Browns Ferry 3 trips offline, unscheduled outage underway

[Outage Wire]

ATHENS, AL — Browns Ferry 3 entered an unscheduled outage on Apr 28, 2026. The NRC has not yet issued an event notification for this trip; this post will be updated if one is filed.

This is the first unscheduled outage of 2026 for the unit, which had 1 unscheduled outage in all of 2025.

Based on the unit's history and similar reactor types, projected total duration is about 23 days. NukeWorker's predictive model scores 86% on forced-outage duration accuracy for this unit, with past calls usually landing within about 3 days.

Across the U.S. fleet of 94 commercial reactors, today's combined capacity factor is 86.6% (7 currently in refueling, 2 in unscheduled outages), below the 87.0% baseline for this month over the past five years. At the same site, Browns Ferry 1 and Browns Ferry 2 are both running at full power. Hatch 1 also had an unscheduled outage within the past week.

Browns Ferry 3 is a 1,260-MW General Electric BWR operated by Tennessee Valley Authority (commercial operation since 1977). At full power, it supplies enough electricity for roughly 1 million homes. The utility operates 6 other U.S. nuclear units. Its operating license runs through 2056 (renewed in 2006).

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View Browns Ferry 3's ratings, history, predictions, and current status on NukeWorker. This thread will be updated when the unit returns to service.

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

[Outage Wire]

Browns Ferry 3 returned to service on Apr 29, 2026 after a 2-day unscheduled outage that began on Apr 28, 2026. A short forced outage like this typically reflects a controlled response to a single issue rather than a major component problem.

The 2-day outage removed roughly 56,000 MWh from the grid, worth approximately $2 million at recent wholesale prices, equivalent to a year's electricity for about 5,200 homes.

View Browns Ferry 3's ratings, history, predictions, and current status on NukeWorker.

Want the full picture? Subscribe to the NukeWorker outage schedule for every current and upcoming U.S. nuclear outage: refueling, forced, and the 18-month rolling forecast.

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