BERWICK, Penn., March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Operators safely shut down the Unit 2 reactor at PPL Corporation's Susquehanna nuclear power plant in northeastern Pennsylvania early Saturday (3/3) to begin a planned refueling and maintenance outage.
While the reactor is shut down, workers will replace about 40 percent of the uranium fuel and complete an extensive list of equipment maintenance and upgrades.
Unit 1 at the plant continues to operate at full power.
"This will be one of the largest outages we have ever conducted in terms of the amount of work scheduled," said Robert A. Saccone, vice president of Operations for PPL Susquehanna.
"The equipment maintenance performed will keep Unit 2 in excellent condition so that it continues to operate safely and reliably," he said. "In addition, selected equipment will be upgraded or replaced in support of a proposed future increase in the amount of power the unit can safely generate."
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is reviewing a request filed by PPL in the fall of 2006 to increase the plant's total electrical output by about 200 megawatts, which is enough additional electricity to supply 160,000 homes.
Because PPL Susquehanna will be replacing some major components during this outage, it is scheduled to be slightly longer than other recent refueling and maintenance outages at the plant, Saccone said.
Unit 2 is expected to be generating electricity again by the middle of April, before the arrival of summer weather and the resulting increase in electricity use by consumers.
PPL schedules nuclear refueling and maintenance outages at this time of year, when temperate weather reduces electricity use and the demand on the regional power grid is lower. Each of the two units at the Susquehanna plant is taken out of service for refueling and maintenance every 24 months.
The Susquehanna plant, located in Luzerne County about seven miles north of Berwick, is owned jointly by PPL Susquehanna LLC and Allegheny Electric Cooperative Inc. and is operated by PPL Susquehanna.
PPL Susquehanna is one of PPL Corporation's generating facilities. Headquartered in Allentown, Pa., PPL Corporation controls more than 11,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to nearly 5 million customers in Pennsylvania, the United Kingdom and Latin America. More information is available at http://www.pplweb.com/
Contact: Lou Ramos, 570-759-2285
PPL Corporation
Two North Ninth St.
Allentown, PA 18101
Fax 610-774-5281
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