Browns Ferry 3 - Status & History

Comprehensive reactor performance metrics, cycle analysis, and historical outage data.

Reactor Status Timeline

Online NRC data, Mon to Fri ? Actual daily reactor status from NRC reports (Mon to Fri), the current state, and what is coming: the utility's published Scheduled outage plus, for subscribers, NukeWorker's model Projection. Colored by status. How far ahead you can see depends on your plan.
Aug2025SepOctNovDecJan2026FebMarAprMayJunJulAugOnline: Jul 15, 2025 to Aug 4, 2025Forced Outage: Aug 5, 2025 to Aug 9, 2025Reduced Power: Aug 10, 2025 to Aug 11, 2025Online: Aug 12, 2025Power Ascension: Aug 13, 2025Online: Aug 14, 2025 to Sep 26, 2025Reduced Power: Sep 27, 2025Online: Sep 28, 2025 to Nov 21, 2025Reduced Power: Nov 22, 2025Online: Nov 23, 2025 to Jan 26, 2026Coastdown: Jan 27, 2026Online: Jan 28, 2026 to Feb 3, 2026Coastdown: Feb 4, 2026Online: Feb 5, 2026 to Feb 6, 2026Coastdown: Feb 7, 2026 to Feb 8, 2026Online: Feb 9, 2026 to Feb 11, 2026Coastdown: Feb 12, 2026Online: Feb 13, 2026 to Feb 16, 2026Coastdown: Feb 17, 2026 to Feb 20, 2026Refueling Outage: Feb 21, 2026 to Mar 26, 2026Power Ascension: Mar 27, 2026 to Mar 30, 2026Online: Mar 31, 2026 to Apr 26, 2026Reduced Power: Apr 27, 2026Forced Outage: Apr 28, 2026 to Apr 29, 2026Reduced Power: Apr 30, 2026Online: May 1, 2026Reduced Power: May 2, 2026Online: May 3, 2026 to Jun 5, 2026Reduced Power: Jun 6, 2026Online: Jun 7, 2026 to Jul 15, 2026Today
OnlineReduced PowerCoastdownPower AscensionRefueling OutageForced Outage
?
Composite Operational Excellence Score (0-100) — average percentile rank across 7 dimensions in three sub-scores: Reliability (capacity factor, forced outage days, B2B avg streak), Efficiency (fuel utilization, refuel duration), and Discipline (startup duration, scram count). 5-year window. Higher = more operationally excellent. Click to see the full breakdown.
49
Excellence
#42 of 93
Mid Quartile
?
Days of continuous operation since the last outage ended. Clean run (no forced outages since last refueling).
77
Current Run
days ✔
?
Longest recorded period of continuous operation between outages (2020-04-05 to 2022-02-26).
692
Record Run
days
?
Breaker-to-Breaker runs — continuous operation exceeding the cycle-adjusted threshold (618 days for this 24-month cycle unit) with no trips to 0% power.
3
B2B Runs
?
Lifetime capacity factor: average power level across all recorded days (100% = always at full power).
90.3%
Capacity Factor
?
Net electricity actually generated over the most recent 12 months reported by the U.S. EIA (Form EIA-923), summed across every unit at this plant. Authoritative actuals, not an estimate.
30.49 TWh
Net Generation
EIA-923 · 12 mo to 2026-04 · plant total
?
Total number of scheduled refueling outages detected in the historical data.
14
Outages
since 2000
?
Average time from first power generation (>0%) to sustained full power (≥95% for 2+ days) across the last 3 scheduled outages. Click to compare against the fleet on the Operator Efficiency Leaderboard.
7.3
Avg Startup
days (last 3)
?
Average fuel utilization — percent of the designed fuel cycle that this unit consumes before refueling, derived from the historical burn-down trajectory. Higher = more efficient operator (refuels with less margin remaining; closer to coastdown). Computed as 100% minus the unit's average refuel-point fuel %, using the last 3 years where available, otherwise lifetime average. Click to compare against the fleet on the Operator Efficiency Leaderboard.
93.4%
Fuel Utilization
3yr avg
?
NukeWorker's Operational Excellence Score is a composite 0–100 ranking of every active US nuclear unit across 7 publicly observable performance metrics, grouped into three sub-scores:
Reliability — capacity factor, forced outage days, B2B avg streak
Efficiency — fuel utilization, refuel duration
Discipline — startup duration, scram count
Each unit's metric is converted to a percentile across the active fleet. Sub-score = average of its components; composite = average of the three sub-scores. Use the time-window toggle below to switch between 3yr / 5yr / lifetime.
Time window — change how far back we look
NukeWorker's
Operational
Excellence Score
49/100
Mid Quartile · #42/93
5-year window

Browns Ferry 3 ranks #42 of 93 active US units on NukeWorker's Operational Excellence Score over the 5-year window. Strongest area: Scrams (5-year) (70th percentile). Weakest: Forced Outage Days/yr (13th percentile).

