Hatch 1 trips offline, unscheduled outage underway

[Core Content]

Hatch 1, Baxley, Georgia.

Hatch 1 began an unscheduled forced short outage on October 11, 2026. The event ended a 167 day unscheduled outage free streak for the unit, with duration projected at about four days.

This event marks the second forced outage for Hatch 1 in 2026, compared to one during all of 2025. Operated by Georgia Power, which manages five other nuclear units, the 876 megawatt General Electric boiling water reactor has operated commercially since 1975. Across the national fleet, operations run at an 81.3 percent capacity factor across 94 units, with 15 in refueling and two in unscheduled outages.

BAXLEY, GA. Hatch 1 dropped offline on Oct 11, 2026, beginning an unscheduled outage. 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 second 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 4 days. NukeWorker's forced-outage projection scores 93% duration accuracy for this unit, with past calls usually landing within about 2 days.

Across the U.S. fleet of 94 commercial reactors, today's combined capacity factor is 81.3% (15 units currently refueling, 2 units in unscheduled outages), below the 81.8% baseline for this month over the past five years. At the same site, Hatch 2 is at 94% power. While the unit is down, that takes about 701,000 homes' worth of generation off the grid.

Hatch 1 is an 876-MW General Electric BWR/4 operated by Georgia Power (commercial operation since 1975). The utility operates 5 other U.S. nuclear units. Its operating license runs through 2034 (renewed in 2002).

View Hatch 1's ratings, history, projections, and current status on NukeWorker. This thread will be updated when the unit returns to service.

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.

[Core Content]

Hatch 1 returned to service following a three-day forced short outage that ended on October 13, 2026. The NukeWorker day-one projection correctly anticipated a four-day duration, falling one day short within tolerance.

The 876-MW General Electric boiling water reactor, operated by Georgia Power and in commercial operation since 1975, marks its second forced outage of 2026 compared to one in all of 2025. NukeWorker maintains a 93% forced-outage duration accuracy rate within tolerance across twenty prior forced outages for this unit. Across the broader industry fleet, operations stand at an 81.2% capacity factor across ninety-four units, with fifteen in refueling and one in unscheduled outages.

Hatch 1 returned to service on Oct 13, 2026 after a 3-day unscheduled outage that began on Oct 11, 2026. A short forced outage like this typically reflects a controlled response to a single issue rather than a major component problem.

NukeWorker's projection had this at about 4 days at outage start; actual duration matched within a day.

The 3-day outage removed roughly 58,000 MWh from the grid, worth approximately $2 million at recent wholesale prices, equivalent to a year's electricity for about 5,400 homes.

View Hatch 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.

[Core Content]

Follow-up: the NRC has filed its event notification for the Hatch 1 trip first reported in this thread. The agency classifies it as an automatic reactor trip (docket 05000321).

AUTOMATIC REACTOR TRIP The following information was provided by the licensee via phone and email: "At 1614 EDT, on 10/10/2026, with Unit 1 in mode 1 at 100 percent power, the reactor automatically tripped. The reactor protection system (RPS) actuated while critical, safety relief valves actuated, and a group 2 primary containment isolation occurred. The trip was not complex with all systems responding as designed. The cause of the trip is under investigation. "Operations responded and stabilized the plant in mode 3. Reactor water level is being maintained by the feedwater system. Decay heat is being removed by discharging steam to the main condenser using the turbine bypass valves. Unit 2 is not affected. "Due to the RPS actuation while critical, this event is being reporte...

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

Source: NRC event notification.

[Core Content]

Hatch 1 reached full power (99%) in the NRC's Oct 17, 2026 daily report, 3 days after its first reading above 0% on Oct 14, 2026. From the Oct 10, 2026 reactor trip to full power took 7 days. That climb from restart to full power compares with a median of 3 days over the unit's last 10 forced outages.

Counting the days at 0% power and the climb back, the outage cost roughly 99,000 MWh of generation, worth approximately $4 million at recent wholesale prices, based on the NRC's daily power readings.

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

Source: NRC Daily Reactor Power Status reports.