Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station

Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station
Hope Creek NPP, image courtesy of the NRC
Map
CountryUnited States
LocationLower Alloways Creek, Salem County, New Jersey
Coordinates39°28′04″N 75°32′17″W / 39.46778°N 75.53806°W / 39.46778; -75.53806
StatusOperational
Construction beganMarch 1, 1976 (1976-03-01)
Commission dateDecember 20, 1986
Construction cost$8.510 billion (2007 USD)[1]
OwnerPSEG
OperatorPSEG
Nuclear power station
Reactor typeBWR
Reactor supplierGeneral Electric
Cooling towers1 × Natural Draft
Cooling sourceDelaware River
Thermal capacity1 × 3840 MWth
Power generation
Units operational1 × 1172 MW
Make and modelBWR-4 (Mark 1)
Units cancelled1 × 1067 MW
Nameplate capacity1172 MW
Capacity factor103.81% (2017)
87.1% (lifetime)
Annual net output10,658 GWh (2017)
External links
WebsiteHope Creek Nuclear Generating Station
CommonsRelated media on Commons

Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station is a thermal nuclear power plant located in Lower Alloways Creek Township, in Salem County, New Jersey, United States, on the same site on Artificial Island as the two-unit Salem Nuclear Power Plant. The plant is owned and operated by PSEG Nuclear LLC. It has one unit (one reactor), a boiling water reactor (BWR) manufactured by GE.[2] The complex was designed for two units, but the second unit was cancelled in 1981. It has a generating capacity of 1,268 MWe. The plant came online on July 25, 1986, licensed to operate until 2026. In 2009, PSEG applied for a 20-year license renewal,[3] which it received in 2011 to operate until 2046.[4] With its combined output of 3,572 megawatts, the Salem-Hope Creek complex is the largest nuclear generating facility in the Eastern United States and the second largest nationwide, after the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona.

Hope Creek is one of three licensed nuclear power reactors in New Jersey. The others are the two units at the adjacent Salem plant.[5] As of January 1, 2005, New Jersey ranked 10th among the 31 states with nuclear capacity for total MWe generated. In 2021, nuclear plants generated 45% of the electricity in the state.[6]

In 2019, New Jersey began providing the state's nuclear plants Zero-Emission Certificates worth $300 million a year to keep them in service. The subsidy was ended in 2024, effective June 1, 2025, as the Inflation Reduction Act provides alternative tax credits to support clean energy.[7]

  1. ^ "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  2. ^ The Hope Creek Generating Station Archived 2007-10-25 at the Wayback Machine, PSE&G. Accessed September 15, 2007.
  3. ^ "PSEG seeks licence renewals for two plants". World Nuclear News. 19 August 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  4. ^ Caroom, Eliot (July 20, 2011). "Hope Creek's license extended by NRC - with conditions". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  5. ^ "NRC - Licensed Facilities by Region or State - New Jersey". US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
  6. ^ "Electricity Data Browser, Net generation for all sectors, New Jersey, Fuel Type-Check all, Annual, 2001–21". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  7. ^ Johnson, Tom (February 15, 2024). "BPU pulls plug on unpopular nuclear subsidy". NJ Spotlight News.