Waterford Nuclear Generating Station

Waterford Nuclear Generating Station
Official name Waterford Steam Electric Station
Country United States
Location Killona, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana
Coordinates 29°59′43″N 90°28′16″W / 29.99528°N 90.47111°W / 29.99528; -90.47111Coordinates: 29°59′43″N 90°28′16″W / 29.99528°N 90.47111°W / 29.99528; -90.47111
Status Operational
Construction began November 14, 1974 (1974-11-14)
Commission date September 24, 1985
Construction cost $5.476 billion (2007 USD)[1]
Owner(s) Entergy Louisiana
Operator(s) Entergy Nuclear
Nuclear power station
Reactor type PWR
Reactor supplier Combustion Engineering
Cooling source Mississippi River
Power generation
Units operational 1 × 1168 MW
Make and model CE 2-loop (DRYAMB)
Thermal capacity 1 × 3716 MWth
Nameplate capacity 1168 MW
Capacity factor 82.12% (2017)
87.10% (lifetime)
Annual net output 8402 GWh (2017)
Website
Waterford 3

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.[2]

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).[3] Shortly after Katrina, Waterford restarted and resumed normal operation.

During the 2011 Mississippi River floods, the power plant, which is located about 25 miles (40 km) west of New Orleans, was restarted on May 12,[4][5] after a refueling shutdown on April 6.[6]

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.[2]

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.[7]

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).[8]

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.[9][10]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  2. 1 2 Waterford on US Nuclear Power Plants List
  3. ↑ NRC Page on Waterford 3 shutdown prior to Hurricane Katrina
  4. ↑ "NRC: Power Reactor Status Report for May 11, 2011". Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 2011-05-11. Retrieved 2011-05-16.
  5. ↑ "NRC: Power Reactor Status Report for May 13, 2011". Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 2011-05-13. Retrieved 2011-05-16.
  6. ↑ "NRC: Power Reactor Status Report for April 6, 2011". Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Retrieved 2011-05-16.
  7. ↑ https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/emerg-plan-prep-nuc-power-bg.html
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Sections/NEWS/quake%20nrc%20risk%20estimates.pdf
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