Entergy Mich. Palisades reactor exits outage

NEW YORK Jan 15 (Reuters) - Entergy Corp's (ETR.N) 778-megawatt Palisades nuclear power station in Michigan exited an outage and ramped up to 40 percent power by early Tuesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report.

The unit shut on Jan. 13 due to the loss of a main feedwater pump, which pumps water from the condenser to the reactor.

The Palisades station, which entered service in 1971, is located in South Haven in Van Buren County about 60 miles southwest of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

One MW powers about 800 homes in Michigan.

Entergy, which boeght the Palisades reactor from CMS Energy Corp's (CMS.N) Consumers Energy subsidiary for $380 million in April 2007, agreed to sell 100 percent of its output back to Consumers for 15 years.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in January 2007 renewed the plant's original 40-year operating license for another 20 years until 2031.

Entergy said in November 2007 it wants to create a separate publicly traded company to operate its non-utility nuclear rectors, including Palisades. The company hopes to complete the spin-off in the third quarter of 2008.

Entergy, of New Orleans, owns and operates about 30,000 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes power to 2.6 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)