Leak at PPL's Susquehanna nuclear plant shuts down reactorSep 16 - Sam Kennedy The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.)PPL Corp.'s Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Luzerne County declared an "unusual event" after water was discovered leaking inside a room in the plant's Unit 2 reactor building. An unusual event is the first of the four emergency classifications established by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for nuclear power plants. "We will conduct a full investigation of this incident and make any necessary changes to be sure it does not recur," Timothy S. Rausch, senior vice president and Chief Nuclear Officer for PPL Susquehanna, said in a press release. The event had no effect on public safety and required no public action, according to PPL Corp., the Allentown company that partly owns and operates the plant. The plant declared the unusual event at 11:38 a.m. after operators received indications of the water leak. The unit had already been shut down at the time of the declaration. The leak was contained to one room, PPL said. The unusual event declaration was ended at 3:52 p.m. Unit 2 had been shut down early Saturday for an unplanned inspection of the unit's turbine blades. It is unclear when the reactor could be restarted. "We have traced the cause of the water leak to a valve on one of the plant's multiple cooling systems. Other cooling systems were operational throughout the event," Rausch said. Meanwhile, the plant's Unit 1 reactor continues to run 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 LLC is one of PPL Corp.'s generating affiliates. PPL Corp. had 2012 revenues of more than $12 billion, making it one of the largest companies in the U.S. utility sector. The PPL family of companies delivers electricity and natural gas to about 10 million customers in the United States and the United Kingdom, owns more than 18,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States and sells energy in key U.S. markets. skennedy@mcall.com 610-820-6130 http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=29987539 |