PPL Susquehanna Reports Progress With Freon Leak

Published on Tuesday, 10 August 2010 21:00 Written by TradersHuddle Staff

BERWICK, Pa., Aug. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- While an alert remains in effect at PPL's Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Luzerne County, Pa., workers have made significant progress to stop a leak of Freon vapor in the Unit 1 reactor building.

"We're safely removing the Freon from a chiller in the Unit 1 reactor building and placing it in storage tanks on site," said Miriam Mylin, spokeswoman for the Susquehanna plant. "The work is going well, and the leak has been significantly diminished."

Mylin said public safety is not at risk, plant employees are safe and there have been no injuries reported.

The plant declared an alert Tuesday morning (8/10) when employees detected Freon leaking in an area that contains plant safety systems. An alert is the second lowest of the four emergency classifications established by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for nuclear power plants.

Freon is used as a refrigerant in the air-conditioning system for the reactor building and provides cooling to pump motors in the reactor building.  

Unit 1 continues to operate at full power. Unit 2 is not affected and continues to operate at full power.

PPL has activated its Joint Information Center at the East Mountain Business Center just off Route 115, south of Wilkes-Barre, Pa. The phone number is 1-866-832-4474.

The Susquehanna plant, located 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 or owns nearly 12,000 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. More information is available at www.pplweb.com.

Note to Editors: A Susquehanna Nuclear Energy Guide is available on the PPL media Web site at www.pplnewsroom.com. The guide provides specific plant and general nuclear energy information.

SOURCE PPL Susquehanna