Brunswick Nuclear Power Plant
| Brunswick Nuclear Power Plant | ||
|---|---|---|
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| location | ||
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| Coordinates | 33 ° 57 '30 " N , 78 ° 0' 37" W | |
| Country: | United States | |
| Data | ||
| Owner: | Progress Energy | |
| Operator: | Progress Energy | |
| Project start: | 1968 | |
| Commercial operation: | 3rd November 1975 | |
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Active reactors (gross): |
2 (1,979 MW) | |
| Energy fed in in 2008: | 14,885 GWh | |
| Energy fed in since commissioning: | 323,500 GWh | |
| Website: | Brunswick Nuclear Plant | |
| Was standing: | January 26, 2010 | |
| The data source of the respective entries can be found in the documentation . | ||
The Brunswick Nuclear Generating Station ( engl. Brunswick Nuclear Generating Station ) with two boiling water reactors is located north of the city of Southport in the US state of North Carolina . The facility is named after the Brunswick County in which it is located.
history
The planning of the nuclear power plant began in 1968. The two reactors were built by General Electric ; construction began on February 7, 1970.
Brunswick-2 was the first of the two blocks to be completed. It reached its first criticality on March 20, 1975. On April 29, 1975, Unit 2 went online, and on November 3, 1975, commercial operation began. Almost a year later, Block 1 became critical for the first time on October 8, 1976. It then went online on December 4, 1976 and went into commercial operation on March 18, 1977.
Brunswick was the first nuclear power plant in North Carolina. In the 1980s, McGuire and Shearon Harris, two more nuclear power plants were put into operation in the same US state.
On 25 June 2006 the operator was operating licenses for the two reactors by at the request Nuclear Regulatory Commission of the United States extended by 20 years. The operating license for the Brunswick-1 reactor block ends on September 8, 2036 , and that for the Brunswick-2 block on December 27, 2034.
investment
The operator and main owner of the two reactor blocks is Progress Energy (formerly Carolina Power & Light ), a North Carolina energy company that operates three other nuclear power plants in the southeastern United States. Progress Energy holds 81.7% of the shares in the Brunswick nuclear power plant, the remaining 18.3% is held by the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency .
The reactor facility covers an area of around 4.9 km 2 and is located next to agricultural areas, wetlands and forests. The cooling water for the two boiling water reactors comes from the Cape Fear River . Around 3.8 million liters of filtered water are pumped from the river into the cooling systems of the two reactor blocks every minute. The heated water then flows through an outflow channel approximately 9 km long under the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway near Oak Island into the Atlantic .
Both reactor blocks were initially operated with a net electrical output of 790 megawatts (MW). In 1992 the output was reduced to 767 MW (Brunswick-1) and 754 MW (Brunswick-2). From 1998, the output was gradually increased to the current level of 938 and 937 MW. This was done by upgrading and modernizing much of the equipment, especially the main transformers , cooling systems and high pressure turbines . The thermal output of both reactor blocks is 2784 MW.
The two reactor blocks are used for base load power supply and always run at full power during power operation. The nuclear fuel is replaced approximately every two years. The burned-out fuel rods are there for temporary storage in the spent fuel transports of nuclear power plant Shearon Harris. In 2002, the Brunswick-1 reactor block broke the world record for light water reactors with 707 days of uninterrupted operation.
The nuclear power plant supplies electricity to approximately one million households in the southeastern United States. Over 280,000 GWh have been fed into the power grid since it was commissioned . A visitor center is located about 1.5 km from the reactor facility and shows over 30 exhibits on the topics of nuclear energy , energy efficiency and electricity .
Data of the reactor blocks
The Brunswick nuclear power plant has two power plant blocks :
| Reactor block | Reactor type | Net power | Gross output | start of building | Network synchronization | Commercial operation | Shutdown |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brunswick-1 | Boiling water reactor | 938 MW | 990 MW | 02/07/1970 | December 04, 1976 | 03/18/1977 | (planned for 2036) |
| Brunswick-2 | Boiling water reactor | 937 MW | 989 MW | 02/07/1970 | 04/29/1975 | 03/11/1975 | (planned for 2034) |
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Reactor Database. World Nuclear Association , accessed March 17, 2009 .
- ↑ a b c d e Power Reactor Information System. International Atomic Energy Agency , accessed March 17, 2009 .
- ↑ NRC renews operating licenses for Brunswick steam electric plant for at additional 20 years. Nuclear Regulatory Commission , June 26, 2006, accessed March 17, 2009 .
- ^ A b Brunswick Nuclear Power Plant. US Government Energy Information Administration, September 10, 2008, accessed March 17, 2009 .
- ^ A b c Brunswick Nuclear Plant Safety Information. Progress Energy , accessed March 17, 2009 .
- ↑ a b Progress Energy receives extended federal licenses to operate Brunswick Nuclear Plant for additional 20 years. Progress Energy , October 22, 2004, accessed March 17, 2009 .
- ↑ Spent fuel. Progress Energy , accessed March 17, 2009 .
- ↑ Progress Energy Nuclear Plants Set Performance Records in 2002. Progress Energy , January 23, 2003, accessed on March 17, 2009 .
- ^ Progress Energy Brunswick Plant Visitors Center. Brunswick County Tourism Development Authority, accessed March 17, 2009 .
