Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Beaver Valley Nuclear Power Station
Nuclear power plant located near Shippingport, Pennsylvania From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Beaver Valley Power Station is a nuclear power plant on the Ohio River covering 1,000 acres (400 ha) near Shippingport, Pennsylvania, United States, roughly 27 miles (43 km) northwest of Pittsburgh. The plant is operated by Vistra Corp and power is generated by two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors. As of 2023, it is the fourth largest employer in Beaver County.[2]
Remove ads
Beaver Valley 1 was used as the reference design for the French nuclear plant in Fessenheim.[3]
In 2018, the previous owner FirstEnergy Solutions filed for bankruptcy and announced the plant would begin deactivation by 2021. However, upon emergence from bankruptcy in 2020 as new owner Energy Harbor, the shutdown of the plant was reversed largely due to then Governor Tom Wolf's decision to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.[4] Energy Harbor and the power plant were acquired by Vistra Corp in 2024.[5]
Remove ads
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.[6]
The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Beaver Valley was 114,514, a decrease of 6.6 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 3,140,766, a decrease of 3.7 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Pittsburgh (27 miles away, located upriver from the station).[7]
Remove ads
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 Beaver Valley was Reactor 1: 1 in 20,833; Reactor 2: 1 in 45,455, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[8][9]
Electricity production
Remove ads
See also
- Shippingport Reactor - Located adjacent to the Beaver Valley Power Station
- Energy in the United States
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads