PP&L, Inc.'s Unit 1 reactor at the Susquehanna nuclear power plant near Berwick, Pa. returned to service Saturday night (6/5) following an outage that began on May 29.

The outage began on May 29 because of anomalies noticed during the testing of a control system in the plant's turbine building. Unit 1 had a 227-day run of continuous operation prior to the shut down.

Herb Woodeshick, special assistant to the president for PP&L, Inc., said plant technicians replaced nine small valves that are components of Unit 1's electrohydraulic control system. This system controls the large valves on the steam lines carrying steam from the reactor to the main turbines.

Woodeshick said plant management took advantage of the 7-day outage to perform other repairs, inspections and tests that only can be performed during an outage. "The shut down and the outage work were performed in an orderly manner," he said.

The Susquehanna plant, jointly owned by PP&L, Inc. and Allegheny Electric Cooperative, Inc., is located about five miles northeast of Berwick, Pa., along Route 11.