Quad Cities Nuclear Generating Station
| Quad Cities Generating Station | |
|---|---|
.jpg) | |
  Location of Quad Cities Generating Station in Illinois | |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Cordova Township, Rock Island County, near Cordova, Illinois |
| Coordinates | 41°43′35″N 90°18′36″W / 41.72639°N 90.31000°WCoordinates: 41°43′35″N 90°18′36″W / 41.72639°N 90.31000°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date |
Unit 1: February 18, 1973 Unit 2: March 10, 1973 |
| Construction cost | $250 million |
| Operator(s) | Exelon |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | boiling water reactor |
| Reactor supplier | General Electric |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 1,871 MW |
| Annual generation | 14,457 GWh |
|
Website www.exeloncorp.com | |
Quad Cities Generating Station is a two-unit nuclear power plant located near Cordova, Illinois, USA on the Mississippi River. The two General Electric boiling water reactors give the plant a total electric capacity of approximately 1,871 MW. It was named for the nearby cities of Moline, Illinois, Rock Island, Illinois, Davenport, Iowa, East Moline, Illinois, and Bettendorf, Iowa — known as the Quad Cities.
The Quad Cities plant is owned and operated by Exelon Corporation. In 2004, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved a 20-year license extension for both reactors at this plant. Citing the plant's ongoing string of financial losses, Exelon has considered shutting down the facility by 2018.[1]
Extended power uprate
During an extended power uprate test on March 5, 2002 (designed to extend the power efficiency of existing BWR reactors), Quad Cities Unit 2 began to experience vibrations in a steam line. On March 29 the plant was manually shut down due to high vibrations causing leaks in the main turbine control system. Unit 2 was restarted on April 2, but vibration broke a main steam pipe drain line. The line was repaired and the restart resumed, but by June 7 the main steam lines were showing unexplained aberrations. The plant was again taken offline for repairs on July 11, and the problem was traced to a hole in the steam dryer. The steam dryer was repaired and Unit 2 was restarted on July 21, 2002. The incident did not result in any increased probability of an accident. The NRC inspected all repairs and the extended power uprate was completed successfully.[2]
| Unit 1 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nuclear system supplied by General Electric Company (U.S.) | |||||
| Capacity Net MW(e) |
Generation in 2003 Megawatt-hours |
Capacity Factor |
Type | On-line Date |
License Expiration Date |
| 934 | 5,709,520 | 90.6% | BWR-3 | Dec. 14, 1972 | Dec. 14, 2032 |
| Unit 2 | |||||
| Nuclear system supplied by General Electric Company (U.S.) | |||||
| Capacity Net MW(e) |
Generation in 2003 Megawatt-hours |
Capacity Factor |
Type | On-line Date |
License Expiration Date |
| 937 | 6,956,073 | 92.7% | BWR-3 | Dec. 14, 1972 | Dec. 14, 2032 |
2015 net generation was 15.5 million MWh, and the capacity factor was 95.0%. This equates to roughly 1.2 million homes.[3]
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.[4]
The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Quad Cities was 34,350, a decrease of 0.5 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 655,207, a decrease of 0.3 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Moline (19 miles to city center).[5]
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 Quad Cities was 1 in 37,037, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[6][7]
References
- ↑ http://www.qconline.com/news/local/exelon-says-cordova-nuclear-power-plant-may-close-in-two/article_33706101-5a17-5fd2-9f6a-e8194017c301.html. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ NRC: SECY-01-0124 - Power Uprate Application Reviews
- ↑ http://www.exeloncorp.com/locations/Documents/Quad%20Cities%20Station%20Fact%20Sheet-2016.pdf
- ↑ NRC: Backgrounder on Emergency Preparedness at Nuclear Power Plants
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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
External links
- Exelon Corporation Quad Cities Plant Page
- "Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant, Illinois". Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). September 5, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
- "Quad Cities 2 Boiling Water Reactor". Operating Nuclear Power Reactors. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
- "Quad Cities 2 Boiling Water Reactor". Operating Nuclear Power Reactors. NRC. February 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-22.
- NukeWorker
