FirstEnergy Ohio Davis-Besse reactor shut for refuel

NEW YORK, Dec 31 (Reuters) - FirstEnergy Corp's (FE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) 889-megawatt Davis-Besse nuclear power unit in Ohio was shut by early Monday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its power reactor status report.

Based on historical refueling outages at the plant, the unit in Oak Harbor, Ohio, about 35 miles east of Toledo, shut for a planned month long refueling and maintenance outage.

The unit had been running at full power early Friday.

The Davis-Besse station entered service in 1977.

FirstEnergy has told the NRC it plans to file for a 20-year extension of the original 40-year operating license for the plant in August 2010.

One MW powers about 800 homes in Ohio.

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

FirstEnergy owns and operates nearly 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 Eileen Moustakis; Editing by John Picinich)