Southern Ala. Farley 1 reactor exits outage

NEW YORK, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Southern Co's (SO.N) 851-megawatt Unit 1 at the Farley nuclear power station in Alabama exited an outage and ramped up to 69 percent by early Friday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report.

The unit automatically tripped on Nov. 19 due to a low voltage indication in the switchyard. To protect itself from damage, equipment at the plant is programmed to shut automatically on low voltage indications.

The 1,711 MW Farley station is located in Dothan in Houston County, about 95 miles northwest of Tallahassee, Florida. There are two units at the station, the 851 MW Unit 1 and the 860 MW Unit 2, which entered service in 1977 and 1981.

Unit 2 shut for refueling on Oct. 18 and will likely return in late November.

Unit 2 last shut for refueling from April 9 to May 23, 2007. It is on an 18-month refueling cycle.

One MW powers about 500 homes in Alabama.

In 2005, the NRC renewed the plant's original 40-year operating licenses for both units for another 20 years until 2037 and 2041.

Southern, of Atlanta, owns and operates more than 42,000 MW of generating capacity, markets energy commodities, and transmits and distributes electricity to nearly 4.4 million customers in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. (Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by John Picinich)