Shippingport Atomic Power Station

The Shippingport reactor was the first full-scale nuclear power plant in the United States.

The Shippingport Atomic Power Station, which consisted of a single nuclear reactor called the Shippingport Reactor, was located near the present-day Beaver Valley Nuclear Generating Station on the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, about 25 miles from Pittsburgh. The reactor first went critical on December 2, 1957, and was in operation until October, 1982.

The reactor was a pressurized water reactor capable of an output of 60 MWe. The reactor had originally been designed for a large aircraft carrier^{[citation needed]}, and was adapted to commercial use. In 1977, it was converted to a Pressurized Light-Water Breeder Reactor (PLWBR).

[edit] Construction

In 1953, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave his Atoms for Peace speech to the United Nations. Commercial nuclear power generation was cornerstone of his plan. The United States Navy was tasked to work with the commercial power industry. A proposal by Duquesne Light Company was accepted and the plans for the Shippingport Atomic Power Station started.

Ground was broken on Labor Day, 1954-09-06. President Eisenhower remotely initiated the first scoop of dirt at the ceremony^[1]. The reactor first went critical at 4:30 AM on 1957-12-02^[2]. On 1957-12-18, the first power was generated and full power was achieved on 1957-12-23^[2], although the station remained in test mode. Eisenhower opened the Shippingport Atomic Power Station on 1958-05-26. The plant was built in 32 months at a cost of $72.5 million ^[3].

[edit] Decommissioning

On October 1st, 1982, the reactor ceased operations after 25 years^[4]. Dismantlement of the facility began in September 1985^[5]. In December, 1988, the 956-ton (870-T) reactor pressure vessel/neutron shield tank assembly was lifted out of the containment building and loaded onto land transportation equipment in preparation for removal from the site and shipment to a burial facility in Washington State^[6]. The site has been cleaned up and released for unrestricted use.

The $98 million (1985 estimate) cleanup of Shippingport has been used as an example of a successful reactor decommissioning by proponents of nuclear power. However, critics point out that Shippingport was both smaller and a different type than most commercial nuclear power plants^[5]. In the United States, most reactors are about 1,000 MWe give or take a few hundred megawatts, while Shippingport was only 60 MWe.

[edit] References

1. ^ Historic Achievement Recognized: Shippingport Atomic Power Station, A National Engineering Historical Landmark (PDF) 4. Retrieved on June 24, 2006.
2. ^ ^{a b} ibid., pp. 9
3. ^ NRC:History. Retrieved on June 24, 2006.
4. ^ Shippingport. Retrieved on June 24, 2006.
5. ^ ^{a b} Nuclear Energy Decommisioning. Retrieved on June 24, 2006.
6. ^ Duerr, David (March 1990). "Lift of Shippingport Reactor Pressure Vessel". Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 116 (1): 188-197. 

[edit] External links

• Brief history of site Note: The picture above is the original site. This link shows the site after 1974 when Beaver Valley Units 1 and 2 were built adjacent the Shippingport Atomic Plant
• Shippingport and Eisenhower