Reliability
35
Capacity factor + Forced outages + B2B streaks
Efficiency
43
Fuel utilization + Refuel duration
Discipline
70
Startup duration + Scram count
Cohort Rankings apples-to-apples comparison within each peer group
Reactor type: #17 of 31 BWR
Containment: #11 of 19 Mark I (BWR)
Cycle length: #23 of 40 24-month cycle
Fleet rank above (42 of 93) compares all active US units; cohort ranks compare only against units sharing this property.
Per-dimension breakdown (7 metrics)
Capacity Factor 28th
89.0% (higher better, Reliability)
Forced Outage Days/yr 13th
11.8d (lower better, Reliability)
B2B Avg Streak 65th
671d (higher better, Reliability)
Refuel Duration 43th
34d (lower better, Efficiency)
Scrams (5-year) 70th
0.2/yr (lower better, Discipline)

Each dimension's percentile is computed across the active US fleet (93 units with sufficient history). Sub-score = average of its component percentiles. Composite = average of the three sub-scores. 5-year window. View full leaderboard →

Methodology

NukeWorker's Operational Excellence Score is a composite ranking that combines 7 publicly observable performance metrics into a single 0-100 number per US nuclear unit.

How it's computed: Each unit's raw value is converted to a percentile (0-100) within the 93 active US units that have at least 2 completed refueling cycles. The 7 percentiles are averaged into 3 sub-scores (Reliability, Efficiency, Discipline), and those are averaged into the final composite.

Active window — 5-year:

  • Reliability — Capacity factor (5yr), forced outage days/yr (5yr), B2B avg streak (lifetime)
  • Efficiency — in-cycle fuel utilization (3yr), median refuel duration (5yr)
  • Discipline — robust mean startup duration, scrams/yr (5yr, annualised)

Cohort rankings: alongside the fleet rank, each unit gets ranked within its reactor type (PWR/BWR), containment design (Ice Condenser, Mark I, etc.), and cycle length (12/18/24-month). Useful for apples-to-apples comparisons.

What's excluded: subjective community ratings, confidential INPO ratings, financial metrics. We only use publicly available NRC + cycle data.

Why three windows? 5yr (default) is the industry standard. 3yr captures recent operational changes and post-pandemic recovery. Lifetime gives newer units a fair comparison and reveals long-term consistency.

Edge cases: units with fewer than 2 cycles (e.g., Vogtle 4) show "Provisional". Decommissioned units excluded.

Refresh cadence: recomputed daily. Each window cached separately.

A data-derived proxy for operational performance; not affiliated with INPO. INPO ratings are confidential and qualitative — ours is public and quantitative.

5-yr trend: 2021: 33/100 (#71/93)2022: 39/100 (#62/92)2023: 48/100 (#48/92)2024: 57/100 (#31/93)2025: 49/100 (#48/93)2026: 49/100 (#42/93) Stable vs 2025
Compare Browns Ferry 3 head-to-head with up to 3 other units. Compare now
?
Duration of each outage in days, shown chronologically. Green bars are scheduled refueling outages, red bars are forced/unscheduled. The orange dashed line marks the average duration. Extended outages (>180 days) and D&D periods are excluded.

Outage Duration Trend

Browns Ferry 3 has 60 outages plotted here, averaging 13 days each. The most recent, in Apr 2026, was a unplanned outage lasting 2 days.
?
Days between consecutive scheduled refueling outage starts, showing operating cycle regularity. The purple dashed line marks the average cycle length. Most U.S. reactors operate on 18-month (547 day) or 24-month (730 day) cycles.

Cycle Length History

Between refueling outages, Browns Ferry 3 runs about 726 days, or roughly 24 months, per cycle. That average comes from 13 completed cycles, the most recent lasting 735 days.
?
Time in days from first power generation (>0%) to sustained full power (≥95% for 2+ consecutive days) after each scheduled refueling outage. The dashed line marks the average. Includes startup testing holds and power dips.

Startup Duration Trend

After a refueling outage, Browns Ferry 3 takes about 7 days to climb from first power back to full power. That average is drawn from 13 startups on record, and the most recent took 4 days.
?
Estimated fuel remaining in the current cycle, expressed as a percentage of the unit's typical cycle. Starts at 100% when the unit returns to power post-refuel and drops as full-power-days are burned. Days at reduced power burn fuel proportionally — so a unit with significant downtime (high burn deficit) drops slower and ends up with MORE fuel left than its calendar position would suggest. Coastdown threshold around 15%. Toggle to overlay past cycles on a normalized "days into cycle" axis to see how aggressively this unit historically burns down before refuel.

Fuel Burn Down Cycle since Mar 28, 2026

85.0% remaining 109 / 698 days 4.4 FPD margin
Browns Ferry 3 is 109 days into its current fuel cycle with an estimated 85.0% of its fuel left. This cycle is set up to run about 698 days. Across its last 13 cycles, it has refueled with an average of 6.2% remaining.
Avg refuel: 6.2% Avg refuel (3yr): 6.6% Deepest burn: 2.7% (2016-03 → 2018-02) Most margin: 13.9% (2012-05 → 2014-02)
?
Monthly capacity factor with outage events overlaid as red bands. Green bars show average power level per month. Toggle to Daily view for raw daily data.

