James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant

James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant

James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant
Location of James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant in New York
Country United States
Location Scriba, Oswego County, near Oswego, New York
Coordinates 43°31.4′N 76°23.9′W / 43.5233°N 76.3983°W / 43.5233; -76.3983Coordinates: 43°31.4′N 76°23.9′W / 43.5233°N 76.3983°W / 43.5233; -76.3983
Status Operational
Commission date July 1975
Operator(s) Entergy
Nuclear power station
Reactor type BWR-4
Reactor supplier General Electric
Power generation
Units operational General Electric
Nameplate capacity 838 MW
Annual generation 6,918 GWh

The James A. Fitzpatrick (JAF) Nuclear Power Plant is located in the Town of Scriba, near Oswego, New York, on the southeast shore of Lake Ontario. The nuclear power plant has one General Electric boiling water reactor. The 900-acre (360 ha) site is also the location of two other units at the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Generating Station.

The power plant was originally built by Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation - Fitzpatrick and half of the Nine Mile Point site were transferred to the Power Authority of the State of New York (PASNY) [now called the New York Power Authority (NYPA)]. It was named after Power Authority Chairman James A. Fitzpatrick. The reactor is now owned and operated by Entergy. On November 2, 2015 Entergy Corp. announced it plans to shut down Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Oswego County after the reactor runs out of fuel in 2016.[1]

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.[2]

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Fitzpatrick was 35,136, an increase of 17.0 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 909,798, an increase of 3.2 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Syracuse (36 miles to city center). Canadian population is not included in these figures, such as Kingston, Ontario, 49 miles to the city center.[3]

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 Fitzpatrick was 1 in 163,934, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[4][5]

Announced Closure

On November 2nd 2015, Entergy Corporation announced that it intends to close the James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant because it is becoming too costly to operate. [6] The nuclear industry's profits have been squeezed out by utilities who are buying cheaper energy from natural gas power plants. “Given the financial challenges our merchant power plants face from sustained wholesale power price declines and other unfavorable market conditions, we have been assessing each asset,” Chief Executive Officer Leo Denault said in the statement. “Market conditions require us to also close the Fitzpatrick nuclear plant.”[7]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2015/11/entergy_fitzpatrick_nuclear_plant_in_oswego_county.html
  2. ↑ http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/emerg-plan-prep-nuc-power-bg.html
  3. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Sections/NEWS/quake%20nrc%20risk%20estimates.pdf
  6. ↑ McGeehan, Patrick (November 2, 2015). "Entergy to Close Nuclear Plant on Lake Ontario, Angering Cuomo". The New York Times.
  7. ↑ Polson, Jim (November 2, 2015). "Entergy to Close FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in New York". Bloomberg Business.

Further reading

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