Surry Nuclear Power Plant

Surry Nuclear Power Plant is located in Surry County in southeastern Virginia. The power station lies on an 840-acre (3.4 km²) site adjacent to the James River across from Jamestown, slightly upriver from Smithfield and Newport News. Surry is operated by Dominion Generation and owned by Dominion Resources, Inc.

The Surry Nuclear Power Plant has two triple-loop Westinghouse pressurized water reactors which went on-line in 1972 and 1973 respectively. Each reactor produces approximately 800 megawatts of power, for a combined plant output of 1.6 gigawatts. Surry Power Station draws its condenser cycle water directly from the James River, removing the need for the imposing cooling towers often associated with nuclear plants. Repeated testing shows that Surry Power Station has minimal environmental impact and releases virtually no radiation or harmful emissions.

The station site was originally designed for four units; however, only two reactors were built. With increasing energy demands in the United States, it is possible that more reactors will be built at Surry in the next few decades. In 2003, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) extended the operating licenses for both reactors from forty to sixty years.

The Surry Nuclear Power Plant is similar in appearance and design to its "sister plant" North Anna Power Station, located northwest of Richmond in Louisa County, Virginia.

Surry was one of the plants analyzed in the NUREG-1150 safety analysis study.

On December 9, 1986, a steam explosion in the non-nuclear part of Unit 2 killed 4 workers. This was the worst accident in terms of human cost of any in the US nuclear industry.

Surry Nuclear Power Plant
Country United States
Locale Surry County, near Rushmere, Virginia
Status Operational
Commission date Unit 1: December 22, 1972
Unit 2: May 1, 1973
Licence expiration Unit 1: May 25, 2032
Unit 2: January 19, 2033
Owner(s) Dominion Resources
Operator(s) Dominion Generation
Architect(s) Stone & Webster

Reactor information
Reactors operational 2 x 799 MW
Reactor type(s) pressurized water reactor
Reactor supplier(s) Westinghouse

Power generation information
Annual generation 13,282 GW·h

Saint Lucie Nuclear Power Plant

Saint Lucie Nuclear Power Plant is a twin nuclear power station located on Hutchinson Island, near Ft. Pierce, Florida in St. Lucie County. Both units are Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactors. Florida Power & Light commissioned the station in 1976 and continues to operate the station. Minor shares of Unit 2 are owned by the Florida Municipal Power Agency (8.81%) and the Orlando Utilities Commission (6.08%).

The Saint Lucie Nuclear Power Plant contains two nuclear reactors in separate containment buildings. However, the plant does not have the classic hyperboloid cooling towers found at many inland reactor sites; instead, it uses nearby ocean water for coolant of the secondary system.

In 2003 the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) extended the operating licenses of the St. Lucie units by twenty years, to March 1, 2036 for Unit 1 and April 6, 2043 for Unit 2.

St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant
Country United States
Locale Port St. Lucie, Florida
Status Operational
Commission date Unit 1: March 1, 1976
Unit 2: June 10, 1983
Licence expiration Unit 1: March 1, 2036
Unit 2: April 6, 2043
Operator(s) Florida Power & Light
Architect(s) Ebasco

Reactor information
Reactors operational 2 x 839 MW
Reactor type(s) Pressurized water reactor
Reactor supplier(s) Combustion Engineering

Power generation information
Annual generation 11,390 GW·h

Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant

Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant 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 1,824 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 Nuclear Power 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.

xtended power uprate

During an extended power uprate test on March 5, 2002 designed to extend the power efficiency of existing BWR reactors the Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant 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 had a restart 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. The problem was traced to a hole in the steam dryer — it was repaired, then 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.

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
912 5,709,520 90.6% BWR 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
912 6,956,073 92.7 % BWR Dec. 14, 1972 Dec. 14, 2032

Quad Cities Nuclear Power Plant
Country United States
Locale Cordova Township, Rock Island County, near Cordova, Illinois
Status Operational
Commission date Unit 1: February 18, 1973
Unit 2: March 10, 1973
Licence expiration Unit 1: December 14, 2032
Unit 2: December 14, 2032
Construction cost $250 million
Operator(s) Exelon
Architect(s) Sargent & Lundy

Reactor information
Reactors operational 1,734 MW
Reactor type(s) boiling water reactor
Reactor supplier(s) General Electric

Power generation information
Annual generation 14,457 GW·h