Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant's Unit 2 Resumes Generating Electricity

BERWICK, Pa., Aug. 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Unit 2 at PPL's Susquehanna nuclear power plant in northeastern Pennsylvania resumed generating electricity for the regional power grid Tuesday night (8/23).

The unit shut down automatically on Friday (8/19) during scheduled equipment testing. A review by plant staff found a single-point wiring deficiency in the unit's digital control system.

"We determined the cause, corrected the problem and safely restarted the reactor," said Timothy S. Rausch, senior vice president and chief nuclear officer for PPL Susquehanna.

Plant staff identified no nuclear safety issues as a result of the automatic shutdown, he added.

The plant waited to reconnect Unit 2 to the power grid until completing thorough inspections and discovering no damage from Tuesday afternoon's earthquake in Virginia, which was felt throughout the mid-Atlantic region.

Following the inspections, PPL ended an "unusual event" declaration issued Tuesday afternoon. An unusual event is the lowest of four emergency classifications established by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for nuclear power plants.

The seismic activity detected at the plant was well below levels the plant was designed to withstand.

Susquehanna Unit 1 continues to operate at full power.

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 (NYSE: PPL), through its affiliates,  owns or controls about 19,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets, and delivers electricity and natural gas to about 10 million customers in the United States and the United Kingdom. More information is available at www.pplweb.com.

SOURCE PPL Susquehanna

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