PSEG NJ Hope Creek reactor back at full power

NEW YORK, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Public Service Enterprise Group Inc's (PEG.N) 1,209-megawatt Hope Creek nuclear power reactor in New Jersey returned to full power by early Wednesday from 50 percent early Tuesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report.

The company reduced the unit to take one of the reactor's four circulation water pumps out of service for repairs. The pump moves cooling water between the condenser and cooling tower.

The 3,551 MW Salem/Hope Creek station is located along the Delaware River in Salem about 40 miles south of Philadelphia. There are three reactors at the station, 1174 MW Salem 1, which entered service in 1977, 1,130 MW Salem 2 (1981) and the 1,209 MW Hope Creek (1986), and the 38 MW Salem 3 oil-fired turbine.

Salem 1 continued to operate at full power.

Salem 2 shut for refueling by Oct. 15 and will likely return in mid November.

One MW powers about 800 homes in New Jersey.

PSEG operates the station and owns all of Hope Creek and about 57 percent of Salem. Exelon Corp (EXC.N) owns the remaining 43 percent of Salem.

In 2007, PSEG said it planned to spend $50 million through 2011 to explore the construction of a new reactor at the site. The company said it planned to file with the NRC in the spring of 2010 to build a new nuclear plant at the site.

In August 2009, PSEG filed with the NRC for 20-year extensions of the original 40-year operating licenses for Hope Creek and both Salem units. The NRC planned to make a decision on the license renewals in 22 months (June 2011) without a hearing or 30 months (Feb. 2012) with a hearing.

PSEG, of Newark, New Jersey, owns and operates more than 16,500 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity to 2.1 million customers and natural gas to 1.7 million customers in New Jersey and another 2.9 million customers around the world.

Exelon, of Chicago, owns and operates more than 38,000 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity to about 5.4 million customers in northern Illinois and southeast Pennsylvania and natural gas to about 480,000 in the Philadelphia area. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)