Unit 1 at Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant Safely Shut Down for Planned Refueling and Maintenance
Posted on: Tuesday, 4 March 2008, 06:00 CST
BERWICK, Pa., March 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Operators safely shut down the Unit 1 reactor at PPL Corporation's Susquehanna nuclear power plant in northeastern Pennsylvania early Tuesday (3/4) 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 a number of equipment maintenance tasks and upgrades. The equipment maintenance performed will keep Unit 1 in excellent condition so that it continues to operate safely and reliably.
Unit 2 at the plant continues to operate at full power.
"During this outage, in addition to the refueling and maintenance tasks, we will be doing some work associated with increasing the amount of electricity the Susquehanna nuclear plant can safely generate," said Neil Gannon, vice president-Nuclear Operations for PPL Susquehanna.
That work includes replacing the unit's steam dryer, which is located in the reactor above the fuel core. The steam dryer helps to remove more than 99 percent of the moisture in the steam that turns the turbine to generate electricity. If not removed, the moisture would damage the turbine's blades.
The new dryer will better handle the additional steam produced when power levels are increased, Gannon said.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in late January approved PPL's request to increase the plant's total electrical output by 205 megawatts, which is enough electricity to supply about 160,000 homes. PPL will own 185 megawatts of that additional generation; the rest will belong to the plant's co-owner, Allegheny Electric Cooperative.
The increase will be implemented in phases between 2008 and 2010 as plant modifications are completed.
Because PPL Susquehanna will be replacing some major components during this outage, it is scheduled to be slightly longer than other refueling and maintenance outages at the plant have been, Gannon said.
Unit 1 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 seasonal temperatures bring less 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 about 4 million customers in Pennsylvania and the United Kingdom. More information is available at http://www.pplweb.com/.
PPL Corporation
CONTACT: Joe Scopelliti of PPL Corporation, 1-866-832-4474, or fax,+1-610-774-5281
Web site: http://www.pplweb.com/
Source: PRNewswire-FirstCall
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