Final tests will begin Monday (7/9) for the 76 sirens that have replaced the emergency sirens serving the communities within a 10-mile radius of PPL’s Susquehanna nuclear plant near Berwick.

“The sirens are a vital part of the area’s emergency management system and are used for all types of emergencies,” said Lou Ramos, PPL’s Susquehanna community relations manager. “These tests are necessary to ensure that the sirens are fully operational and, if needed for an emergency, can perform as designed.”

During the week of July 9-13, the new sirens will be “growl” tested. The test consists of activating all 76 sirens at full sound level for 10 seconds from each of the four locations where the sirens can be activated — PPL’s System Facilities Center in Hazleton, the Susquehanna plant, and Columbia and Luzerne counties. All the sirens will sound a total of four times each day, once for each activation station.

Also during that same week acoustic tests are scheduled, weather permitting, on eight of the sirens. During these tests, each siren will be sounded individually with up to three sirens tested each day. The test consists of sounding each siren for a full three minutes, two or three times per siren.

In addition, sometime between July 24 and 30, three full-scale system tests will be done. These tests will be similar to the annual tests that have been done on the existing sirens, Ramos said. PPL will have people at each of the sirens during these tests.

After these tests have been done, a “loss of AC power” test is scheduled Aug. 1. For this test, the normal power supply to the 76 sirens will be turned off on July 31. Twenty-four hours later, a full-scale audible test of all the sirens will be done using the backup battery power supply.

No message will air on local Emergency Alert System radio stations after these tests. “If you hear a siren sound for three minutes, listen to your radio. If you don’t hear an emergency alert message, it is a test,” Ramos said.

Following completion of all these tests, the full-scale test for the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be done. The FEMA test is scheduled for Aug. 21, but may be postponed if additional work on the sirens is necessary, Ramos said.

“We’ve upgraded the siren system as part of our commitment to the health and safety of the plant neighbors,” Ramos said. “We appreciate the public’s patience with these necessary tests.”

The old sirens will remain in service until the testing is successfully completed for the new system.

The Susquehanna plant, located in Luzerne County about seven miles north of Berwick, is owned jointly by PPL Susquehanna LLC and Allegheny Electric Cooperative Inc. and is operated by PPL Susquehanna.

PPL Susquehanna is one of PPL Corporation’s generating facilities. Headquartered in Allentown, Pa., PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) controls more than 11,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States, sells energy in key U.S. markets and delivers electricity to more than 4 million customers in Pennsylvania, the United Kingdom and Latin America.