Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Catawba Nuclear Station

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Country
  
United States

Status
  
Operational

Phone
  
+1 803-831-3000

Location
  
York, South Carolina

Operator(s)
  
Duke Power

Catawba Nuclear Station

Commission date
  
Unit 1: June 29, 1985 Unit 2: August 19, 1986

Construction cost
  
$6.594 billion (in 2007 USD)

Address
  
4800 Concord Rd, York, SC 29745, USA

Similar
  
McGuire Nuclear Station, Beaver Valley Nuclear, Braidwood Nuclear Generatin, Duane Arnold Energy C, Prairie Island Nuclear P

Catawba nuclear station abc news special on training


The Catawba Nuclear Station is a nuclear power plant located on a 391-acre (158 ha) peninsula, called "Concord Peninsula", that reaches out into Lake Wylie, in York, South Carolina. Catawba utilizes a pair of Westinghouse four-loop pressurized water reactors.

Contents

As a part of the Megatons to Megawatts Program Catawba was one of the plants that received and tested 4 fuel assemblies containing MOX fuel with the plutonium supplied from old weapons programs. Because concerns of nuclear proliferation are greater with fuel containing plutonium, special precautions and added security were used around the new fuel. The 4 test assemblies did not perform as expected and at present those plans are shelved.

Ownership

  • Unit 1:
  • Operator : Duke Power
  • Owners: North Carolina Electric Member Corporation (~62%), Duke Energy Corporation (~38%)
  • Unit 2:
  • Operator: Duke Power
  • Owners: North Carolina Municipal Power Agency (75%), Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (25%)
  • 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.

    The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Catawba was 213,407, an increase of 53.3 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 2,559,394, an increase of 25.0 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Charlotte NC ( 17 miles to city center).

    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 Catawba was 1 in 27,027, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.

    May 15, 2013

    More than 100 gallons of water contaminated with readioactive tritium was released

    References

    Catawba Nuclear Station Wikipedia