Oconee 3 begins Spring 2026 refueling outage

[Outage Wire]

SENECA, SC — Oconee 3 came offline on May 6, 2026 for refueling. The published schedule had a May 1, 2026 start; actual is 5 days later than planned. Planned outage length is 24 days (back to service around May 25, 2026).

Going into the refueling, the unit had run for about 23 months without an unscheduled outage. NukeWorker's predictive model scores 99% on start-date accuracy for this unit.

Across the U.S. fleet of 94 commercial reactors, today's combined capacity factor is 85.6% (9 currently in refueling, 2 in unscheduled outages), below the 87.0% baseline for this month over the past five years. At the same site, Oconee 1 and Oconee 2 are both running at full power. Comanche Peak 2 also began a refueling outage within the past week.

Oconee 3 is an 859-MW Babcock & Wilcox PWR operated by Duke Energy Carolinas (commercial operation since 1974). At full power, it supplies enough electricity for roughly 687,000 homes. The utility operates 6 other U.S. nuclear units. Its operating license runs through 2054 (renewed in 2000). The unit ran at a 99.8% capacity factor in 2025, among the unit's strongest cycles.

Heading to Seneca, SC for outage work? Current per-diem averages $110/night lodging plus $68/day meals (total $178/day), and Unemployment Benefits are $326 weekly. See open nuclear jobs in South Carolina on NukeWorker.

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Sources: NRC Daily Reactor Power Status reports, utility-published outage schedules, and NukeWorker's predictive model.