Energy Information Administration ·
US nuclear outages fall to 17.5 GW on October 28 as Vogtle returns
US nuclear capacity offline fell to 17,518 megawatts (MW) on October 28, from a refuelling-season peak of 19,936 MW on October 21, as the Vogtle plant came back. About 17.5% of US nuclear capacity remains offline.
A data update from FactIQ, written from Energy Information Administration figures. What is FactIQ?
Key figures
- US nuclear capacity offline, October 28
- 17,518 MWdown from a fall refuelling-season peak of 19,936 MW on October 212026-09-112026-10-28U.S. Daily Nuclear Capacity Outage
- US nuclear capacity offline, refuelling-season peak, October 21
- 19,936 MWcompared with 11,989 MW on October 12026-09-112026-10-28U.S. Daily Nuclear Capacity Outage
- Vogtle plant capacity offline, October 27 to 28
- zerodown from 1,152 MW through October 222026-09-112026-10-28Daily Nuclear Generating Capacity Outage at Vogtle
- Palisades plant capacity offline, through October 28
- 815.6 MWequal to its full capacity every day2026-09-112026-10-28Daily Nuclear Generating Capacity Outage at Palisades
Vogtle's return explains much of the past week's improvement
The daily nuclear capacity outage figure from EIA measures how much US nuclear generating capacity is offline on a given day, for example for refuelling. It matters because the lost nuclear power has to be made up by other sources, including natural gas. Megawatts (MW) measure generating capacity.
- The Vogtle plant's outage stood at 1,152 MW through October 22.
- It fell to 23 MW on October 26.
- It was zero on October 27 and October 28.
Outages are still well above early-October levels
The US outage of 17,518 MW on October 28 compares with 11,989 MW on October 1. About 17.5% of the 100,057 MW of US nuclear power capacity is offline. These plants are still fully or largely offline:
- Peach Bottom: 1,347 MW
- Palo Verde: 1,333 MW
- Comanche Peak: 1,235 MW
- Diablo Canyon: 1,122 MW
The Palisades restart in Michigan is still not producing power
The Palisades outage equals its full 815.6 MW capacity every day through October 28. The plant has not yet started supplying power.
The effect on natural gas demand is small
With roughly 2.4 gigawatts (GW, thousands of megawatts) back from peak outages, power plants need to burn slightly less gas to replace nuclear power. This is a small factor next to weather-driven moves in Henry Hub, the main US natural gas price benchmark.
Source: Energy Information Administration. See all EIA data in FactIQ.