Before plant operators shut down the Unit 1 reactor on March 2 to begin the maintenance outage, it had operated for 685 continuous days since startup from its last refueling and maintenance outage in the spring of 2008.
During that time, it generated 19,281,000MWh of electricity — enough to power about 1 million homes. This year’s Unit 1 outage is part of investment PPL is making in the future of the Susquehanna plant.
It marks the continuation of the four-year project begun in 2008 to increase the amount of electricity the Susquehanna nuclear plant can generate. That project is expected to conclude in 2011 after further upgrades to Unit 2 are completed.
Upgrade work on Unit 1 during the outage included installing a new integrated digital control system for plant equipment and replacing turbines that power pumps that provide water to the reactor vessel.
Jeff Helsel, plant manager of Susquehanna nuclear power plant, said: “In addition to replacing about 40 percent of the uranium fuel, workers completed a large number of equipment maintenance tasks and upgrades, all of it aimed at further improving plant safety, reliability and performance.
“The upgrade is a cost-effective, safe and reliable way for PPL to increase electricity generation from existing sources that emit no greenhouse gases.”
The Susquehanna plant is owned jointly by PPL Susquehanna and Allegheny Electric Cooperative and is operated by PPL Susquehanna.
PPL Susquehanna is one of PPL’s generating facilities. Headquartered in Allentown, Pennsylvania, PPL controls or owns nearly 12,000MW of generating capacity in the US sells energy in key US markets and delivers electricity to about 4 million customers in Pennsylvania and the UK.
