History
The site was chosen and plans to build the station were announced in 1969, by the Philadelphia Electric Company (now PECO Energy, a subsidiary of Exelon). It is located approximately one mile south of Sanatoga, PA. Community protests by the Keystone Alliance and other delays pushed the start of construction by the Bechtel Power Corporation to June 1974.
Limerick Unit 1 first attained criticality (began producing nuclear power, at limited capacity) on December 22, 1984 and was certified for commercial operation on February 1, 1986.
Limerick Unit 2 attained criticality on August 1, 1989, and commercial operation began on January 8, 1990.
Former President George W. Bush visited the Limerick Generating Station in May 2006 to discuss nuclear power and its role in the Advanced Energy Initiative, which he announced at the 2006 State of the Union Address. He toured the facility, including a trip to the control room of the plant.
In 1984, a worker repeatedly triggered contamination alarms as he entered the plant; subsequent investigation showed the contamination's origin to be not the plant but radon in the worker's home (see Health effects of radon).
In May 2011, a glitch shut down a reactor at the plant twice.
Read more about this topic: Limerick Nuclear Power Plant
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