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BERWICK, Pa., July 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Operators at PPL's Susquehanna nuclear power plant reconnected the Unit 2 reactor to the electrical grid Saturday (7/5).

Operators conservatively shut down the unit June 25 based on data from the extensive vibration monitoring equipment installed on the turbine, which indicated that a few turbine blades developed small cracks.

As with past turbine inspections, plant staff found that the data accurately reflected the status of the blades and replaced a number of blades. Workers also performed additional maintenance activities that can be done only when the unit is not operating.

The Unit 1 turbine was modified with newly designed blades last month during a refueling outage. Pending a full analysis of the Unit 1 turbine performance over the course of the year, PPL Susquehanna is preparing to install the newly designed blades on the Unit 2 turbine during its next scheduled refueling outage in the spring of 2015.

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.

PPL Susquehanna LLC is one of PPL Corporation's generating affiliates. PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), with 2013 revenues of $12 billion, is one of the largest companies in the U.S. utility sector. The PPL family of companies delivers electricity and natural gas to about 10 million customers in the United States and the United Kingdom. PPL recently announced an agreement to combine its competitive market generating company with the competitive generation business of Riverstone Holdings LLC to form Talen Energy Corporation, the third largest independent power producer in the country. More information is available at www.pplsusquehanna.com and www.pplweb.com.            

SOURCE PPL Susquehanna