Correction: This version of the story corrects Karen Williams' title to plant spokeswoman.

Estimates in 2015 that Duke Energy Progress’s Brunswick Nuclear Plant would produce increasing amounts of energy have been borne out.

The Brunswick plant, the oldest of Duke Energy’s nuclear facilities in North Carolina, was one of four nuclear stations in the Carolinas achieving record quarterly generation totals during 2015, producing more power in the same time frame than ever before, according to a news release Tuesday.

Throughout the year, the 1,870-megawatt plant operated at 93 percent capacity, meaning that it was online that percentage of time, according to Duke Energy spokeswoman Rita Sipe. Sipe said Tuesday that planned outages for maintenance and refueling take away from capacity levels.

During the second quarter of 2015 the plant achieved its record-breaking total, generating almost 4 million megawatt hours of electricity, Sipe said.

Put in context, the amount of electricity generated by a 1,000-megawatt reactor operating at 90 percent capacity in one year generates 7.9 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity: enough to supply electricity for 720,000 households, according to information from Duke Energy.

Opened in 1975, the Brunswick plant is a two-unit GE boiling water reactor, located about two miles from Southport.

The plant celebrated its 40th anniversary in November, and at that time plant spokeswoman Karen Williams said that it could continue operations for another 20 years.

The efficiency and longevity of the plant is due to "significant investment over the past several years and our team of exceptional staff," she said Tuesday.

Williams expects that the Brunswick facility will continue to generate record amounts of power in 2016.

"We do improve [plants] continually and expect them to get better," she said Tuesday, adding that a major upgrade from 2002 to 2005 increased the plant's capacity from 1,626 to 1,870 megawatts.

In November, Williams said that plant employees are committed to safety and have prevented any major events from happening. An event earlier this month was handled swiftly and according to plant protocols, she said Tuesday.

Feb. 7, an arc flash tripped a switch at the plant, damaging a control panel. Workers shut down the affected unit to address the damage. The original public alert was downgraded to an "unusual event" classification and by the end of the day, indicating that there was no threat to public safety. Equipment was realigned and Duke Energy Progress said operations were back to normal shortly after 6 p.m.

Williams said that when the event occurred, employees resorted to their training and to procedures for such events.

"You are going to have bumps in the road. What matters is is how well you prepare and perform. The team responded flawlessly" to the event, she said.