The Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant Had An Unplanned Shutdown Today

LACEY TOWNSHIP, NJ - Operators at the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant manually shut down the plant at 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning because of an equipment issue on the "non-nuclear" side of the plant off Route 9 in Lacey Township, a plant spokesperson said.

Operators and technicians will test and restore the system before they return the unit to service, Exelon spokesperson Suzanne D'Ambrosio said.

The plant's reactor was manually scrammed due to degrading condenser vacuum conditions, said Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan.

The condenser cools down and condenses into water steam that is generated by the reactor after it has passed through the turbine to spin it and produce electricity. The condenser is operated under vacuum conditions in order to maximize efficiency, he said.

Plant operators and NRC resident inspectors are troubleshooting to determine what caused the degrading condenser vacuum.

"The inspectors are continuing to follow up on the forced outage, but do not have any safety concerns at this time," Sheehan said. "They will also review any restart plans and the restart itself."

Image: Patricia A. Miller