entergy corporation and subsidiaries management's financial discussion and analysis the decrease in interest income in 2002 was primarily due to : fffd interest recognized in 2001 on grand gulf 1's decommissioning trust funds resulting from the final order addressing system energy's rate proceeding ; fffd interest recognized in 2001 at entergy mississippi and entergy new orleans on the deferred system energy costs that were not being recovered through rates ; and fffd lower interest earned on declining deferred fuel balances . the decrease in interest charges in 2002 is primarily due to : fffd a decrease of $ 31.9 million in interest on long-term debt primarily due to the retirement of long-term debt in late 2001 and early 2002 ; and fffd a decrease of $ 76.0 million in other interest expense primarily due to interest recorded on system energy's reserve for rate refund in 2001 . the refund was made in december 2001 . 2001 compared to 2000 results for the year ended december 31 , 2001 for u.s . utility were also affected by an increase in interest charges of $ 61.5 million primarily due to : fffd the final ferc order addressing the 1995 system energy rate filing ; fffd debt issued at entergy arkansas in july 2001 , at entergy gulf states in june 2000 and august 2001 , at entergy mississippi in january 2001 , and at entergy new orleans in july 2000 and february 2001 ; and fffd borrowings under credit facilities during 2001 , primarily at entergy arkansas . non-utility nuclear the increase in earnings in 2002 for non-utility nuclear from $ 128 million to $ 201 million was primarily due to the operation of indian point 2 and vermont yankee , which were purchased in september 2001 and july 2002 , respectively . the increase in earnings in 2001 for non-utility nuclear from $ 49 million to $ 128 million was primarily due to the operation of fitzpatrick and indian point 3 for a full year , as each was purchased in november 2000 , and the operation of indian point 2 , which was purchased in september 2001 . following are key performance measures for non-utility nuclear: .

1	2002	2001	2000
2	net mw in operation at december 31	3955	3445	2475
3	generation in gwh for the year	29953	22614	7171
4	capacity factor for the year	93% ( 93 % )	93% ( 93 % )	94% ( 94 % )

2002 compared to 2001 the following fluctuations in the results of operations for non-utility nuclear in 2002 were primarily caused by the acquisitions of indian point 2 and vermont yankee ( except as otherwise noted ) : fffd operating revenues increased $ 411.0 million to $ 1.2 billion ; fffd other operation and maintenance expenses increased $ 201.8 million to $ 596.3 million ; fffd depreciation and amortization expenses increased $ 25.1 million to $ 42.8 million ; fffd fuel expenses increased $ 29.4 million to $ 105.2 million ; fffd nuclear refueling outage expenses increased $ 23.9 million to $ 46.8 million , which was due primarily to a .

Previous questions in this conversation: what was the total of non-utility nuclear earnings by the end of 2002? and what was it by the beginning of that year?
Previous answers: 201.0 128.0
Question: throughout the year, then, by how much did it increase?
Answer: 73