Entergy Vermont Yankee reactor back at full power

NEW YORK, June 26 (Reuters) - Entergy Corp's (ETR.N) 620-megawatt Vermont Yankee nuclear power station returned to full power by early Friday from 50 percent early Thursday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report.

Operators reduced the unit earlier in the week to fix a leak of river water into the plant's condenser that the company had been tracking since early June.

In addition to fixing the leak, workers also conducted other maintenance including replacement of equipment associated with recirculation pump controls and a sensor associated with a regulating valve in the feedwater system.

Vermont Yankee, which entered service in 1972, is located in Vernon in Windham County about 80 miles north of Hartford, Connecticut.

Entergy is waiting for the NRC Commissioners to decide on the company's application to extend the plant's original 40-year operating license for another 20 years. Entergy filed the application in January 2006.

It usually takes the NRC about 22 months (November 2007) to make a decision on renewal without a hearing and about 30 months (July 2008) with a hearing.

The NRC's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board (ASLB) held the hearing and recommended the NRC approve the license extension. The ASLB however wanted Entergy to perform additional analysis on the reactor vessel nozzles before the NRC granted the extension.

Entergy conducted that analysis even though the NRC staff objected to the ASLB request for additional analysis.

One MW powers about 1,000 homes in Vermont.

Entergy, of New Orleans, owns and operates about 30,000 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes power to 2.7 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)