Saint Lucie 1 trips offline, unscheduled outage underway

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Saint Lucie 1, Ft. Pierce, Florida.

Saint Lucie 1 began an unscheduled forced short outage on August 14, 2026. This event ended a streak of 635 days without an unscheduled outage at the 981-MW Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor.

This forced outage is the first for the unit in 2026, following a year in 2025 with zero forced outages. Florida Power and Light operates this unit along with three other nuclear units in the United States. Across the industry, 94 units are currently operating at a 97.8 percent capacity factor, with Saint Lucie 1 and Monticello as the only two units in unscheduled outages. The next planned refueling for Saint Lucie 1 is expected next spring.

FT. PIERCE, FL. Saint Lucie 1 entered an unscheduled outage on Aug 14, 2026. The NRC has not yet issued an event notification for this trip; a follow-up reply will be posted here if one is filed.

This is the first unscheduled outage of 2026 for the unit. Its most recent outage was a 41-day refueling outage that ended in October 2025. Prior to this trip, the unit had gone about 21 months without an unscheduled outage. The unit's next scheduled refueling outage is expected next spring.

Across the U.S. fleet of 94 commercial reactors, today's combined capacity factor is 97.8% (2 units in unscheduled outages), below the 97.9% baseline for this month over the past five years. At the same site, Saint Lucie 2 is running at full power. Monticello also had an unscheduled outage within the past week. While the unit is down, that takes about 785,000 homes' worth of generation off the grid.

Saint Lucie 1 is a 981-MW COMB CE PWR operated by Florida Power & Light (commercial operation since 1976). The utility operates 3 other U.S. nuclear units. Its operating license runs through 2056 (renewed in 2026).

View Saint Lucie 1's ratings, history, projections, 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 projections.

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Saint Lucie 1 returned to service following a one-day forced short outage that concluded on August 14, 2026. This event marks the first forced outage for the 981-MW Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor during the 2026 calendar year.

The unit, which began commercial operation in 1976, recorded zero forced outages throughout 2025. Florida Power and Light operates this unit alongside three other nuclear units in its fleet. Across the United States, the current fleet capacity factor is 98.9 percent with 94 units online, while Saint Lucie 1 prepares for its next planned refueling outage expected next spring.

Saint Lucie 1 returned to service on Aug 14, 2026 after a 1-day unscheduled outage that began on Aug 14, 2026. A 1-day outage is consistent with a quick trip recovery rather than an extended forced outage.

NukeWorker's projection had this at about 4 days at outage start; actual was 3 days shorter. The unit's next scheduled refueling outage is expected next spring.

The 1-day outage removed roughly 22,000 MWh from the grid, worth approximately $866,400 at recent wholesale prices, equivalent to a year's electricity for about 2,000 homes.

View Saint Lucie 1's ratings, history, projections, and current status on NukeWorker.

Want the full picture? Subscribe to the NukeWorker outage schedule for every current and upcoming U.S. nuclear outage.

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

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Follow-up: the NRC has filed its event notification for the Saint Lucie 1 trip first reported in this thread. The agency classifies it as a manual reactor trip (docket 05000335).

EN Revision Imported Date: 8/17/2026 EN Revision Text: MANUAL REACTOR TRIP The following information was provided by the licensee via phone and email: "At 0947 EDT on August 13, 2026, with Unit 1 in mode 1 at 100 percent power, the reactor was manually tripped due to 3 control rods dropping into the core. The trip was uncomplicated with all systems responding normally post-trip. Operations stabilized the plant in mode 3 [hot standby]. Decay heat is being removed by discharging steam to the main condenser using the turbine bypass valves and main feedwater. Unit 2 was not affected. "This event is being reported pursuant to 10 CFR 50.72(b)(2)(iv)(B). "The NRC Resident Inspector has been notified."

View Saint Lucie 1's ratings, history, projections, and current status on NukeWorker.

Source: NRC event notification.