Exelon upgrades equipment at Byron nuclear plant

Exelon Corp. says it has finished upgrading equipment at a northern Illinois nuclear plant where a power failure caused a reactor to shut down two months ago.

The company says it has replaced electrical insulators in the switchyards that help move power to and from the reactors at the Byron Generating Station, which is located about 95 miles northwest of Chicago.

In January, an insulator in Unit 2 switchyard failed and interrupted power, causing the reactor to automatically shut down as a precaution.Insulators are protective equipment that helps regulate the flow of electricity.Exelon says Unit 1 was taken offline last week while upgrades were finished, and Unit 2 upgrades were finished over the weekend. Both units are back online at full power and generating electricity.

Exelon upgrades equipment at Byron nuclear plant.

BYRON — Exelon Energy says it has finished upgrading equipment at a northern Illinois nuclear plant where a power failure caused a reactor to shut down two months ago.
The company said it has replaced electrical insulators in the switchyards that help move power to and from the reactors at the Byron Generating Station, which is located about 95 miles northwest of Chicago.
In January, an insulator in Unit 2 switchyard failed and interrupted power, causing the reactor to automatically shut down as a precaution. Insulators are protective equipment that helps regulate the flow of electricity. Exelon said Unit 1 was taken offline last week while upgrades were finished, and Unit 2 upgrades were finished over the weekend. Both units are back online at full power and generating electricity.
BYRON — Exelon Energy says it has finished upgrading equipment at a northern Illinois nuclear plant where a power failure caused a reactor to shut down two months ago. The company said it has replaced electrical insulators in the switchyards that help move power to and from the reactors at the Byron Generating Station, which is located about 95 miles northwest of Chicago. In January, an insulator in Unit 2 switchyard failed and interrupted power, causing the reactor to automatically shut down as a precaution. Insulators are protective equipment that helps regulate the flow of electricity. Exelon said Unit 1 was taken offline last week while upgrades were finished, and Unit 2 upgrades were finished over the weekend. Both units are back online at full power and generating electricity.

LINK

Ill. nuclear plant generating electricity again after reactor lost power, shut down last week

By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, February 7, 4:36 PM

BYRON, Ill. — A northern Illinois nuclear plant is back up and running after a reactor lost power and shut down last week.

Exelon Nuclear says the Unit 2 reactor at the Byron Generating Station began producing electricity at about noon Tuesday after it was reconnected to the electrical grid.

n outage on Jan. 30 started when an electrical insulator failed and fell off the metal structure it was attached to. That interrupted power and caused the reactor to automatically shut down as a precaution.

Exelon says technical experts did hundreds of maintenance and inspection tasks while the unit was offline.

The Byron Generating Station is about 95 miles northwest of Chicago.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

LINK