PPL's Unit 1 reactor at the Susquehanna nuclear power plant near Berwick, Pa., returned to service today (5/5) following the unit's eleventh planned refueling and inspection outage since the plant began commercial operation in 1983. The outage began on March 18.

During the outage, about 35 percent of the unit's uranium fuel was replaced, according to Herbert D. Woodeshick, special assistant to the president for Susquehanna. This partial replenishing of the fuel will enable Unit 1 to operate continuously for 24 months before another refueling.

Safety systems and reactor components were systematically inspected and tested to assure peak performance. In addition, hundreds of components important to reliable plant performance were inspected and refurbished. "The work done during a planned outage is a high form of systematic preventive maintenance," Woodeshick said.

"Good outage performance leads to good equipment reliability, and good equipment reliability will continue the safe operation of the plant," said Woodeshick. "Good safety performance is absolutely essential for a nuclear plant to be a good business performer today. Both forms of performance benefit PPL and its customers."

Some 2,300 wide-ranging work items — involving the inspection, testing and adjustment of a wide variety of motors, pumps, pipes, valves, recorders, nozzles and other equipment — were completed while Unit 1 was shut down.

Among the specific projects accomplished during this planned outage were: the replacement of 256 fuel bundles; over one hundred different tests to confirm the leak-tight integrity of valves; replacement of a large water pump on a primary safety system; the overhaul of one of three low-pressure turbines; and equipment modifications and testing of many other plant components.

This planned biennial outage enables plant personnel to take the necessary time to maintain the peak operating condition of the Susquehanna plant. That translates into identifying potential problems of equipment reliability and addressing them before they have a chance to affect plant availability.

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