South Texas Project Prepares for Steam Generator Replacement

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The South Texas Project Electric Generating Station (STPEGS) is located in Matagorda County, Texas. The site is about 90 miles southwest of Houston. The STP was Texas's first nuclear plant, also one of the newest and largest nuclear power plants in the country. STP's two reactors, which came on line in August 1988 and June 1989, have a total capacity of 2,500 megawatts (MW).

STP is in the process of replacing four steam generators for 1,312MW Unit 2 pressurized water reactor, at an estimated cost of $500 million. The outage started in early October 2002, and is expected to be complete in December 2002.

The STP's Westinghouse steam generators were intended to last for the life of the plant, or about 40 years. The replacement of steam generators with Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) requires the replacement of insulation due to differences in the arrangement between the existing steam generators and the replacement units. The new replacement includes advanced techniques such as hydraulic expansion tubesheet joints and thermally treated alloy tubing.

The plant is operated by South Texas Nuclear Operating Company for the owners: CenterPoint Energy 30.8% (NYSE:CNP)(Houston, Texas), which became the new holding company for the regulated operations of the former Reliant Energy, in August 2002, Austin Energy 16% (Municipal Utility)(Austin, Texas), AEP-Central Power & Light 25.2% (Corpus Christi, Texas), a subsidiary of American Electric Power, an Investor Owned Utility (IOU) (NYSE: AEP)(Columbus, Ohio), and City Public Service 28% (Municipal Utility).