Power History

Over its operating life, Browns Ferry 3 has run at about 90.3% of its rated capacity. Across the last 12 reported months it averaged 87.0%. On the chart, flat stretches near the top are full-power running and drops to zero are outages.
This table logs every recorded outage for Browns Ferry 3, 60 in all since 2000. Of those, 14 were scheduled refueling outages and 46 were unplanned or forced. The typical outage lasted about 13 days. Where the Scheduled column shows (Model), the date is a NukeWorker projection because the utility had not published one.
Unscheduled
2026-04-28 2026-04-29 2 33d - -
Scheduled
2026-02-21 2026-03-26 34 196d 2026-02-20 +1d
Unscheduled
2025-08-05 2025-08-09 5 154d - -
Scram # 57537
2025-02-09 2025-03-04 24 121d - -
Unscheduled
2024-10-05 2024-10-11 7 197d - -
Scheduled
2024-02-17 2024-03-22 35 294d 2024-02-16 +1d
Unscheduled
2023-04-22 2023-04-29 8 132d - -
Unscheduled
2022-12-03 2022-12-11 9 244d - -
Unscheduled
2022-04-03 2022-04-03 1 2d - -
Scheduled
2022-02-26 2022-04-01 35 692d 2022-02-26 0d
Unscheduled
2020-04-05 2020-04-05 1 2d - -
Unscheduled
2020-04-02 2020-04-03 2 8d - -
Scheduled
2020-02-22 2020-03-25 33 89d 2020-02-22 0d
Unscheduled
2019-11-16 2019-11-25 10 247d - -
Scram # 53923
2019-03-10 2019-03-14 5 133d - -
Unscheduled
2018-10-22 2018-10-28 7 12d - -
Unscheduled
2018-10-06 2018-10-10 5 184d - -
Unscheduled
2018-04-04 2018-04-05 2 2d - -
Scheduled
2018-02-17 2018-04-02 45 36d 2018-02-17 0d
Scram # 53162
2018-01-11 2018-01-12 2 655d - -
Scheduled
2016-02-20 2016-03-27 37 653d 2016-02-19 +1d
Scram # 50090
2014-05-07 2014-05-08 2 49d - -
Scram # 49928
2014-03-19 2014-03-19 1 3d - -
Scheduled
2014-02-15 2014-03-16 30 352d 2014-02-15 0d
Scram # 48782
2013-02-26 2013-02-28 3 6d - -
Unscheduled
2013-02-12 2013-02-20 9 255d - -
Scram # 47972
2012-05-30 2012-06-02 4 7d - -
Scram # 47955
2012-05-22 2012-05-23 2 2d - -
Scheduled
2012-04-07 2012-05-20 44 191d 2012-04-07 0d
Scram # 47299
2011-09-29 2011-09-29 1 121d - -
Scram # 46793
2011-04-28 2011-05-31 34 112d - -
Scram # 46793
2011-04-28 2011-05-31 34 33d - -
Scram # 46793
2011-04-28 2011-05-31 34 33d - -
Unscheduled
2010-12-27 2011-01-06 11 135d - -
Unscheduled
2010-08-13 2010-08-14 2 127d - -
Scheduled
2010-02-28 2010-04-08 40 123d 2010-02-28 0d
Unscheduled
2009-10-25 2009-10-28 4 37d - -
Unscheduled
2009-09-13 2009-09-18 6 18d - -
Unscheduled
2009-08-25 2009-08-26 2 409d - -
Unscheduled
2008-07-11 2008-07-12 2 58d - -
Scheduled
2008-03-19 2008-05-14 57 59d 2008-03-17 +2d
Unscheduled
2008-01-10 2008-01-20 11 4d - -
Unscheduled
2008-01-01 2008-01-06 6 26d - -
Unscheduled
2007-12-01 2007-12-06 6 65d - -
Unscheduled
2007-09-23 2007-09-27 5 223d - -
Unscheduled
2007-02-10 2007-02-12 3 62d - -
Unscheduled
2006-12-10 2006-12-10 1 101d - -
Unscheduled
2006-08-30 2006-08-31 2 9d - -
Unscheduled
2006-08-20 2006-08-21 2 151d - -
Scheduled
2006-03-01 2006-03-22 22 40d 2006-02-28 +1d
Unscheduled
2006-01-16 2006-01-20 5 68d - -
Unscheduled
2005-11-01 2005-11-09 9 44d - -
Unscheduled
2005-09-18 2005-09-18 1 215d - -
Unscheduled
2005-02-12 2005-02-15 4 80d - -
Unscheduled
2004-11-24 2004-11-24 1 239d - -
Scheduled
2004-03-02 2004-03-30 29 245d 2004-03-01 +1d
Unscheduled
2003-06-20 2003-07-01 12 437d - -
Scheduled
2002-03-27 2002-04-09 14 671d 2002-03-27 0d
Unscheduled
2000-05-25 2000-05-25 1 22d - -
Scheduled
2000-04-16 2000-05-03 18 - 2000-04-16 0d
Page created in 0.076 seconds with 8 queries.