Nine Mile Point Unit 1 in New York taken offline

Courtesy of Exelon Corp.
Exelon Corp. announced Friday that the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station Unit 1 in New York has been taken offline after it automatically shut down when a steam valve closed in a routine test.

Exelon said it will take on comprehensive tests and make necessary repairs before bringing the unit back online. Exelon  said the shutdown of the reactor does not impact public health or safety in any way.

The second unit at the nuclear power facility will continue to operate at full capacity. The nuclear power plant is located approximately 50 miles north of Syracuse and is capable of producing 1,937 megawatts of electricity which can support approximately 2 million homes.

Syracuse.com reported that the second unit of the plant was shut down for one week in February due to rising water levels in the reactor during the replacement of a reactor vessel water level chart recorder. It also reported that Unit 1 has been in continuous operation since April 14, following a planned, month-long outage for maintenance and refueling operations.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has been notified of this event.

Exelon is an energy generating company that across its entire operations is capable of producing approximately 32,000 megawatts of electricity. They operate in 48 states, parts of Canada and the Washington D.C. area.