Beaver Valley nuclear power plant
| Beaver Valley nuclear power plant | |
|---|---|
  Location of Beaver Valley nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania | |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Shippingport, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 40°37′24″N 80°25′50″W / 40.62333°N 80.43056°WCoordinates: 40°37′24″N 80°25′50″W / 40.62333°N 80.43056°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date |
Unit 1: July 2, 1976 Unit 2: August 14, 1987 |
| Operator(s) | FirstEnergy |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | PWR |
| Reactor supplier | Westinghouse |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 2 |
| Nameplate capacity |
Unit 1: 970 MW Unit 2: 920 MW |
| Annual generation |
Unit 1: 7,057 GWh Unit 2: 7,473 GWh |
Beaver Valley is a nuclear power plant covering 1,000 acres (400 ha) near Shippingport, Pennsylvania, United States, 34 miles (55 km) west by north of Pittsburgh. The Beaver Valley plant is operated by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Corporation. FirstEnergy is the holding company for Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, Toledo Edison, Metropolitan Edison, Jersey Central Power and Light, and the Pennsylvania Power Company.
This plant has two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors.
While the Shippingport Reactor has been decommissioned, Beaver Valley Units 1 and 2 are still licensed and in operation.
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.[1]
The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Beaver Valley was 114,514, a decrease of 6.6 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 3,140,766, a decrease of 3.7 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Pittsburgh (27 miles upwind of city center).[2]
Incidents
A number of small leaks and minor incidents have occurred at Beaver Valley.[3][4] Some have resulted in radiation releases within the plant,[5] to the surrounding site[6] and in one case, into the Ohio River.[7]
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 Beaver Valley was Reactor 1: 1 in 20,833; Reactor 2: 1 in 45,455, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[8][9]
Fessenheim
Beaver Valley 1 was used as the reference design for the French nuclear plant at Fessenheim.[10]
See also
References
- ↑ http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/emerg-plan-prep-nuc-power-bg.html
- ↑ Bill Dedman, Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors, msnbc.com, April 14, 2011 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42555888/ns/us_news-life/ Accessed May 1, 2011.
- ↑ "Nuclear reactor leak didn't spread, Pennsylvania (1981) - on Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2015-09-03.
- ↑ "Beaver nuclear plant closed after coolant loss, Pennsylvania (1987) - on Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2015-09-03.
- ↑ "'No danger' reported by nuclear plant company, Pennsylvania (1980) - on Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2015-09-03.
- ↑ "Radioactive leak found at Shippingport, Pennsylvania (1977) - on Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2015-09-03.
- ↑ "Radioactive water gets dumped into a pipe trench, Pennsylvania (1985) - on Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2015-09-03.
- ↑ Bill Dedman, "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk," msnbc.com, March 17, 2011 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42103936/ Accessed April 19, 2011.
- ↑ http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Sections/NEWS/quake%20nrc%20risk%20estimates.pdf
- ↑ Thèse, publiée sur internet, de FOASSO Cyrille (Université Lumière Lyon2 - 2003) "Histoire de la sûreté de l'énergie nucléaire civile en France (1945-2000)" Le concept de centrale de référence : assurer les conditions d'un transfert de technologie optimum - "Dans cet apprentissage de la technologie des réacteurs à eau légère, EDF s'appuie sur le concept dit de «centrale de référence», adopté pour suppléer à son manque de connaissances en profondeur de ce type de réacteurs. Le concept de centrale de référence marque une étape fondamentale dans l'opération de transfert de technologie depuis les Etats-Unis vers la France." "pour Fessenheim c'est la centrale de Beaver Valley qui est choisie comme référence"