Susquehanna Unit 2 Shut Down Safely for Planned Repairs

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Apr 23, 2010, 10:50 ET

BERWICK, Pa., April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Operators at PPL's Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Luzerne County, Pa., safely shut down the Unit 2 reactor early Friday (4/23) for a planned maintenance outage to repair a heat exchanger tube in a heating system.

"The heat exchanger tube is in a system that heats water before it goes into the reactor. It does not affect our ability to operate safely," said Jeff Helsel, PPL's Susquehanna plant manager.

"We made the proactive decision to make the repair now, so that we don't run the risk of having to shut down the unit suddenly if the tube's condition deteriorated," he said.

PPL expects to complete the repairs quickly and have Unit 2 generating electricity again in a few days. Unit 2 had been operating safely and reliably for 341 consecutive days before this shutdown.

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) controls or owns nearly 12,000 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 www.pplweb.com .

SOURCE PPL Corporation