Total U.S. nuclear plant availability moved lowerearly April 8 to 87.24%, down from 87.72% on April 7 but still above the 84.24%level noted on the same day a year ago.

Attempting to push total availability higher was therestart of Exelon Corp.'sQuad Cities 2 in Illinois. The unit was warming up at 18% early April 8 afterbeing shut on March 21 for a refueling outage.

In addition, DukeEnergy Corp.'s Brunswick 1 in North Carolina returned to full powerearly April 8, rising from 88% on April 7, and production at 's Point Beach 1 inWisconsin ticked higher again early April 8 to 74%, up from 49% on April 7.

However, working to offset increased production werecurtailments at three other reactors across the country. 's Susquehanna2 in Pennsylvania slipped to 77% early April 8, down from 100% power on April7. Entergy Corp.'sRiver Bend 1 in Louisiana fell to 65% early April 8, also down from full poweron April 7. Output at Entergy's Grand Gulf 1 in Mississippi decreased to 74%early April 8, tumbling from 93% on April 7.

Looking ahead, private sources indicate that a totalof six reactors may be shut in the next several days for planned seasonal work.The outages include: PinnacleWest Capital Corp.'s Palo Verde 1 in Arizona; 's Farley 2 in Alabama;Dominion Resources Inc.'sMillstone 3 in Connecticut; PublicService Enterprise Group Inc.'s Salem 1 in New Jersey; Exelon'sNine Mile Point 2 in New York; and Duke's Oconee 3 in South Carolina.

Power production levels and impending outage dates arecurrent at the time of publication and are subject to change. For details of U.S.nuclear power plant operations, visit our NuclearStatus and Outage Report.