Waterford Nuclear Generating Station
| Waterford Nuclear Generating Station | |
|---|---|
  Location of Waterford Nuclear Generating Station in Louisiana | |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Killona, Louisiana |
| Coordinates | 29°59′43″N 90°28′16″W / 29.99528°N 90.47111°WCoordinates: 29°59′43″N 90°28′16″W / 29.99528°N 90.47111°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | September 24, 1985 |
| Owner(s) | Entergy Louisiana |
| Operator(s) | Entergy Nuclear |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | Pressurized water reactor |
| Reactor supplier | Combustion Engineering |
| Cooling source | Mississippi River |
| Cooling towers | no |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 1 x 3,716 MW thermal, 1,180 MW electrical gross |
| Annual generation | 8,949 GWh |
|
Website www.entergy-nuclear.com | |
The Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 3, also known as Waterford 3, is a nuclear power plant located on a 3,000-acre (1,200 ha) plot in Killona, Louisiana, in St. Charles Parish.[1]
This plant has one Combustion Engineering two-loop pressurized water reactor. The plant produces 1,218 megawatts of electricity since the site's last refuel in October 2009. It has a dry ambient pressure containment building.
On August 28, 2005, Waterford shut down due to Hurricane Katrina approaching and declared an unusual event (the least-serious of a four-level emergency classification scale).[2] Shortly after Katrina, Waterford restarted and resumed normal operation.
The plant also shut down on October 17, 2012, for steam generator replacement. The plant returned to full power in the middle of January 2013.
Ownership
Waterford is operated by Entergy Nuclear and is owned by Entergy Louisiana, Inc.[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.[3]
The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Waterford was 75,538, an increase of 7.4 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 1,969,431, a decrease of 0.8 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include New Orleans (33 miles to city center).[4]
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 Waterford was 1 in 50,000, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[5][6]
See also
- River Bend Nuclear Generating Station, in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana
Notes
- 1 2 Waterford on US Nuclear Power Plants List
- ↑ NRC Page on Waterford 3 shutdown prior to Hurricane Katrina
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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
- U.S. Department of Energy web page for Waterford
- NRC's web page on Waterford
- Entergy Nuclear's information page on Waterford 3
- NEI Fact Sheet Nuclear Energy in Louisiana