FPL N.H. Seabrook reactor back at full power

NEW YORK, May 12 (Reuters) - FPL Group Inc's (FPL.N) 1,244-megawatt Seabrook nuclear power station in New Hampshire returned to full power by early Monday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report.

On Friday, the unit was operating at 38 percent power after exiting a refueling outage earlier in the week.

It shut for the refueling by April 1.

The unit last shut for refueling from Oct. 1-Nov. 10, 2006. It is on an 18-month refueling cycle.

The Seabrook station, which entered service in 1990, is located in Seabrook in Rockingham County, about 40 miles north of Boston.

FPL told the NRC it plans to file for a 20-year extension of the original 40-year operating license for the plant in the second quarter of 2010.

It usually takes the agency about 22 months to decide on a license renewal without a hearing and about 30 months with a hearing.

One MW powers about 1,000 homes in New Hampshire.

FPL, of Juno Beach, Florida, owns and operates about 38,000 MW of generating capacity across the United States, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity to more than 4.5 million customers in Florida. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)