Quad Cities Nuclear Generating Station

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NRC Region Three
(Midwest)
Illinois
 Braidwood
 Byron
 Clinton
 Dresden
 LaSalle County
 Quad Cities
Iowa
 Duane Arnold
Michigan
 Donald C. Cook
 Enrico Fermi
 Palisades
Minnesota
 Monticello
 Prairie Island
Ohio
 Davis-Besse
 Perry
Wisconsin
 Kewaunee
 Point Beach


Quad Cities is a two-unit nuclear power plant located near Cordova, Illinois, USA on the Mississippi River. The two General Electric boiling water reactors give the plant a total electric capacity of approximately 1,700 MW. It is named for the nearby cities known as the Quad Cities: Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa, and Moline and Rock Island, Illinois. The Quad Cities plant is owned and operated by Exelon Corporation.

Unit 1     Nuclear system supplied by General Electric Company (U.S.)

Capacity
Net MW(e)
Generation
in 2003
Megawatt-hours
Capacity
Factor
Type
On-line
Date

License

Expiration Date
855
5,709,520
90.6 %
BWR
Dec. 14, 1972
Dec. 14, 2012
Unit 2      Nuclear system supplied by General Electric Company (U.S.)
Capacity
Net MW(e)
Generation
in 2003
Megawatt-hours
Capacity
Factor
Type
On-line
Date

License

Expiration Date
855
6,956,073
92.7 %
BWR
Dec. 14, 1972
Dec. 14, 2012

BWR= Boiling Water Reactor

Note:  Unit 1 was uprated in capacity from 762 net MW(e). 

[edit] Problems

  • March 5, 2002 – During an extended power uprate test designed to extend the power efficiency of aging BWR reactors the Quad Cities Nuclear Generating Station unit 2 (Illinois) began to shake itself apart. On March 29 the plant was manually shut down due to high vibrations causing leaks in the main turbine control system. Unit 2 had a restart on April 2, but vibration broke a main steam pipe drain line. The line was repaired and the restart resumed but by June 7 the main steam lines were showing unexplained aberrations. On June 18 it became obvious that the power uprate was causing damage so the power was reduced but the damage had been done. Once again the plant was taken offline for repairs on July 11. The problem was traced to a hole in the steam dryer - it was repaired and braced, then unit 2 was restarted on July 21, 2002. The steam dryer failed again on May 28, 2003 with a ¾ in x 9 ft (6 mm by 2.7 m) crack. These two failures have not deterred the NRC from continuning the EPU program and offering these extended power uprates to the other BWR . [1][2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/nuclear_safety/snap-crackle-pop-experimental-power-uprates-at-boiling-water-reactors.html
  2. ^ http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/commission/secys/2001/secy2001-0124/2001-0124scy.html

[edit] External links


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