Grand Gulf Nuclear Station
Cooperative Energy (10%)
1 × Forced Draft Auxiliary
1 × 1520 MWe ESBWR
84.50% (lifetime)
Grand Gulf Nuclear Station is a nuclear power station with one operational GE BWR reactor (General Electric boiling water reactor). It lies on a 2,100 acres (850 ha) site near Port Gibson, Mississippi. The site is wooded and contains two lakes. The plant has a 520-foot natural draft cooling tower. As of January 2023, the plant employs 675 people.[2]
Grand Gulf's reactor is the most powerful in the US and the 7th most powerful in the world,[3] [4] with a core power of 4408 MWth[5] yielding a nominal gross electrical output of 1443 MWe.
Grand Gulf is operated by Entergy, which also owns 90% of the station through their subsidiary, System Energy Resources Inc. The other 10% is owned by Cooperative Energy.
Units 2 and 3
Adjacent to the operating Grand Gulf station, is an unfinished concrete structure that was to be the containment for Unit 2, a twin to the existing Unit 1. In December 1979, staggered by construction cost, Entergy (then called Middle South Utilities) stopped work on Unit 2.
On September 22, 2005, it was announced that Grand Gulf had been selected as the site for a GE ESBWR reactor. For details, see Nuclear Power 2010 Program. This was to be Unit 3.
In 2007, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) issued an Early Site Permit (ESP) to Grand Gulf.[6] In 2008, Entergy and NuStart submitted a Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) application for a potential new nuclear unit at the Grand Gulf.[7]
On January 9, 2009, Entergy indefinitely postponed work towards the license and construction of Unit 3. In September 2015 the NRC withdrew the COL for the ESBWR unit, at the request of Entergy.[8]
Electricity Production
Year | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Annual (Total) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2001 | 946,566 | 827,395 | 943,421 | 373,230 | 769,005 | 886,934 | 921,701 | 577,561 | 892,961 | 939,180 | 909,769 | 936,159 | 9,923,882 |
2002 | 942,615 | 850,731 | 937,821 | 898,970 | 920,634 | 774,045 | 929,756 | 881,648 | 324,094 | 733,226 | 909,649 | 956,270 | 10,059,459 |
2003 | 913,462 | 834,804 | 958,592 | 725,835 | 939,541 | 910,173 | 945,844 | 943,499 | 905,510 | 951,060 | 918,863 | 955,273 | 10,902,456 |
2004 | 954,299 | 630,422 | 204,870 | 926,499 | 947,366 | 917,959 | 945,455 | 944,332 | 920,171 | 951,935 | 927,442 | 962,016 | 10,232,766 |
2005 | 960,091 | 764,933 | 962,587 | 925,347 | 948,825 | 915,437 | 941,316 | 926,900 | 517,061 | 352,002 | 926,522 | 936,825 | 10,077,846 |
2006 | 953,661 | 867,326 | 859,264 | 846,413 | 600,537 | 836,421 | 868,533 | 867,998 | 905,894 | 951,101 | 923,926 | 937,512 | 10,418,586 |
2007 | 949,348 | 853,823 | 470,576 | 478,499 | 740,277 | 908,575 | 945,593 | 770,366 | 434,552 | 946,499 | 916,109 | 944,567 | 9,358,784 |
2008 | 792,280 | 708,874 | 811,788 | 904,539 | 944,431 | 904,995 | 938,324 | 927,518 | 617,447 | 13,971 | 880,470 | 952,153 | 9,396,790 |
2009 | 947,301 | 859,709 | 937,261 | 903,564 | 935,134 | 897,343 | 925,096 | 925,987 | 891,679 | 935,897 | 912,378 | 927,166 | 10,998,515 |
2010 | 927,032 | 838,099 | 720,744 | 641,334 | 103,232 | 899,621 | 927,176 | 915,585 | 902,584 | 932,927 | 903,900 | 931,007 | 9,643,241 |
2011 | 916,397 | 811,767 | 905,744 | 861,059 | 904,637 | 794,883 | 878,144 | 887,012 | 872,837 | 886,627 | 734,647 | 883,035 | 10,336,789 |
2012 | 896,989 | 536,825 | -7,775 | -6,737 | -10,447 | 271,292 | 899,636 | 971,194 | 1,000,457 | 1,077,666 | 996,207 | 670,827 | 7,296,134 |
2013 | 311,378 | 954,564 | 1,069,948 | 1,030,120 | 1,066,904 | 983,340 | 978,908 | 878,096 | 990,253 | 697,135 | 850,641 | 1,053,222 | 10,864,509 |
2014 | 1,008,823 | 292,730 | 138,072 | 778,925 | 1,032,810 | 937,411 | 967,125 | 965,377 | 994,435 | 1,048,219 | 1,035,260 | 1,052,996 | 10,252,183 |
2015 | 1,029,720 | 586,059 | 1,057,543 | 974,571 | 1,047,768 | 971,407 | 1,030,521 | 1,004,044 | 967,470 | 1,049,136 | 986,999 | 1,009,350 | 11,714,588 |
2016 | 1,013,775 | 611,185 | 3,560 | 964,026 | 1,064,006 | 704,577 | 294,454 | 1,045,677 | 236,051 | -13,622 | -12,913 | -13,504 | 5,897,272 |
2017 | -13,018 | 725,378 | 994,890 | 360,908 | 1,033,296 | 973,559 | 861,051 | 796,529 | -14,481 | 844,226 | 485,966 | 316,344 | 7,364,648 |
2018 | 502,875 | 649,325 | 1,035,677 | 189,417 | -5,898 | -6,427 | 129,490 | 867,532 | 725,282 | 1,051,752 | 1,004,849 | 775,596 | 6,919,470 |
2019 | 1,050,888 | 802,699 | 1,029,762 | 944,497 | 714,750 | 1,018,894 | 1,044,043 | 1,045,968 | 944,263 | 1,056,678 | 511,651 | 868,421 | 11,032,514 |
2020 | 1,036,228 | 746,816 | -4,509 | -7,062 | 409 | 772,960 | 935,853 | 297,805 | 880,380 | 868,888 | 145,989 | 797,177 | 6,470,934 |
2021 | 1,037,173 | 961,328 | 1,056,392 | 647,047 | 969,219 | 1,015,771 | 1,020,360 | 1,045,211 | 989,338 | 1,001,905 | 1,030,001 | 998,313 | 11,772,058 |
