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SALEM TWP. — A manual shut down of a reactor at Talen Energy’s Susquehanna’s nuclear power plant was caused by an electrical short, the company announced Monday.
The Unit 2 reactor was manually shut down Friday for a fault in the electrical distribution center; the company reconnected the reactor Monday. A press release Monday indicated an investigation by the plant’s professionals determined the reason for the shutdown was a short in a breaker that supplies power to a ventilation fan.
“Our electrical engineers and craftsmen completed a comprehensive assessment and identified an isolated electrical short,” said Jon Franke, site vice president.
The plant’s design provides a manual shut down option for the potential of electrical faults.
“The weekend was not a factor (in the wait time to bring the reactor back online),” Todd L. Martin, manager of media relations for Talen Energy, said in an email. “Our nuclear professional completed the necessary repair work and steps necessary to bring the reactor safely online.”
Susquehanna Nuclear LLC, which co-owns the plant, is an affiliate of Talen Energy.
According to Martin, Unit 2 was in continuous operation for 355 days — May 25, 2015 — “since its annual, scheduled refueling outage last year.”
Unit 1 completed it scheduled refueling outage May 3.
Martin said once every two years, an outage is scheduled and the reactor is taken offline.