PPL Installing, Testing New Susquehanna Plant Sirens

With the installation of new sirens during March, PPL will continue the replacement of the original emergency notification system for the Susquehanna nuclear plant.

“The siren system at the Susquehanna plant is a prominent symbol of the plant in the community,” said Joe Scopelliti, Susquehanna community relations manager. “The sirens can be used to notify the community of emergencies, not only at the plant, but for any purpose. Several of the sirens are shared with local fire companies, which use them for fire calls.

“Over the past 25 years since the original siren system began operating, it has only been used once — in 1987 to warn residents of Nanticoke about a fire at an industry that had chemicals on site,” he said.

ANS Services LLC of Salem, N.J., will remove the 76 sirens installed in 2006 that did not work to PPL’s satisfaction and replace them with new ones manufactured by American Signal Corporation, Scopelliti said.

Each new siren will be tested right after installation, he added. Installation is expected to be completed early this summer.

“It may be necessary for the crew working at the siren to sound it several times to confirm that it is operating properly,” Scopelliti said. “The test will consist of operating the siren at full volume for various amounts of time up to as long as three minutes.

“We understand the frustration caused by repeated siren tests in 2007, and we will make every effort to minimize the inconvenience when testing the new sirens,” he said.

All of the sirens in the new system will undergo a simultaneous full three-minute test later in the year. PPL will notify the public before that test.

PPL’s original siren system, installed when the plant began operating, will remain in place and continue to function until the new system is completely installed, tested and accepted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Susquehanna plant, located in Luzerne County about seven miles north of Berwick, is owned jointly by PPL Susquehanna LLC and Allegheny Electric Cooperative Inc. and is operated by PPL Susquehanna.