UPDATE 1-NPPD Neb. Cooper reactor starts to exit outage
(Updates with company comment)
NEW YORK, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Nebraska Public Power District's 758-megawatt Cooper nuclear power station in Nebraska started to exit an outage, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report.
The company shut the unit from 20 percent power on Nov. 6 due to an oil leak discovered after the unit exited a refueling outage, a company spokeswoman said.
The refueling outage started on Sept. 28.
The unit last shut for refueling from about April 11-May 19, 2008. It is on an 18 month refueling cycle.
The Cooper station, which entered service in 1974, is in Brownville in Nemaha County about 75 miles south of Omaha.
In September 2008, NPPD filed with the NRC to renew the unit's original 40-year operating license for an additional 20 years. The NRC expected to make a decision in Nov. 2010 with no hearing and July 2011 with a hearing.
One MW powers about 800 homes in Nebraska.
Entergy Nuclear, a subsidiary of Entergy Corp (ETR.N), of New Orleans, operates the station for NPPD under a long-term contract.
NPPD, the biggest electric company in the state, owns and operates about 3,000 MW of generating capacity and markets power mostly to municipal and cooperative utilities. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)
