LOWER ALLOWAYS CREEK – The Salem 1 nuclear reactor was taken off-line early this morning because of the impacts of Hurricane Sandy, a spokesman for the plant's operator said.

The plant was shut down at 1:09 a.m. today after four of its six circulating water pumps were no longer available for use, according to Joe Delmar, spokesman for PSEG Nuclear.

The pumps draw water from the Delaware River and Bay to cool and condense steam on the non-nuclear side of the plant. The plant, operating at full power, draws in 1.5 billion gallons of water a day.

Salem 1 is one of three reactors operated by PSEG Nuclear at its Artificial Island generating complex. The site is on the western side of Salem County, on an island at the point where the Delaware River and Bay meet.

The Salem 2 reactor was already shutdown prior to Sandy’s arrival for a scheduled refueling outage which began Oct. 14.

The third plant at the site, Hope Creek, remains at full power. It uses a cooling tower to condense steam which powers the plants generators and depends significantly less on water drawn from the river and bay.

Delmar said there was no estimated time when Salem 1 would be restarted.

When the hurricane hit yesterday and overnight, floodwaters and wind never reached the threshold established to cause the plants to shut down.

PSEG Nuclear had already implemented its storm response plan ahead of Hurricane Sandy’s arrival.

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