Oyster Creek nuclear plant shuts down temporarily

LACEY TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -- The nation's oldest nuclear power plant has shut down temporarily after an electrical issue occurred in a system that controls steam pressure.

A spokeswoman of the Oyster Creek plant in Ocean County says staffers will troubleshoot the problem and make necessary repairs to bring it back online. She says all systems operated as designed during the automatic shutdown on Sunday afternoon.

The plant about 60 miles east of Philadelphia is scheduled to close permanently in 2019. The plant agreed to shut down in return for not being required to build costly cooling towers that would minimize the impact on fish and other marine life in the creek.

When operating at full capacity, it generates enough power for 600,000 homes, or roughly all the homes in Monmouth and Ocean counties combined.

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