LIMERICK PA – Exelon Nuclear’s Limerick Generating Station (LGS) Unit 1 resumed electricity production Tuesday (Dec. 27, 2011) following a scheduled maintenance outage, company spokesperson Dana Melia reported. Repair crews there successfully replaced a valve on the plant’s steam piping system, Melia said.
Exelon's Limerick Generating Station
Station operators took the plant offline during the Christmas holiday weekend. Limerick’s Unit 2 continued to operate.
The repairs closely follow an announcement last week (Dec. 19) from the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission office in King of Prussia, reported by The Limerick Patch online news service, that a three-judge panel at its Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will review requests for a hearing on the LGS operating license renewal.
In asking for the hearing, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the National Legal Scholars Law Firm contended Exelon failed to conduct a legally adequate environmental analysis as part of its renewal application. The safety board will determine whether a hearing on that issue is warranted, and could take some time to do so.
In a related matter reported by The (Pottstown PA) Mercury newspaper, Exelon’s ability to draw water from a flooded Schuylkill County coal mine and empty it into the Schuylkill River – increasing its flow and allowing the company to use more water than initially planned for LGS operations – recently was extended for another year by the Delaware Valley Basin Commission. The commission has jurisdiction over the Delaware River watershed and its tributaries.
Other coverage:
- ‘Trial’ use of mine water for Exelon’s nuclear plant extended (The Mercury)
- Arguments To Expand On Nuke Plant License Hearing (The Limerick Patch)
- Environmental Group Challenges Limerick License Renewal (The Limerick Patch)
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[...] Limerick Nuclear Unit 1 Resumes Generating Operations Exelon’s Unit 1 generator at Limerick is up and running again after a weekend-long steam valve repair, and the company received permission to continue pumping water from a coal mine to supplement its draw from the Schuylkill River. There’s also a new challenge to its license renewal. [...]
[...] Limerick Nuclear Unit 1 Resumes Generating Operations Exelon’s Unit 1 generator at Limerick is up and running again after a weekend-long steam valve repair, and the company received permission to continue pumping water from a coal mine to supplement its draw from the Schuylkill River. There’s also a new challenge to its license renewal. [...]