Sandy-shuttered US nuclear power units back online
AFP) – 15 hours ago WASHINGTON
Three nuclear power units shut down in the US northeast due to the superstorm Sandy have restarted operations, the US Energy Department said Friday.
Two reactors in New York state and one in New Jersey were back online and had ramped up power by Friday, the department said.
"All nuclear power units in the Northeastern United States that were shut down as a result of impacts from Hurricane Sandy have been restarted and are ramping up power output," it said.
In addition, all nuclear power units whose output had been reduced as a result of the storm have been restored to 100 percent power, the department said.
The violent storm that wracked the East Coast on Monday and Tuesday forced the closure of the three reactors: the Salem 1 unit near Salem, New Jersey; the Nine Mile Point unit 1 in Scriba, New York; and the Indian Point reactor 3 in Buchanan, New York.
In its latest post-storm update, the department said that as of 7:00 am (1200 GMT), 3.6 million households in the affected area remained without power, compared with more than 8 million at the peak of the crisis.
The country's 104 active nuclear reactors supply 20 percent of the national electricity power.
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