Jul 20 - McClatchy-Tribune Regional News - Conor Harrington The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.



July 20--SALEM TWP. -- Unit 1 at PPL's Susquehanna nuclear plant was shut down safely on Friday after about 1 million gallons of river water flooded the basement.

Jeff Helsel, PPL's Susquehanna power plant manager, described the reason for shutting down the unit.

"(There was) a leak of river water into the turbine building basement," he said. "The river water entered the basement from a hatch that provides access to part of the unit's condenser."

 Helsel said the leak could not be resolved without shutting down the unit.

Joe Scopelliti, a PPL spokesman, said the Susquehanna River water is used to cool the steam that is generated by the reactor and comes through the turbine. He said the river water never touches the plant water.

Unit 1 remains shut down as operators deal with the onerous task of removing the water from the condenser building. The water must be filtered and examined to determine if it is radioactive.

The facility has two units and Unit 2 is operating normally at full power, Scopelliti said.

Eric Epstein, coordinator of Three Mile Island Alert, a safe energy organization based in Harrisburg, said shutdowns like this are prone to happen at an older facility.

"It's no different than any other aging piece of equipment," he said. "Power plants are getting older and leaking with greater frequency."

Epstein said this is not a convenient time for a shutdown as the area is experiencing a peak energy demand.

The source of the leakage is under investigation and a resident inspector will be performing an inspection.

Scopelliti said PPL Susquehanna has had leaks like this before, and he doesn't expect the unit to be out of service for an extended period of time.

"What's important is that the company isolate and defeat the problem so it doesn't happen again," Epstein said.

 

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