Reactors restart after Irene
01 September 2011
Two nuclear power reactors which were shut down as Hurricane Irene swept up the east coast of the USA have now been restarted. Exelon's single-unit Oyster Creek plant in New Jersey was taken offline on 27 August as a precaution against the approaching hurricane-force winds. The utility, having found that the reactor had not sustained any damage, announced that the 636 MWe boiling water reactor had restarted operation on 30 August. Constellation reported on 31 August that it had restarted unit 1 at its Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland. The 825 MWe pressurized water reactor shut down automatically after aluminium cladding dislodged from a nearby building hit a transformer, while the plant's second unit continued to operate safely.