McGuire Nuclear Station
McGuire Nuclear Station from Lake Norman
CountryUnited States
LocationMecklenburg County, near Huntersville, North Carolina
Coordinates35°25′57″N 80°56′54″W / 35.43250°N 80.94833°W / 35.43250; -80.94833
StatusOperational
Construction beganApril 1, 1971 (1971-04-01)
Commission dateUnit 1: December 1, 1981
Unit 2: March 1, 1984
Construction cost$4 billion (2007 USD)[1]
Owner(s)Duke Energy
Operator(s)Duke Energy
Nuclear power station
Reactor typePWR
Reactor supplierWestinghouse
Cooling sourceLake Norman
Thermal capacity2 × 3411 MWth
Power generation
Units operational2 × 1158 MW
Make and modelWH 4-loop (ICECND)
Nameplate capacity2316 MW
Capacity factor92.65% (2017)
83.40% (lifetime)
Annual net output19,622 GWh (2021)
External links
WebsiteMcGuire Nuclear Station

The McGuire Nuclear Station is a nuclear power plant located about 17 miles (27 km) northwest of Charlotte, North Carolina, on the state's largest lake, Lake Norman. It is a 32,500-acre (13,200 ha) lake created in 1963 by Duke Power for the Cowans Ford Hydroelectric Station. The McGuire units use the lake's water for cooling.

This plant has two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors and has a capability to produce 2,250 megawatts of net power, with a net generation of 17,514 GW·h in 2005. This represents 44% of the total nuclear power generation for the state of North Carolina.[2]

Ownership

McGuire Nuclear Station is operated by Duke Power Company and owned by the Duke Energy Corporation. It is named for William McGuire, who served as president of Duke Power from 1959 to 1971.[3]

License

The original operating licenses' dates of expiration were 2021-06-12 for Unit 1 and 2023-03-03 for Unit 2. In 2003, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) renewed the licenses for both reactors for an additional twenty years.[4]

Electricity production

Generation (MWh) of McGuire Nuclear Station[5]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual (Total)
2001 1,542,205 1,543,023 1,075,447 1,157,449 1,705,132 1,627,907 1,585,238 1,657,855 1,615,998 1,700,128 1,652,790 1,699,810 18,562,982
2002 1,720,599 1,373,595 830,371 1,656,298 1,701,986 1,625,265 1,653,989 1,591,877 1,139,792 1,369,842 1,654,342 1,696,392 18,014,348
2003 1,677,295 1,555,397 1,708,652 1,644,115 1,674,613 1,627,767 1,660,372 1,640,896 922,488 1,468,919 1,643,607 1,716,155 18,940,276
2004 1,720,206 1,608,164 994,293 1,307,751 1,698,415 1,619,740 1,657,977 1,656,104 1,614,716 1,302,418 1,336,295 1,716,456 18,232,535
2005 1,721,066 1,552,860 870,146 1,068,933 1,704,720 1,636,376 1,648,514 1,657,306 1,231,042 1,157,517 1,601,031 1,664,652 17,514,163
2006 1,726,667 1,559,972 1,722,683 1,660,821 1,689,810 1,627,989 1,661,375 1,659,402 1,206,963 840,463 1,312,906 1,722,776 18,391,827
2007 1,725,372 1,556,853 1,054,788 830,422 869,101 1,583,754 1,668,162 1,660,238 1,608,868 1,683,683 1,657,497 1,720,754 17,619,492
2008 1,720,783 1,613,034 856,332 1,152,310 1,707,822 1,521,020 1,662,112 1,662,554 1,321,089 845,261 1,281,613 1,726,069 17,069,999
2009 1,727,062 1,556,691 1,722,296 1,665,795 1,709,086 1,639,023 1,675,706 1,643,436 902,375 1,391,637 1,660,970 1,720,666 19,014,743
2010 1,704,695 1,554,693 1,191,998 1,089,408 1,704,631 1,499,515 1,682,901 1,681,986 1,630,701 1,713,528 1,668,698 1,727,672 18,850,426
2011 1,376,709 1,470,994 855,324 1,495,659 1,720,232 1,646,418 1,685,023 1,686,086 1,251,546 1,265,643 1,668,375 1,727,638 17,849,647
2012 1,729,792 1,618,311 1,722,555 1,668,306 1,717,612 1,650,553 1,686,214 1,686,019 1,190,891 852,694 812,435 1,632,770 17,968,152
2013 1,728,605 1,435,963 1,239,683 1,019,338 1,727,502 1,607,288 1,710,987 1,706,713 1,649,329 1,718,202 1,603,071 1,750,925 18,897,606
2014 1,747,971 1,579,363 1,459,052 983,382 1,742,798 1,669,664 1,711,587 1,710,640 1,163,774 877,727 1,201,272 1,738,975 17,586,205
2015 1,776,991 1,398,442 1,773,979 1,717,624 1,770,605 1,696,529 1,683,697 1,655,083 1,129,198 1,436,739 1,719,129 1,777,986 19,536,002
2016 1,774,577 1,663,224 1,396,671 1,221,969 1,769,044 1,694,452 1,727,341 1,722,675 1,676,758 1,750,810 1,713,224 1,773,544 19,884,289
2017 1,772,980 1,452,409 1,349,302 1,057,863 1,763,952 1,698,398 1,733,716 1,732,498 1,441,760 1,290,731 1,721,139 1,780,788 18,795,536
2018 1,779,429 1,559,059 1,769,804 1,719,481 1,771,211 1,701,053 1,735,365 1,735,111 1,227,849 1,366,218 1,719,289 1,778,199 19,862,068
2019 1,777,069 1,604,776 1,482,067 961,560 1,693,934 1,692,657 1,736,020 1,732,188 1,677,292 1,749,550 1,709,575 1,771,567 19,588,255
2020 1,771,726 1,654,650 1,418,525 1,322,452 1,756,547 1,705,463 1,741,701 1,719,614 1,339,715 1,134,015 1,711,189 1,771,352 19,046,949
2021 1,772,921 1,484,690 1,764,204 1,711,926 1,760,108 1,692,278 1,730,004 1,721,533 1,108,602 1,424,276 1,714,327 1,777,245 19,662,114
2022 1,776,712 1,471,429 1,742,241 873,954 1,479,852 1,687,349 1,737,678 1,738,369 1,683,910 1,763,571 15,955,065
2023

