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People who live in the 27 municipalities surrounding the Susquehanna nuclear plant in Salem Township will have to endure more rounds of siren testing now that a new system is replacing a faulty one, plant owner PPL Corp. announced this week.
A system of 76 sirens in the 10-mile-radius emergency planning zone around the plant, which includes 19 Luzerne County municipalities, was installed in 2006. It replaced a 112-siren system built with the plant a quarter-century ago.
That system, however, failed to meet reliability requirements, and PPL sued the responsible companies, seeking in excess of $75,000. That case is still being litigated, according to plant spokesman Joe Scopelliti.
The old system will be removed by ANS Services LLC of Salem, N.J., and replaced with the new system, which was manufactured by American Signal Corp., according to Scopelliti.
Each siren will be tested when installed, and the entire system will receive a three-minute test after installation is completed, which is expected sometime during the summer, he noted.
Scolpelliti said the public will be notified before the full test.
The aging original system is being decommissioned because the company fears replacement parts will soon be difficult to find, but it will remain active until the new system is approved by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.