The Millstone Power Station in Waterford, located on Long Island Sound, is closely monitoring the storm and has been installing flood barriers around the plant in case the storm surge is higher than anticipated, Ken Holt, spokesman for Millstone owner Dominion, said Sunday.

The Unit 2 nuclear reactor at the plant is shut down for routine refueling, but Unit 3 is expected to continue operating through the storm, he said.

"There does not appear to be a need at this time to take it off line," he said. "But we are watching the storm track closely."

Unit 3 was operating at 100 percent power on Sunday, but will be downpowered to 75 percent on Monday, he said. The reduction in power will allow the plant to better adjust to any storm surge issues that might affect its water intake from Long Island Sound and will ensure more stability in the regional power grid that the plant is connected to. If the plant were forced to go offline due to the storm when it was at 100 percent power, he said, it would cause much more disruption in the grid than if it were at a lesser level.

Plant employees spent the weekend preparing the plant for the storm by securing all equipment that would be exposed to high winds and making sure adequate staffing will be in place throughout the storm.

"We're asking people to be prepared to stay over," Holt said, "though we're not expecting they will have to."