© Chris Knight/The Patriot-NewsThree Mile Island nuclear faÂcility along the Susquehanna River in Londonderry Township.
If there were traces of radiation in the steam, the amount was so low it was undetectable, Exelon Corp. spokesman Ralph DeSantis said.
The plant was being manually shut down today for repairs to a slight leak in a heater element when a pump in the non-nuclear section malfunctioned around 8 a.m., causing the plant to shut down immediately. When this happened, steam was released from valves, DeSantis said.
TMI will return to service after the repairs, inspections and testing on the heater element on the plant's pressurizer tank are complete, DeSantis said.
Electric customers were not affected by the plant being offline.
No generating stations attached to a power grid are needed all the time, and all generating stations attached to the power grid are needed some of the time.
The person who posted the editorial comment does not understand power grids.
For what it's worth -- I agree that nuclear power is FAR from being an ideal power source, and that mankind (and the planet) would benefit from pursuing alternatives.