Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) said its employees wrapped up a refueling and maintenance outage at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in less than a month.

This outage set a station record for the shortest outage, taking only 28 days and 18 hours. The average refueling and maintenance outage across the United States takes 36.3 days, according to industry data.

The latest achievement highlights the plant’s strong operating record over the past decade, Bob Bement, APS executive vice president and chief nuclear officer, said.

“The more days Palo Verde is operating rather than in a refueling outage, the more low-cost energy is available to customers across Arizona and the Southwest,” Bement said. “This refueling outage is another example of the world-class performance we have come to expect from Palo Verde, which is the nation’s largest carbon-free energy resource. The efficiency and safety with which our employees conducted this outage will enable us to continue providing clean, reliable service to our customers at the lowest possible prices.

“Just as important, using electricity produced from Palo Verde’s three units is the equivalent of removing 2.8 million cars from our streets and highways every year," Bement said. "As a result, our customers have been enjoying cleaner air since the plant first started producing electricity in 1986.”

Last year, Palo Verde celebrated its 24th consecutive year as the nation’s largest power producer with total electricity production of 32.5 billion kilowatt-hours of carbon-free electricity. Palo Verde Unit 1 produced more electricity output than any nuclear unit in the world; all three Palo Verde units individually ranked in the top seven internationally.