2022 | 1,059,368 | 871,081 | 0 | 0 | 910,407 | 1,004,532 | 165,636 | 646,908 | 1,012,974 | 1,021,251 | 6,692,157 | ||
2023 |
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.[10]
The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Grand Gulf was 6,572, a decrease of 18.6 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 321,400, a decrease of 0.4 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Port Gibson (5 miles to city center), Vicksburg (25 miles).[11] Alcorn State University is 25 miles southwest of the plant.
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 Grand Gulf was 1 in 83,333, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[12][13]
Release of low levels of tritium into Mississippi River
After heavy rains in late April 2011, workers were pumping standing water collected in the abandoned, never-completed Unit 2 turbine building into the Mississippi River. Detectors sounded alarms at the presence of tritium in the water, and the pumping was stopped. The accidental release was reported to the Mississippi Health Department and the NRC. As of the dates of the news reports, it was unknown both how much tritium had entered the river and how the tritium had collected in the standing water, given that Unit 2 was not an operational reactor and had never been completed. It is unknown how much tritium entered the river because samples were not taken at the leak time. The NRC is investigating to find the source of the leak.[14][15][16]
Tritium is a very low level beta emitter with an approximate half-life of 12.3 years and it cannot penetrate the outer dead layer of skin. The main concern with this isotope is inhalation or ingestion.[17]
See also
- US energy policy
- Energy Policy Act of 2005 (plans before 2009 were influenced by the energy policy of George W. Bush)
- Entergy Nuclear - Grand Gulf Nuclear Station
- NRC environmental assessment related to the Grand Gulf extended power uprate
- NRC environmental assessment related to Grand Gulf’s license renewal
Notes
- ^ "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
- ^ "Grand Gulf Nuclear Station | Entergy Nuclear | We Power Life". www.entergy-nuclear.com. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
- ^ "Nuclear Safety: Unusual Event at Grand Gulf & What It Means - Nuclear Energy Info". Nuclear Energy, Reactor and Radiation Facts. Fairewinds Energy Education. 2021-01-13. Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved 2021-01-14.
- ^ "Global nuclear reactors by gross capacity 2020".
- ^ "Approved applications for EPU". U.S. NRC. 2012-09-25. Retrieved 2012-12-04.
- ^ "Second US site gains new build permit". World Nuclear News. 2007-03-28. Archived from the original on 2008-10-14. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
- ^ "New COL filed; other US applications progressing". World Nuclear News. 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2008-08-29.
- ^ "US Entergy formally drops ESBWR application". Nuclear Engineering International. 24 September 2015. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
- ^ "Electricity Data Browser". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
- ^ "NRC: Backgrounder on Emergency Preparedness for Nuclear Power Plants". Archived from the original on 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2012-02-08.
- ^ "Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors". NBC News. 2011-04-14. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
- ^ "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk". NBC News. 2011-03-16. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Associated Press via Picayune Item, "Grand Gulf checks leak of tritium to Miss. River", May 11, 2011 "Grand Gulf checks leak of tritium to Miss. River » State News » the Picayune Item". Archived from the original on 2012-03-18. Retrieved 2011-05-12. Accessed May 12, 2011
- ^ "Tritium released by Grand Gulf still not measured", Sun Herald, May 11, 2011 http://www.sunherald.com/2011/05/09/3096784/tritium-released-by-grand-gulf.html Archived 2011-05-18 at the Wayback Machine Accessed May 12, 2011
- ^ Cooper, Kevin (2011-05-04). "Radioactive water released into river at Grand Gulf". Mississippi's Best Community Newspaper. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
- ^ "Radiation Safety Tools & Resources | Yale Environmental Health & Safety". ehs.yale.edu. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
External links
- "Grand Gulf Nuclear Power Plant, Mississippi". U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). April 26, 2012. Retrieved 2014-08-16.
- "Grand Gulf 1". Operating Nuclear Power Reactors. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). 2008-02-14. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
- "Grand Gulf, Unit 3 Application". New Reactors. NRC. November 12, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
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