Unit 2 at the Susquehanna nuclear plant near Berwick, Pa., resumed generating electricity on Wednesday (6/29) after a planned refueling and maintenance outage that was extended to replace damaged turbine blades discovered during a routine inspection conducted during the outage.
"Our team did an excellent job addressing the unexpected challenge of the turbine blade replacements as well as replacing about 40 percent of the uranium fuel and completing more than 2,500 maintenance tasks and equipment upgrades during the outage," said Timothy S. Rausch, PPL's senior vice president and chief nuclear officer.
The Susquehanna nuclear plant's two units produce electricity by boiling water to create steam that passes through turbines, each with hundreds of fanlike blades on rotating parts. The turbines turn a main generator on each unit to produce electricity.
"We have comprehensive programs for maintaining, testing and upgrading equipment at the Susquehanna plant," Rausch said. "We caught the turbine blade damage in the very early stages through a planned inspection. Thorough inspections of plant components are done on a regular basis to ensure that the plant will continue to operate safely."
The planned upgrade work on Unit 2 included installing an integrated digital control system for plant equipment and replacing other turbines that power pumps that provide water to the reactor. The work concluded a four-year project to increase the amount of electricity the Susquehanna nuclear plant can safely generate.
"With Unit 2 back in service, we will conduct a series of tests, including testing of new equipment and the turbine, as we gradually increase the amount of electricity generated to full capacity," Rausch said. "We also will be analyzing data we get from diagnostic equipment installed on the main turbine to better understand the cause of the blade damage."