Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. has ordered a temporary halt to work being done by a contractor responsible for making components for a facility to store used fuel at the Susquehanna nuclear plant.

The action was taken because of quality concerns identified at the contractor's out-of-state facilities. The components have not yet been shipped to the Susquehanna plant.

The contractor is fabricating some components for a dry storage facility now under construction at Susquehanna. The purpose of the facility is to provide additional storage capacity until the federal government begins accepting used fuel from the nation's nuclear plants.

"We are conducting a detailed review of the contractor's work," said Herbert D. Woodeshick, special assistant to the president for Susquehanna. "We are taking this action as part of our responsibility to assure that work at Susquehanna -- even work performed by outside contractors -- is of the highest quality.

"We believe these issues can be resolved, but we will not authorize any additional work until we are completely satisfied that this facility will be constructed properly and safely," he said.

Woodeshick said PP&L has comprehensive quality assurance requirements that apply to the contractor's work. He said PP&L has identified several instances where work on specific components of the dry storage facility is being reviewed.

"Consistent with our conservative operating philosophy, we decided to halt work until these issues can be fully aired and addressed," said Woodeshick.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission on Jan. 16 announced that it had asked the contractor to supply information about its quality assurance program. PP&L's action at Susquehanna was taken as a result of PP&L's own reviews and is not related to the NRC action, Woodeshick said.

PP&L is building the dry storage system to supplement its existing storage capacity. Used nuclear fuel now is stored in specially designed water pools next to each reactor. Woodeshick said the pools contain adequate storage space, and that the delay in construction of the dry storage facility will have no impact on plant operations.