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Catawba Nuclear Station | |
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Country | United States |
Location | York, York County, South Carolina |
Coordinates | 35°3.1′N 81°4.2′W / 35.0517°N 81.0700°W |
Status | Operational |
Construction began | May 1, 1974 |
Commission date | Unit 1: June 29, 1985 Unit 2: August 19, 1986 |
Construction cost | $6.594 billion USD (2007)[1] |
Operator | Duke Energy |
Nuclear power station | |
Reactor type | PWR |
Reactor supplier | Westinghouse |
Cooling towers | 6 × Mechanical draft |
Cooling source | Catawba River |
Thermal capacity | Unit 1: 3469 MWth[2] Unit 2: 3411 MWth[3] |
Power generation | |
Units operational | 2 × 1155 MW |
Make and model | WH 4-loop (ICECND) |
Nameplate capacity | 2310 MW |
Capacity factor | 97.98% (2017) 86.35% (lifetime) |
Annual net output | 18,585 GWh (2021) |
External links | |
Website | www |
Commons | Related media on Commons |
The Catawba Nuclear Station is a nuclear power plant located on a 391-acre (158 ha) peninsula, called "Concord Peninsula", that reaches out into Lake Wylie, in York, South Carolina, US. Catawba utilizes a pair of Westinghouse four-loop pressurized water reactors.[4]
As a part of the Megatons to Megawatts Program Catawba was one of the plants that received and tested 4 fuel assemblies containing MOX fuel with the plutonium supplied from old weapons programs.[5] Because concerns of nuclear proliferation are greater with fuel containing plutonium, special precautions and added security were used around the new fuel. The four test assemblies did not perform as expected and at present those plans are shelved.[6]