Total U.S. nuclear plant availability took a step forward early Feb. 21 to 92.94%, up from 92.16% on Feb. 20 and still above the 92.56% reported on the same day a year ago.

Giving a lift to total output was the full return of Pinnacle West Capital Corp.'s recently restarted Palo Verde 1 in Arizona. The unit was pegged at 100% power early Feb. 21, up from 48% on Feb. 20.

In addition, Duke Energy Corp.'s Brunswick 2 in North Carolina saw production rise from 78% on Feb. 20 to 95% early Feb. 21.

For details of U.S. nuclear power plant operations, visit our Nuclear Availability and Status and Outage pages.