York nuclear power plant undergoes inspection due to safety failure last May

The Peach Bottom nuclear plant, located in York County across the Susquehanna River from several southern Lancaster County municipalities, is undergoing an inspection due to a safety failure in May 2022.

An inspection of one of Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station's two active nuclear reactors triggered by a 2022 safety protocol violation could wrap up this week.

The power plant is located in Peach Bottom Township, York County, across the Susquehanna River from several southern Lancaster County municipalities.

In May 2022, a plant operator at the Unit 2 reactor failed to follow the correct procedure to respond to a planned offsite power outage. As a result, emergency core cooling systems had to be manually started to stabilize and control reactor power and level.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued an inspection finding in September 2022 that determined the incident to be of"low to moderate safety significance." That finding triggered the May 2023 inspection that is expected to be completed as early as this week.

Prior to the ongoing inspection, Constellation Nuclear, which operates the power station, put corrective actions in place. Neil Sheehan, NRC public affairs officer, said the corrective actions included addressing gaps in interactions with the grid operator, evaluating equipment, creating a new procedure to respond better to similar scenarios, and incorporating lessons from the event into operator training.

"We look at their corrective actions, as well as their root cause analysis, to see that they’ve taken appropriate steps to ensure that they don't have a repeat moving forward," Sheehan said.

Following the inspection, commission officials will conduct an exit meeting with Constellation Nuclear before issuing a public report within 30 days.

"We have been working closely and collaboratively with the NRC to finalize their review of a temporary shutdown of Peach Bottom Unit 2 on May 16, 2022," Mark Rodgers, Constellation spokesperson, said in an email statement. "While this event did not pose a risk to public safety and the plant's redundant shutdown safety systems performed as designed, we welcome the NRC's independent review and have shared the learnings across our fleet to prevent reoccurrence."

If the power station passes the ongoing inspection, it will return to its baseline inspection schedule. Each reactor site has two resident inspectors. Scott Rutenkroger, senior resident inspector at Peach Bottom, reported that both active reactors at the plant received a total of 6,300 hours of baseline inspections in 2022.

The commission hosts public meetings each year. Annual assessment letters, published in March, can be found on its website as well as quarterly performance summaries.

A Wednesday webinar discussed 17 reactors in Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Peach Bottom's was one of two whose inspection findings rose from the green level of "very low safety significance" to the white level of "low to moderate safety significance." The other wasCalvert Cliffs Unit 1 in Lusby, Maryland.

No safety failures were noted at Peach Bottom's other active nuclear reactor, Unit 3, in the annual review that flagged the issue at Unit 2. Constellation Nuclear operates both Peach Bottom power stations.

Peach Bottom's Unit 1 reactor operated from June 1967 to Oct. 31, 1974, when it was shut down for reasons not related to safety issues.

Lancaster County residents who live in Drumore, East Drumore, Fulton, Little Britain, Martic, and Providence townships are eligible to receive free iodine pills from the state as a precaution of the release of radiation from any of Peach Bottom's reactors. Requests for pills can be made by calling 1-877-724-3258.

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