Calvert Cliffs nuclear plant's Unit 1 taken offline to repair weather damage

Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant
Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant | Courtesy of Exelon Corp.

Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant's Unit 1 has been taken offline this week for repairs and maintenance work, owner-operator Exelon said on Monday.

Exelon said that over the weekend, weather conditions, including high winds and low temperatures, resulted in ice accumulation that disconnected a voltage line from the unit’s switchyard. To make repairs, the line had to be de-energized. As a result, the reactor had to be taken offline.

The company said Unit 2 of the plant, near Lusby, Maryland, remains at full power during the outage. Maintenance workers will take advantage of the outage to work on the non-nuclear portion of the facility while Unit 1 is disconnected.

The company did not indicate when the reactor would be returned to service.

This is the only nuclear plant in the state, and when it's at full power, Exelon said it can generate up to 1,756 megawatts of power.