Oyster Creek Returns to Service Following Electrical Disruption

Oyster Creek Generating Station has returned to full power following at outage that began Monday morning when , a news release said.

Electrical service to approximately 22,000 Ocean County residents and Oyster Creek Generating Station was temporarily disrupted on Monday, causing the plant to take its reactor offline.

An Unusual Event - which is the lowest of four Nuclear Regulatory Commission emergency classifications - was declared for roughly two hours and terminated after Jersey Central Power & Light crews corrected the issue.

The loss of power appears to have resulted from an electrical fault with the 230-kilovolt line that provides power to the plant, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan has said.

While the reactor was offline, two diesel-powered generators supplied electrical power to key plant components, a news release said.

During the outage, plan personnel were able to perform minor maintenance that can only be completed when the reactor is off line.

The plant returned to service at 2:26 p.m. on July 28.

The Oyster Creek Generating Station is owned and operated by Exelon Corporation. Exelon is one of the largest electric utilities distributing electricity to approximately 5.4 million customers and natural gas to approximately 486,000 customers. The generating station is the oldest operating nuclear power plant in the country.