Palisades Nuclear Generating Station
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The Palisades nuclear power plant is located on a site of 432 acres (2 km²) near South Haven, Michigan. Palisades is operated by the Nuclear Management Company and owned by CMS Energy Corporation. It was built as a cost of $149 mllion.
Its single Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactor weighs 425 tons and has steel walls eight and one-half inches thick. The containment building has concrete walls three and one-half feet thick with a quarter-inch steel liner.
The Westinghouse Electric Company turbine generator can produce 725,000 kilowatts of electricity. It first generated electricity December 31, 1971.
On July 12, 2006 it was announced that the plant would be sold to Entergy. [1]
The plant's original licensee was due to expire on March 24, 2011. An application for 20 year extension was filed in 2005 with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It was granted on January 18, 2007. [2]
[edit] Spent Fuel Storage
Spent fuel rods are stored outdoors in nine 16-foot-tall casks, each containing 30 tons and resting on a concrete pad. This is a temporary solution until the spent fuel repository at Yucca Mountain opens.
[edit] Parts Replacement
Two faulty steam generators were replaced in 1992. This involved cutting a 28 by 26 foot opening through the 3.5 foot thick reinforced concrete wall. The removed units are buried in a large concrete bunker on plant property. [3]
During the upcoming Fall 2007 outage, the reactor vessel head is scheduled to be replaced.
[edit] External links
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