Oyster Creek Plant Offline for Maintenance Work

The nation's oldest nuclear power plant has been temporarily shuttered for planned maintenance on a turbine speed controller.

The Oyster Cree plant in Lacey Township was taken offline at 10:50 a.m. Monday. It's not known when regular operations will resume.

Plant officials say the work, along with additional maintenance, cannot be performed while the plant is generating electricity.

Oyster Creek is located about 60 miles east of Philadelphia. It generates enough electricity to power 600,000 homes, or roughly all the homes in Monmouth and Ocean counties combined.

The plant went online Dec. 1, 1969, the same day as the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station near Oswego, N.Y. But Oyster Creek's original license was granted first, making it the oldest nuclear plant.

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