Equipment problems related to uprating work performed during a refuelling and maintenance outage have forced Exelon’s Clinton plant to shut down three times since returning from the outage on 6 May.
The first outage came on the unit’s initial return date, when the BWR experienced some balance issues on the turbine generators. Exelon spokeswoman Ann Mary Carley said that those issues were associated with the power uprate work performed during the refuelling outage and “were not unusual.” The unit came back online on 8 May.
The unit went offline again on 13 May, after a problem with the feedwater system surfaced. Carley said the feedwater level did not respond to tests being conducted as part of the plant’s extended power uprate.
Exelon brought the unit back online the following day, but experienced new turbine balancing issues, so the unit was taken offline to resolve them.
Once all the work is completed, Exelon expects to gain 60MWe from the uprate work.
