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BERWICK, Pa., April 13, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Operators safely shut down the Unit 2 reactor at PPL Corporation's Susquehanna nuclear power plant in northeastern Pennsylvania early Saturday (4/13) to begin a planned refueling and maintenance outage.

While the reactor is shut down, workers will replace about 40 percent of the uranium fuel and complete a large number of equipment maintenance tasks and upgrades. Workers also will  inspect the unit's turbines and replace several pieces of the unit's turbine assembly.

"The modifications will address the turbine blade issues that have affected both Susquehanna units," said Timothy S. Rausch, PPL Susquehanna senior vice president and Chief Nuclear Officer.

"After the refueling outage, we will continue to closely monitor the turbines throughout the next two years to confirm the modified equipment is performing as expected," Rausch said.

Unit 1 at the plant continues to operate at full power. Operators expect to shut down that unit later this spring to make the same modifications to its turbine assembly as on Unit 2.

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.

The Susquehanna plant is one of PPL Corporation’s generating facilities. Headquartered in Allentown, Pa., PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL) delivers electricity and natural gas to about 10 million customers in the United States and the United Kingdom, owns or controls about 19,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the United States and sells energy in key U.S. markets. More information is available at www.pplweb.com.

SOURCE PPL Susquehanna