Ontario's nuclear power plants top expectations

Ontario Power Generation, the province's primary generator and seller of electricity, said in its monthly nuclear report card that the plants operated at a capability factor of 84.2 percent, above the target of 83.3 percent.

The capability factor represents the amount of electricity the stations are capable of producing per month as a percentage of their potential capacity.

The index is used as a measure of performance by the World Association of Nuclear Operators and measures 11 key statistics including safety and production.

However, the company saw its nuclear performance index rating fall in the third quarter to 81.4 versus a target of 82.9. This was a decrease of 1.3 points over the second quarter of 2001.