Palo Verde 2 completes Spring refuel in 46 days, caps 493-day B2B run

[News Wire]

Palo Verde 2 completed its refueling outage in 46 days, which was 11 days longer than the planned 35-day schedule. This duration ranks as the fifth-longest among the unit's 19 tracked refuels and exceeded the 38.6-day average of prior cycles by 7.4 days. The outage followed an unplanned type P scram on March 18, 2026, which occurred eight days before the scheduled start date.

46 days outage · 11 days past schedule · fifth B2B run complete · 1,314 MW back online

After 46 days offline for its Spring 2026 refueling outage, Palo Verde 2 returned to the grid on May 4, 2026. The outage began on Mar 20, 2026.

The published schedule had it at 35 days (Mar 28, 2026 to May 2, 2026), so the actual ran 11 days longer than planned.

The outage began with an unplanned trip on Mar 18, 2026 (P scram), about 8 days before the planned outage. The unit remained offline through the scheduled refueling that followed, which explains the long duration.

The outage ran about 7 days longer than the unit's 18-cycle average of 38.6 days. It also capped a 493-day breaker-to-breaker run (over the 446-day threshold for an 18-month cycle), the unit's fifth qualified B2B run. Prior to the trip, the unit had run for more than 2 years without an unscheduled outage.

The 46-day outage removed roughly 1.33 million MWh from the grid, worth approximately $53 million at recent wholesale prices, equivalent to a year's electricity for about 124,000 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, Palo Verde 1 and Palo Verde 3 are both running at full power. Susquehanna 1, Beaver Valley 2, Braidwood 2, and Seabrook 1 also completed refueling outages within the past week.

Palo Verde 2 is a 1,314-MW COMB CE80 PWR operated by Arizona Public Service (commercial operation since 1986). At full power, it supplies enough electricity for roughly 1.1 million homes. The utility operates 2 other U.S. nuclear units. Its operating license runs through 2046 (renewed in 2011). The unit ran at a 99.9% capacity factor in 2025, among the unit's strongest cycles.

View Palo Verde 2'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.