Catawba Nuclear Station

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Catawba Nuclear Station
Catawba Nuclear Station is located in South Carolina
Location of Catawba Nuclear Station
Country United States
Location York, South Carolina
Coordinates 35°3.1′N 81°4.2′W / 35.0517°N 81.07°W / 35.0517; -81.07Coordinates: 35°3.1′N 81°4.2′W / 35.0517°N 81.07°W / 35.0517; -81.07
Status Operational
Commission date Unit 1: June 29, 1985
Unit 2: August 19, 1986
Licence expiration Unit 1: December 5, 2043
Unit 2: December 5, 2043
Construction cost $6.594 billion
Operator(s) Duke Power
Reactor information
Reactors operational 2 x 1129 MW
Reactor type(s) pressurized water reactor
Reactor supplier(s) Westinghouse
Power generation information
Annual generation 18,418 GW·h
Website
www.duke-energy.com/.../catawba.asp
As of 2008-11-15

The Catawba Nuclear Station is a nuclear power plant located on a 391-acre (1.58 km2) peninsula, called "Concord Peninsula", that reaches out into Lake Wylie, in York, South Carolina. Catawba utilizes a pair of Westinghouse four-loop pressurized water reactors[1].

The Catawba plant is the largest in the State (although, with three reactors, the Oconee plant has the most nuclear capacity in the southeastern United States).

As a part of the Megatons to Megawatts Program Catawba was one of the plants that received and tested 4 fuel assemblies containing MOX fuel with the plutonium supplied from old weapons programs[2]. Because concerns of nuclear proliferation are greater with fuel containing plutonium, special precautions and added security were used around the new fuel. The 4 test assemblies did not perform as expected and at least at present those plans are shelved[3].

Contents

[edit] Ownership

[edit] Surrounding population

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.[5]

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Catawba was 213,407, an increase of 53.3 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80 km) was 2,559,394, an increase of 25.0 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Charlotte (17 miles to city center).[6]

[edit] Seismic risk

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Catawba was 1 in 27,027, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[7][8]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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