PPL announced Tuesday (9/11) that it has dismissed a company hired two years ago to replace the emergency notification sirens around the Susquehanna nuclear power plant, and has begun discussions with potential replacement vendors.

“Sirens are important to the community’s emergency preparedness,” said Lou Ramos, PPL’s community relations manager for the Susquehanna plant. “PPL will accept nothing less than 100 percent performance from the siren system. The vendor we chose in 2005 has been unable to meet expectations despite repeated troubleshooting and testing.

“PPL is committed to providing the community with an emergency notification system that works flawlessly. We share the community’s frustration with the many tests that have been conducted over the past year,” he added.

PPL has filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Scranton against the vendor — Acoustic Technology Inc. of Boston — for failing to deliver on the contract it had signed.

PPL first installed sirens more than 25 years ago, before the plant began operating, in communities within 10 miles of the plant as part of a comprehensive emergency plan, Ramos said.

“Sirens are available to officials in Luzerne and Columbia counties for notifying residents of any emergency, whether it involves the power plant or not,” he said. “We also share several of the sirens with local volunteer fire companies.”

PPL continues to maintain and test the existing siren system, which is working well, Ramos said.

“We chose to upgrade the sirens because of improvements in technology over the last 25 years, and because as the existing sirens get older, it becomes more difficult to find replacement parts and people who know how to repair them,” he said.

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 Chile.