Ariz. Palo Verde 1 nuke seen back on grid by Mon

LOS ANGELES, May 7 (Reuters)

The 1,270-megawatt Unit 1 at the Palo Verde nuclear plant in Arizona should reconnect to the power grid in a couple of days, a spokeswoman for utility Arizona Public Service, which operates the plant, said.

"Hopefully by Monday we will be back in service and start the process of getting back up to 100 percent (power)," the spokeswoman said.

The unit was shut on April 5 for a maintenance and refueling outage that had been expected to last about 35 days, indicating its return to service should be on schedule.

The Palo Verde station is in Wintersburg, Arizona, about 50 miles west of Phoenix.

APS, a unit of Pinnacle West Capital Corp. , operates the station and has a 29.1 percent interest.

Other owners include Salt River Project (17.5 percent); Edison International's Southern California Edison Co. unit (15.8 percent); El Paso Electric Co. (15.8 percent); PNM Resources Inc.'s Public Service Co. of New Mexico unit (10.2 percent); Southern California Public Power Authority (5.9 percent); and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (5.7 percent).

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