The 1,300 MW Unit 3 at Exelon Nuclear's Peach Bottom nuclear station in Pennsylvania experienced a hot shutdown on Sept. 30 following the loss of two condensate pumps.

All control rods were inserted into the reactor and decay heat was being removed via the main condenser.

Peach Bottom Unit 3 experienced a hot shutdown September 30. Credit: NRCIn a filing with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the nuclear operator said that following the reactor scram, water level fell from a normal level of 23 in to below 1 in. Reactor water level fell to -48 in, which resulted in the start of the high-pressure coolant injection and reactor core isolation cooling systems.

By Oct. 1, reactor water level and reactor pressure had been restored to their normal bands. Exelon said that all systems responded properly to the event. The cause and details of the event are under investigation.

Peach Bottom includes two General Electric boiling water reactors that were placed online in 1974. Both units were uprated to about 1,382 MW each in 2018. Their licenses run until 2033 (Unit 2) and 2034 (Unit 3).

Exelon said that Unit 2 was unaffected by the incident and continued its coastdown to a scheduled refueling outage.