A continued focus on reliable operation, backed by the commitment of employees dedicated to safety and reliability, enabled PPL’s Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Luzerne County, Pa., to set a plant record in 2008 for the amount of electricity generated.

The two-unit plant generated 19,046,000 megawatt-hours in 2008, beating the plant’s previous record of 18,272,000 megawatt-hours set in 2005. The electricity generated by Susquehanna in 2008 is enough to power nearly 2 million typical homes.

“This achievement is a direct result of the dedicated staff at Susquehanna,” said Neil Gannon, vice president of Nuclear Operations for PPL Susquehanna.

The Unit 2 reactor at Susquehanna operated continuously throughout 2008, and has operated for more than 600 consecutive days since its last shutdown for maintenance.

“We also successfully completed one of the most challenging refueling and maintenance outages in our 25-year history last spring,” Gannon said.

A major part of that outage was the replacement of the Unit 1 high-pressure turbine, the first stage of a power uprate that will continue this year and be completed in 2010, ultimately providing an additional 200 megawatts of generation at the plant. About 50 megawatts have been added so far.

“Safely increasing the generating capability of the Susquehanna plant is an effective way to help meet the ever-growing demand for electricity to power our economy and our lifestyle,” Gannon 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 about 4 million customers in Pennsylvania and the United Kingdom.