Entergy Vermont Yankee reactor cut to 43 pct power

NEW YORK, April 1 (Reuters) - Entergy Corp's (ETR.N) 620-megawatt Vermont Yankee nuclear power station in Vermont dipped to 43 percent power by early Tuesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report.

On Monday, the unit was operating at full power.

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

Entergy in January 2006 filed for a 20-year extension of the unit's original 40-year operating license. In August 2007, however, the NRC revised the schedule for issuing a safety evaluation after the company provided additional information.

At that time, the NRC said its staff would take at least two months to go over the additional information and determine if the agency requires more data.

It usually takes the NRC about 22 months (November 2007) to make a decision on a license renewal without a hearing and about 30 months (July 2008) with a hearing. The NRC however has said the extension would extend the amount of time it takes to make a decision.

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 2.6 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)