Unit 2 reactor at the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Luzerne County, Pa., returned to service today (8/25) following an outage to make repairs inside the primary containment.

"Maintenance crews found a small water leak on an instrument line, made the necessary repairs and took advantage of the outage to accomplish other maintenance work that can be done only when the reactor is off-line, said Herbert D. Woodeshick, special assistant to the president for the Susquehanna plant.

The outage began on Aug. 17 after routine monitoring detected a decrease in pressure across one of two seals on a large water pump, which indicated a minor water leak inside the primary containment area.

The minor deviation from normal plant parameters was well within operating limits but plant operators made a conservative decision to shut the plant down, Woodeshick said.

Unit 2 had run for 237 consecutive days since its last outage. Unit 1 at the plant has continued to operate at full power.

The Susquehanna plant, located about five miles north of Berwick, Pa., is owned jointly by PPL Susquehanna, LLC, and Allegheny Electric Cooperative, Inc.