The Unit 2 nuclear reactor at the Limerick Generating Station shut down automatically at 5:02am today. Operators at the plant are still determining the cause of the shutdown, the company said in a statement issued late this morning. The company said the shutdown occurred "after a turbine tripped following scheduled testing and maintenance on an electrical system in the non-nuclear side of the plant."
"The plant responded as expected, safely and without incident," the company said.
Unit 1 is still operating at full power.
This is the second unscheduled shutdown for Unit 2 this year. A previous shutdown on February 25 was attributed to a fault in the station's stator water cooling system.
Unit 2 received a complete upgrade of its transformers in April. A company spokesperson said Sunday that this morning's shutdown was unrelated to either the February incident or to the recent transformer replacement.
"The problem is not associated with cooling water systems," said April Schlipp, Senior Manager of Communications with Exelon Nuclear.
Schilpp could not say when Unit 2 would return to operation. Source
