Duke Energy’s Nuclear Playbook: Three Horizons, One Strategy

[Marlin]

Duke Energy's Nuclear Playbook: Three Horizons, One Strategy

https://www.powermag.com/duke-energys-nuclear-playbook-three-horizons-one-strategy/

[News Wire]

Duke Energy achieved a record fleet capacity factor exceeding 97 percent during 2025 through disciplined maintenance and risk management. The utility plans to leverage this operational performance to support long-term goals, including license renewals, 300 megawatts of capacity uprates, and the deployment of new nuclear units by 2037.

License renewals, 300 MW of uprates, and new nuclear by 2037: how Duke Energy is stretching its fleet while preparing for what's next.

Duke Energy's 11-unit nuclear fleet finished 2025 with a capacity factor greater than 97%—its best result on record. For Steven Capps, Duke's senior vice president and Chief Nuclear Officer, that number is the foundation everything else has to sit on.

"2025 was the best year we have had in terms of overall capacity factor for the fleet," Capps said as a guest on The POWER Podcast. He attributes the result to two things: sustained maintenance and capital investment at the stations, and a more disciplined approach to identifying and managing risk. The next two decades of Duke's nuclear strategy—license extensions, capacity uprates, and eventually new construction—depend on that performance holding up.

Read the full article at POWER Magazine:
https://www.powermag.com/duke-energys-nuclear-playbook-three-horizons-one-strategy/