Arkansas Nuclear 2 completes Spring refuel in 48 days, caps 501-day B2B run

[News Wire]

The refueling outage at Arkansas Nuclear 2 concluded after 48 days, running 18 days longer than the planned 30-day schedule. This duration is 4.1 days above the 43.9-day average of the unit's 18 prior refueling outages. The 48-day period ranks as the sixth-longest among the 19 tracked refuels for the 985-MW unit.

48 days outage · 18 days past schedule · sixth B2B run complete · 985 MW back online

Arkansas Nuclear 2 completed its Spring 2026 refueling outage on Apr 30, 2026, returning to service after 48 days. The outage began on Mar 14, 2026.

The published schedule had it at 30 days (Mar 7, 2026 to Apr 6, 2026), so the actual ran 18 days longer than planned.

It also capped a 501-day breaker-to-breaker run (over the 444-day threshold for an 18-month cycle), the unit's sixth qualified B2B run. Going into the refueling, the unit had run for more than 5 years without an unscheduled outage.

The 48-day outage removed roughly 1.04 million MWh from the grid, worth approximately $42 million at recent wholesale prices, equivalent to a year's electricity for about 97,000 homes.

Across the U.S. fleet of 94 commercial reactors, today's combined capacity factor is 91.3% (5 currently in refueling), above the 87.0% baseline for this month over the past five years. At the same site, Arkansas Nuclear 1 is running at full power. Beaver Valley 2, Palo Verde 2, and Susquehanna 1 also completed refueling outages within the past week.

Arkansas Nuclear 2 is a 985-MW COMB CE PWR operated by Entergy Arkansas (commercial operation since 1980). At full power, it supplies enough electricity for roughly 788,000 homes. The utility operates 1 other U.S. nuclear unit. Its operating license runs through 2038 (renewed in 2005). The unit ran at a 99.3% capacity factor in 2025, among the unit's strongest cycles.

View Arkansas Nuclear 2's ratings, history, predictions, and current status on NukeWorker.

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