Palo Verde nuclear power plant
| Palo Verde nuclear power plant | ||
|---|---|---|
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| location | ||
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| Coordinates | 33 ° 23 '20 " N , 112 ° 51' 55" W | |
| Country: | United States | |
| Data | ||
| Owner: | Arizona Public Service Co. | |
| Operator: | Arizona Public Service Co. | |
| Project start: | 1973 | |
| Commercial operation: | Jan. 28, 1986 | |
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Active reactors (gross): |
3 (4242 MW) | |
| Energy fed in in 2018: | 31,106 GWh | |
| Energy fed in since commissioning: | 887,070 GWh | |
| Was standing: | December 31, 2018 | |
| The data source of the respective entries can be found in the documentation . | ||
The Palo Verde nuclear power plant near Wintersburg , about 100 km west of Phoenix , is currently the most powerful nuclear power plant in the USA . It produces around 30,000 gigawatt hours of electrical energy annually and thus supplies 1.5 to two million households in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas with electricity . There are three reactor blocks built by Combustion Engineering . The first two have a gross output of 1414 MWe , the third block 1346 MWe. Arizona Public Service is the majority owner and operator of the facility . Other shareholders are Salt River Project, El Paso Electric Co., PNM Resources, Southern California Edison, Public Service Co. of New Mexico, Southern California Public Power Authority, and the Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power.
history
Construction of the first reactor block began on May 25, 1976. For the other two units, construction began on June 1, 1976. The first reactor became critical for the first time on May 25, 1985 . The second reactor block followed on April 18, 1986, the third on October 25, 1987. On January 28, 1986 the first and on September 19, 1986 the second reactor block went into commercial operation. The third block went into commercial operation on January 8, 1988. In 2003 and 2005, respectively, a capacity increase of 2.9% was approved for each of the blocks. The operating license was extended in April 2011 from the original 40 to 60 years.
business
The site is far from any water supply needed to cool the fuel rods. Usually, river water is generally available in nuclear power plants for the cooling circuit and then fed back into the river. This nuclear power plant in a desert area is the only one that is not near the water. The previously treated wastewater from neighboring cities is used as a coolant.
Incidents
The cost of a fire on March 5, 1989 at a transformer at Palo Verde 1 , followed by an emergency shutdown of the reactor, is estimated at $ 16 million.
An incident occurred on November 3, 2007. A pipe bomb was found on an employee's pickup truck when he tried to drive into the facility. The 61-year-old engineer was arrested and said he was unaware of the explosives. According to the police, there was no danger to the nuclear power plant or the population, as the bomb could not have damaged the power plant. However, the self-assembled explosive device was functional. In the afternoon the cordon around the facility was lifted again.
Data of the reactor blocks
The Palo Verde nuclear power plant has three blocks :
| Reactor block | Reactor type | net power |
gross power |
start of building | Network synchronization |
Commercialization of essential operation |
switching off processing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palo Verde-1 | Pressurized water reactor | 1311 MW | 1414 MW | 05/25/1976 | 06/10/1985 | 01/28/1986 | |
| Palo Verde-2 | Pressurized water reactor | 1314 MW | 1414 MW | 06/01/1976 | 05/20/1986 | 09/19/1986 | |
| Palo Verde-3 | Pressurized water reactor | 1312 MW | 1414 MW | 06/01/1976 | 11/28/1987 | 01/08/1988 |
See also
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Alarm in Arizona - Bomb found in the nuclear power plant - n-tv.de
- ↑ Vicious circle: water shortage threatens global energy supply. Retrieved September 6, 2018 .
- ↑ Costs of failed nuclear power plant projects: Billions in investments without earnings. Retrieved September 6, 2018 .
- ↑ Power Reactor Information System of the IAEA : "United States of America: Nuclear Power Reactors - Alphabetic" (English)