NEW YORK - NextEra Energy Resources LLC, a subsidiary of FPL Group Inc (FPL.N), shut the 1,245-megawatt Seabrook nuclear power station in New Hampshire on Oct. 1 for a planned refueling and maintenance outage, a spokesman for the plant said.

He could not say when the unit would likely return to service due to competitive reasons. Electricity traders guessed the unit would return in about a month.

It last shut for refueling from about April 1-May 8, 2008 and 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.

The company has told the NRC it planned 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 39,000 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)

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