Nuclear Power Plants - Refueling Amid COVID-19

A refueling outage at the Limerick Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania has been complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. Officials at the plant confirmed there have been five cases of COVID-19 among the more than 2,000 employees and contractors onsite and, as of April 8, there were 4 employees or contractors quarantined.

These nuclear workers are considered essential workers by the U.S. federal government and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Says Dave Marcheskie, communications manager at the Limerick Generating Station, “…just like the first responders, health care workers and grocery store employees, these specialized workers perform tasks that are vital to the nation’s power grid.”

The entire energy sector is being affected by the pandemic. No one is immune, not even nuclear. Confirmed COVID-19 cases among utility workers are not currently being tracked by utility industry groups like Edison Electric Institute or the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, but the utility giant Consolidated Edison in New York has 170 employees who have tested positive for COVID-19. Eleven have recovered and returned to work as of last Friday, and three have died.

But nuclear may be in a better place because of the general transparency and reporting requirements demanded by regulations. It’s why nuclear has the safest jobs of all industries (see figure below). They must report cases and anything else that can affect functions. So more is known about its operations.

Nuclear power plants run almost all the time, refueling only once every two years or so. That’s because the uranium oxide fuel produces so much energy per gram, almost a million times that of coal or natural gas.

Outages typically occur in the spring or autumn when electricity demand is lowest and there is little draw from peak winter heating or summer air-conditioning.  The interruption of nuclear’s constant stream of energy is also most easily handled by other sources during the spring such as hydroelectric.

Thirty nuclear plant refueling outages were scheduled for this spring. Seven are complete and have returned to full power. Another 24 are scheduled for this fall.

An outage usually takes about a month, but Limerick’s is scheduled to be only 18 days, and the plant is half-way through it. “As the outage winds down, the number of workers onsite will continue to decrease significantly and we will remain overly cautious in our criteria for quarantining, including all workers — symptomatic or not — who have had potential exposure at work or at home,” Exelon said in a statement.

While refueling outages are under way, nuclear plants review the scope of activities and sometimes adjust them based on the specific conditions at the plant or in the region. There are a few reasons other than refueling to shut down a power plant -  maintenance, testing, inspections, repair and replacing components (see figure below) - but if everything is running well, you can do all of those things during the occasional refueling outage without an impact on plant safety.

Often, extreme weather like droughts, floods or a polar vortex can cause other energy sources like wind or coal to not produce much energy, and the regional utility operators ask nuclear plants to put off their outage until the weather goes back to normal.

But the COVID-19 pandemic and its uncertainty has thrown a monkey-wrench into a lot of our routine activities.

Local officials asked the Limerick plant owner, Exelon, to delay the refueling, but the company said that the long-planned outage needed to go forward. 

Liz Williamson, Exelon senior manager for nuclear communications, said, “Limerick's clean and reliable power is vital to the region's hospitals and health care facilities, federal, state and local response centers, and over a million homes and essential businesses as they respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Tthe station's spring refueling outage is critical to ensuring that power will continue to be available to the region as the weather becomes warmer and electricity demand increases.” The video below sheds some light on their decision.

Nuclear is the most security and disaster-minded industry there is and nuclear workers are highly trained in protocols and procedures that are ideal for handling contamination of any type, including biologicals.

Unfortunately, this pandemic is unlike anything faced in almost a hundred years and Limerick is certainly going to hurt like everyone else. But they are taking precautions specific to COVID-19 and, like everyone else, are learning as they go. And with only a little over a week left, should accomplish this with as few cases as possible.

Adds Williamson, “We have strict procedures in place to keep the public, our employees and contractors safe during the outage, and we will continue to share updates with federal, state and county officials. As part of Limerick's comprehensive COVID-19 safety precautions, all workers must pass a symptom screening and body temperature check prior to entry every shift.”

“We're also requiring social distancing, remote work where possible, frequent hand washing, and increased facility cleaning and disinfection.”

Limerick has health workers on site around-the-clock and has retained area physicians to consult and evaluate any workers that require assistance. Anyone onsite who is feeling unwell or exhibiting flu-like symptoms is immediately referred to the onsite medical professionals for evaluation. 

Limerick has brought in 20 modular office space trailers and hired around-the-clock monitors to coach workers to help enforce guidelines. If there are tasks that can’t be done safely, the work is stopped, workarounds are implemented, or additional personal protective equipment are provided, like gowns, face shields and masks.

The economic fallout from the coronavirus also can’t be ignored. A refueling outage is usually very good for local economies and all the other businesses in the area. But we will have to see how safely refueling can be done within pandemic guidelines at this and other nuclear plants as the year progresses.