The alert is over at the nuclear power plant in Luzerne County.
According to a release from PPL, workers were able to stop the leak of freon that caused the alert.
PPL ended the alert after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Both units at the facility are in operation.
The plant had been on alert since 9:30 a.m. Tuesday but officials stress the public was not in any danger.
PPL officials said freon gas was leaking from an important equipment cooling system inside unit one's reactor building. Workers were forced to evacuate the area.
"I understand events like this can make people anxious because you talk about an emergency at a nuclear power plant but it's really confined to the reactor building itself," explained PPL spokesman Joe Scopelliti. He added no radiation is involved.
Scopelliti is helping to man the plant's information center near Wilkes-Barre. It opens whenever an emergency situation is in effect.
There are four classifications when something goes wrong at the plant. One, the notification of unusual event; two, an alert, which in effect now; three, a site area emergency and four, a general emergency.
Only the last two affect the public. PPL doesn't expect this situation to escalate beyond alert.
"The fact that we have an emergency, even though it's a low-level emergency attracts a lot of attention so we want people to know what's going on," Scopelliti added. "All the safety equipment is still available to do it. We can start it from different locations. Now our attention is on this leak so we can stop it and move away from this emergency.
Officials said they don't know how the leak started but they added the building does have a back-up cooling system so it is able to operate as it should.
No one was hurt and the public was not in danger but 19 municipalities were notified there was a problem at the plant. The power plant is required to notify the public of anything abnormal going on inside, even if it doesn't impact those living nearby. Those who live in the shadow of the plant said they are glad to know what's happening there.
"It's important that they do it to alert the people," said Chris D.Angelo. He is among the thousands of people who live within minutes of the plant. "It's like 10 minutes from our house."
"At least they're letting us know. Other places could let us just fly by and not let us know. It's nice to know they're letting us know everything that's going on," said Chris Martinez of Berwick.
According to a release from PPL, workers were able to stop the leak of freon that caused the alert.
PPL ended the alert after 11:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Both units at the facility are in operation.
The plant had been on alert since 9:30 a.m. Tuesday but officials stress the public was not in any danger.
PPL officials said freon gas was leaking from an important equipment cooling system inside unit one's reactor building. Workers were forced to evacuate the area.
"I understand events like this can make people anxious because you talk about an emergency at a nuclear power plant but it's really confined to the reactor building itself," explained PPL spokesman Joe Scopelliti. He added no radiation is involved.
Scopelliti is helping to man the plant's information center near Wilkes-Barre. It opens whenever an emergency situation is in effect.
There are four classifications when something goes wrong at the plant. One, the notification of unusual event; two, an alert, which in effect now; three, a site area emergency and four, a general emergency.
Only the last two affect the public. PPL doesn't expect this situation to escalate beyond alert.
"The fact that we have an emergency, even though it's a low-level emergency attracts a lot of attention so we want people to know what's going on," Scopelliti added. "All the safety equipment is still available to do it. We can start it from different locations. Now our attention is on this leak so we can stop it and move away from this emergency.
Officials said they don't know how the leak started but they added the building does have a back-up cooling system so it is able to operate as it should.
No one was hurt and the public was not in danger but 19 municipalities were notified there was a problem at the plant. The power plant is required to notify the public of anything abnormal going on inside, even if it doesn't impact those living nearby. Those who live in the shadow of the plant said they are glad to know what's happening there.
"It's important that they do it to alert the people," said Chris D.Angelo. He is among the thousands of people who live within minutes of the plant. "It's like 10 minutes from our house."
"At least they're letting us know. Other places could let us just fly by and not let us know. It's nice to know they're letting us know everything that's going on," said Chris Martinez of Berwick.
