Two offline nuclear power plants in the northeast returned to service following the Memorial Day weekend after routine refueling and maintenance outages that cost a total of $160 million.
Unit 2 of the PPL Corporation’s Susquehanna nuclear plant in Luzerne County, Pa. returned to active service following a $90 million servicing outage that included replacement of 40 percent of the plant’s uranium fuel and replacement of 200 turbine blades and a 24-ton pump and motor that circulates water through the reactor, PPL said in a statement.
The maintenance tasks required an additional 1,000 workers to supplement the plant’s permanent staff.
Replacing turbine blades for the General Electric Type 4 boiling water reactor was an especially noteworthy task. Both the facility’s No. 1 and No. 2 plants have experienced turbine blade cracking issues in the past. “With modifications now compete on both units, the Susquehanna plant does not expect to require any additional special turbine maintenance outages related to this issue,” the company said.
PPL also completed construction recently of a new facility, as well as testing and integration of enhanced portable backup equipment that is part of the U.S. nuclear power industry’s response to the 2011 accident at the Fukushima plant in Japan.
With this investment the Susquehanna plant has strengthened an already safe design. In conjunction with an industry commitment to be prepared for the unexpected, the plant is now equipped to respond to extreme natural disasters, as well as any event beyond the original, conservative design requirements, PPL said.
Thirty-eight miles southeast of Boston, the 680-megawatt General Electric Type 3 boiling water reactor at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station also returned to full power Tuesday after a refueling and maintenance outage that lasted 35 days and included expenditures of $70 million.
Entergy Corporation, which operates the plant, said maintenance check-list was exhaustive, including hundreds of parts inspected, repaired or replaced.
The outage included the efforts of close to 2,000 workers, including 1,184 temporary contract workers.
Pilgrim’s maintenance also included safety measures that are part of the nation’s response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident.