Exelon Energy has completed upgrades at Byron Generating Station and resumed operations late Sunday night, according to a release.
“Our team did a fantastic job of safely making robust upgrades to our facility that will ensure the safe and reliable operation of both units through the summer months and beyond,” said Byron Station Site Vice President Tim Tulon.
Plant officials say the upgrades should prevent future Unusual Events like the failed insulator that caused a loss of power in Unit 1 in late February. Also, in January, a similar event occurred in the Unit 2 switchyard.
Following the January incident, Byron officials began implementing a plan to replace all the insulators at the switchyard. After second malfunction, an added emphasis was put on moving this plan forward.
“It’s just important to give us a more robust system out in the switchyard,” said Paul Dempsey, communications manager for the Byron Generating Station. “It’ll ensure we’ll have continued good reliability for both of our units going into the summer months and beyond.”
Exelon says Unit 1 was taken offline last week while upgrades were finished, and Unit 2 upgrades were finished over the weekend. Both units are back online at full power and generating electricity.
An Unusual Event is the lowest of the four emergency classifications established by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. All backup systems functioned correctly during the Unusual Events at the Byron plant.