BRIDGMAN, Mich. – Indiana Michigan Power announced its Cook Nuclear Plant Unit 2 will begin its 27th refueling outage Saturday, March 23, at 3:00 a.m.

I & M Power officials say power on Unit 2 was reduced on March 20, to allow for equipment testing before the outage starts.

Officials say the unit will have operated for 12,023 hours during its last cycle at a capacity of 99.4%, generating 14,094,064 megawatt-hours of net electricity.

“We are very pleased with the Unit 2 capacity factor being greater than 99% over this last operating cycle,” said Shane Lies, American Electric Power’s Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer. “It is a testament to the effectiveness of our equipment reliability initiatives. Moreover, we will complete many preventive and corrective maintenance activities during this outage that will help us to sustain this high level of performance. We would not be able to complete these activities without the assistance from all of the supplemental workers who have joined us at the plant, and we are very grateful for their help.”  

I & M says the outage will include replacing a reactor coolant pump (RCP) motor, performing periodic testing on the steam generators, and replacing the balance of plant (BOP) battery.

They say an upgraded overspeed protection system will be installed for the main turbine and main feed pump turbines as well.

Officials say Cook Unit 1 remains at 100%.

I & M say customers shouldn't expect power to be disrupted by the planned Unit 2 outage.