Outage for refueling begins at Limerick
2,000 temporary workers are expected to bolster the area’s economy
It happens every spring — a planned refueling and maintenance outage at one of the two units at Exelon’s Limerick Nuclear Generating Station.
Early Monday morning, Limerick Unit 2 was taken out of service by Exelon operators to begin its planned outage.
“Refueling is required to support two years of operation for the reactor. Every two years, we take the unit out of service and put new fuel in the reactor so it can run for another two years,” Exelon spokeswoman Lacey Dean said in an emailed response Monday, adding that planning for a refueling outage usually starts at least one year in advance, if not longer, depending on the scope of work.
To support the work that will take place in the coming weeks, more than 2,000 workers will join the plant’s 890 employees,
according to Dean.
“We mostly need skilled trades, such as welders, pipefitters, mechanics, and electricians, among others, but we also bring in some professional support, such as engineers,” Dean said, adding that many of the employees come from local union halls. “However, other
Exelon employees and travelling nuclear professionals — people who work on numerous outages throughout the year — also travel to the area to support the outage.”
The influx of temporary employees has an impact on the area’s economy — bolstering local businesses, according to the release, including hotels, restaurants and shops.
“When supplemental workers come to Limerick for the refueling outage,
it means additional business for our community,” TriCounty Area Chamber of Commerce President Eileen Dautrich said in the release. “Area businesses welcome the additional workers, who take advantage of all the amenities we have to offer, whether it’s our restaurants, hotels or shopping.”
In the coming weeks, workers will perform detailed inspections, equipment upgrades and maintenance
that cannot be completed while the reactor is operating, according to a press release. Workers at Limerick will replace about one-third of the fuel in the Unit 2 reactor and will perform more than 16,000 inspections, maintenance activities and other tasks.
Limerick Unit 1 will continue to generate electricity during the Unit 2 refueling outage. Dean could not specify a return to service date for Unit 2.
“We remain committed to the safe and reliable operation of Limerick Generating Station,” Rick Libra, site vice president at Limerick said in the release. “The highly skilled professionals joining us for the refueling outage share our commitment to safe operations and will help us continue providing the region with clean energy for years to come.”
At full power, the facility’s two generating units produce more than 2,300 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 2 million typical American homes. For more information about Exelon Generation visit www.exeloncorp. com/companies/exelon-generation.