Vistra’s Perry nuclear plant approved for license renewal

Texas-based Vistra Corporation has announced that its license renewal application for the Perry nuclear power plant was approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The plant first connected to the grid in 1986 and is still operating under its original 40-year license, which was set to expire next year.

The application was filed by Energy Harbor, then owner of Perry, in July 2023. In September of that year, the NRC accepted it for docketing and also approved the transfer of Energy Harbor's operating licenses to Vistra as part of an acquisitions deal between the companies.

With approval from the NRC, the plant, located on the shore of Lake Erie in Perry, Ohio, is greenlit to continue operations through 2046. Perry is powered by a General Electric 1,268-MWe BWR-6.

Quotable: "Extending operations at Perry ensures that Ohio continues to benefit from a resilient source of baseload power, supporting jobs, economic activity, and grid reliability across the region," said Jim Burke, president and CEO of Vistra.

Other plants: In a press release from the company, Burke also said, "With this latest approval, all six reactors in Vistra's fleet have received license extensions, reinforcing their long-term value to the communities and markets we serve."

Aside from Perry, Vistra's fleet comprises three other plant sites:

• Beaver Valley, which has two pressurized water reactors (each with a capacity just over 930 MWe), is located on the Ohio River, near Shippingport, Pa. Units 1 and 2 are licensed through 2036 and 2047, respectively.
• David-Besse, a single-unit plant with a 908-MWe PWR, is near Oak Harbor, Ohio, also on Lake Erie. It is licensed to operate through 2037.
• Comanche Peak was Vistra's most recent plant to receive a license renewal before Perry. It has two PWRs with capacities just over 1,200 MWe each and is near Glen Rose, Texas. Last July, the licenses for Units 1 and 2 were approved by the NRC to run through 2050 and 2053, respectively.