Surrounding population

The NRC 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.[6]

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of McGuire was 199,869, an increase of 66.8 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 2,850,782, an increase of 23.3 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Charlotte (17 miles to city center).[7]

Ice condensers

The McGuire Nuclear Station uses ice condensers as part of its emergency containment systems. A nuclear plant ice condenser is a passive, static heat sink that relies on large quantities of ice to mitigate severe accidents. Ice condensers are designed to limit pressure in the event of an accidental steam release. This design allows smaller containment structures and reduced material requirements.[8]

Seismic risk

The NRC's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at McGuire was 1 in 32,258, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[9][10]

Stator replacement project

During 2014 McGuire Nuclear Station powered down one of its units to undergo a routine refueling outage, critical to the operation of the plant. This outage was particularly significant because McGuire performed a major evolution – the replacement of a generator stator. The stator is part of the electric generator and is among the largest and heaviest components in the plant, weighing approximately 1.2 million pounds. The work was carried out by Siemens Energy Inc. The lifting contractor was Sarens who used a structural temporary lifting system to remove the existing Stator and install the new Stator. A specialist engineering company named Lowther-Rolton performed a "Technical Audit" of the lifting and installation engineering to ensure safety of operations. Lowther-Rolton were the original developers of the Technical Audit system for load movement operations.[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  2. ↑ "North Carolina Nuclear Industry". Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Retrieved November 17, 2008.
  3. ↑ Charlotte Observer article on the death of William McGuire Archived 2012-08-20 at the Library of Congress Web Archives Retrieved August 16, 2012
  4. ↑ "NRC Renews Licenses for Catawba and McGuire Nuclear Power Plants for an Additional 20 Years". Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). December 5, 2003. Retrieved November 17, 2008.
  5. ↑ "Electricity Data Browser". www.eia.gov. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
  6. ↑ "NRC: Backgrounder on Emergency Preparedness for Nuclear Power Plants". Archived from the original on October 2, 2006. Retrieved March 14, 2012.
  7. ↑ Bill Dedman, Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors, NBC News, April 14, 2011 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42555888 Accessed May 1, 2011.
  8. ↑ "Maintaining Nuclear Plant Ice Condensers: A 'Cool' Responsibility". June 2018.
  9. ↑ Bill Dedman, "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk," NBC News, March 17, 2011 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42103936 Accessed April 19, 2011.
  10. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on May 25, 2017. Retrieved April 19, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ↑ "Construction Management Consultant". Lowther-Rolton. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
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