FirstEnergy to fix Beaver Val reactor vessel head

NEW YORK, Oct 26 (Reuters) - FirstEnergy Corp (FE.N) found indications of stress on two reactor vessel head penetrations at the 846-megawatt Unit 2 at the Beaver Valley nuclear power station in Pennsylvania, a spokesman for the company said Monday.

He said the company planned for the possible discovery of such indications of stress and does not expect the needed repairs to add to the length of the unit's ongoing refueling outage.

The spokesman, however, could not say when the unit would likely return. Electricity traders guessed the outage would last about five weeks and return to service in mid November.

The unit shut by Oct. 12. It last shut for refueling around April 14-May 27, 2008. The unit is on an 18-month refueling cycle.

The spokesman said the indications of stress were not visible but were discovered using dyes and ultrasound tests. To fix the areas of stress, workers will grind the stressed weld area and apply a weld overlay.

The spokesman noted the company found and fixed similar stresses on the vessel head penetrations during the last refueling. He noted the company planned to replace the reactor vessel head in the future but did not say when.

In a report to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, FirstEnergy said on Oct. 23 it examined 43 of 66 penetrations and planned to examine all penetrations during this refueling outage.

The 1,738 MW Beaver Valley station is located in Shippingport in Beaver County about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. There are two units at the station, the 892 MW Unit 1 and the 846 MW Unit 2, which entered service in 1976 and 1987.

Unit 1 continued to operate at full power.

In 2007, FirstEnergy filed with the NRC to renew the original 40-year operating licenses for both units for another 20 years. According to its website, the NRC planned to make a decision in Nov. 2009 without a hearing.

One MW powers about 800 homes in Pennsylvania.

FirstEnergy's FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co subsidiary operates the station.

FirstEnergy owns and operates more than 14,000 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity to about 4.5 million customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Christian Wiessner)