Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station

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Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station
Data
Location Lacey Township, NJ
Operator Exelon
Built 1965 – 1969
Start of commercial operation December 23, 1969
Reactors
Reactor supplier General Electric
Reactor type BWR-2
Power
Capacity 619 MW MW
Total power generation in 2007 5,077 GWh GWh
Average annual generation (last 5 yrs) 5,042 GWh GWh
Status Operating
Other details
License expires April 4, 2009
NRC region 1
Website
Oyster Creek

Oyster Creek nuclear power station is a single unit thermal boiling water reactor power plant located on an 800-acre (3.2 km²) site adjacent to the Oyster Creek in the Forked River section of Lacey Township in Ocean County, New Jersey. Oyster Creek Nuclear Power Station is the oldest operating nuclear power plant in the United States.

The facility is owned and operated by AmerGen Energy LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Exelon Corporation. The total generation capacity for the plant is 610 MWe.


Contents

[edit] Unit One

Unit One is a General Electric 610 MWe nuclear boiling water reactor (BWR-2). It first came online on December 1, 1969, and is licenced to operate through April 4, 2009. The reactor gets its cooling water from Barnegat Bay, a brackish estuary that empties into the Atlantic Ocean through the Barnegat Inlet.

[edit] License extension

AmerGen Energy and its owner, Exelon, are currently seeking a license renewal to operate for another 20 years. According to a survey commissioned by the operators, relicensing of the power plant is greatly supported by the majority of citizens living in areas surrounding the plant, and by local elected officials.[1]

However, some local opposition to re-licensing was evident at public hearings on the issue. On May 31, 2007, several hundred Ocean County residents attended the Atomic Safety Licensing Board (ASLB) hearing in the county administration building. At that meeting, many of the local residents were adamantly opposed to re-licensing of the nuclear power plant. [2]

The ASLB's decision on the May 31, 2007 hearing has led to a full public hearing on the issue of the monitoring of corrosion in the plant's drywell liner. The hearing is slated for September 24, 2007 in the county seat Toms River. [3] Also in May 2007, the state Attorney General's Office, on behalf of the state Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP), petitioned the federal Third Circuit Court of Appeals to compel the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to consider the potential for a terrorist attack as part of the criteria for Oyster Creek's licensing renewal process. [4] In July 2007, the NJDEP faulted both AmerGen and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for relying on environmental studies that were up to 30 years old at the time of AmerGen's relicensing application. The NJDEP refused to make a "positive consistency determination" for Oyster Creek, as required by the federal Coastal Zone Management Act. The positive determination is required for all applicants seeking to relicense an existing facility. [5]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Results of Public Opinion Survey Regarding Oyster Creek Relicensing
  2. ^ [Examiner, June 28, 2007, Oyster Creek's time is up, residents tell board, http://examiner.gmnews.com/news/2007/0628/Front_Page/016.html ]
  3. ^ [Asbury Park Press, June 20, 2007, http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070620/NEWS03/706200316/1007]
  4. ^ [Three Mile Island Alert, N.J. FILES APPEAL OF RULING ON REACTOR, April 26, 2007, http://www.tmia.com/News/NJSuesOverSecurity.htm]
  5. ^ [Brick Township Bulletin, July 5, 2007, http://tritown.gmnews.com/news/2007/0705/Front_Page/039.html]

[edit] External links


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