Oyster Creek returns to full power operation

    Oyster Creek Generation Station in Forked River

    Oyster Creek Generation Station in Forked River

    The Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station returned back to full power on Monday after repairs to a turbine system were successful.

    According to a release from Exelon, the plant operator, a planned maintenance outage began at the Forked River facility on Dec 16.

    The outage didn’t impact the electrical service the plant provides.

    The turbine control system is located on the plant’s non-nuclear side and monitors turbine speed, temperature, and pressure. A similar problem triggered an automatic shut down of the plant in late November. 

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    The plant was returned to operation at 85 percent after the four-day outage last month, and technicians continued to address the turbine control system. 

    Oyster Creek is located about 60 miles east of Philadelphia. Built in 1969, it generates enough electricity to power 600,000 homes, or roughly all the homes in Monmouth and Ocean counties combined.

    The plant reached an agreement with the state to close the plant by 2019 despite holding a federal license to operate through 2029.

    But decomissioning work will continue after the plant goes offline as fuel from the site cannot be moved to dry storage for at least 10 years, according to the state. 

    The operator agreed to shut down the plant in return for not being required to build costly cooling towers requested by the state Department of Environmental Protection that would minimize the impact on fish and other marine life in the creek.

    The Oyster Creek closure is on the state’s 10-point Barnegat Bay action plan

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    The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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