 2023 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 2 of 2 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.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Joe Callahan
Communications Consultant
Cook Nuclear Plant
Work – 269.466.2921 Cell – 269.326.0386
jcallahan@aep.com