| Crystal River Nuclear Plant | |
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The power plant complex of Crystal River, on the right of the cooling towers is the nuclear reactor (Unit 3) |
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| Country | United States |
| Location | Crystal River, Florida |
| Coordinates | |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | March 13, 1977 |
| Licence expiration | December 3, 2016 |
| Construction cost | $400 million |
| Operator(s) | Progress Energy Inc |
| Architect(s) | Gilbert Associates |
| Reactor information | |
| Reactors operational | 1 x 838 MW |
| Reactor type(s) | Pressurized water reactor (PWR) |
| Reactor supplier(s) | Babcock and Wilcox |
| Power generation information | |
| Annual generation | 6,673 GW·h |
| Website www.progress-energy.com/.../crystalriver.asp |
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| As of 2009-01-07 | |
The Crystal River 3 Nuclear Power Plant, also simply called the Crystal River Nuclear Plant, is a nuclear power plant located in Crystal River, Florida. The power plant is the third plant built (hence its name) as part of the 4,700 acre (19 km²) Crystal River Energy Complex which contains a single pressurized water reactor, while sharing the site with four fossil fuel power plants. The reactor is rated to produce 914 megawatts of electric power. It is a Babcock & Wilcox pressurized water reactor.
Crystal River was originally owned by Florida Progress Corporation (and operated by its subsidiary, Florida Power Corporation) but, in 2000, it was bought by Carolina Power & Light to form the new company, Progress Energy, which currently operates the plant. Progress Energy owned 91.8% of the plant; the remainder is owned by nine municipal utilities. On January 11, 2011, Duke Energy announced a $13.7 billion acquisition of Progress Energy pending regulator approval; after the merger, Crystal River 3 will become part of the largest utility in the United States.[1]
In September 2009 the plant was temporarily shut down to replace aging steam generators. During the upgrade, workers discovered a gap in the concrete containment dome.[2] The NRC investigated and found that the gap was caused by workers applying more pressure to the concrete than it could handle while cutting a hole through which to replace the steam generators.[3] The building did not have a door large enough to get the generators through.
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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.[4]
The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Crystal River was 20,695, an increase of 50.9 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 1,046,741, an increase of 32.4 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Ocala, (38 miles to city center) and Spring Hill (34 miles to city center).[5]
In September 10th, 2006 a magnitude 5.8 earthquake occurred 300 miles southwest of the nuclear plant, no damage occurred to the Crystal River Nuclear Power Plant from the rare quake. The odds of such a quake happening again in the near-term around Florida are low.[6]
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Crystal River was 1 in 45,455, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[7][8]