Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Power Plant

The Edwin Irby Hatch Nuclear Power Plant is near Baxley, Georgia, in the southeastern United States, on a 2,244-acre (9 km²) site. It has two General Electric boiling water reactors with a total capacity of 1,848 megawatts. Previously, the reactors had a combined capacity listing of 1,759 MW. Unit 1 went online in 1974 and was followed by Unit 2 in 1978. The plant was named for Edwin I. Hatch, president of Georgia Power from 1963 to 1975, and chairman from 1975 to 1978.

Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Power Plant
E. I. Hatch Nuclear Power Plant near Baxley, Georgia.
CountryUnited States
LocationBaxley, Appling County, Georgia
Coordinates31°56′3″N 82°20′38″W
StatusOperational
Construction beganUnit 1: September 30, 1968
Unit 2: February 1, 1972
Commission dateUnit 1: December 31, 1975
Unit 2: September 5, 1979
Construction cost$3.214 billion (2007 USD)[1]
Owner(s)Georgia Power (50.1%)
OPC (30%)
MEAG (17.7%)
Dalton Utilities (2.2%)
Operator(s)Southern Nuclear
Nuclear power station
Reactor typeBWR
Reactor supplierGeneral Electric
Cooling towers6 × Mechanical Draft
Cooling sourceAltamaha River
Thermal capacity2 × 2804 MWth
Power generation
Units operational1 × 876 MW
1 × 883 MW
Make and modelBWR-4 (Mark 1)
Nameplate capacity1759 MW
Capacity factor94.30% (2017)
81.25% (lifetime)
Annual net output14,531 GWh (2017)
External links
WebsitePlant Hatch
CommonsRelated media on Commons

In 2002, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) extended the operating licenses for both reactors for an additional twenty years.

Ownership

The Hatch plant is operated by Southern Nuclear Operating Company, a subsidiary of Southern Company. Hatch's owners are:

Surrounding population

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.[2]

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Hatch was 11,061, an increase of 6.7 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 424,741, an increase of 12.0 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Vidalia (19 miles to city center).[3]

Onsite storage of spent nuclear fuel

Spent nuclear fuel is stored on-site in concrete casks. The Hatch Plant, a BWR, near Baxley GA is estimated by DOE, as of this year, to have generated 1,446 metric tons of spent fuel.

Seismic risk

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Hatch was 1 in 454,545, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[4][5]

References
  1. "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2012-02-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Bill Dedman, Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors, NBC News, April 14, 2011 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42555888 Accessed May 1, 2011.
  4. Bill Dedman, "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk," NBC News, March 17, 2011 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42103936 Accessed April 19, 2011.
  5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2011-04-19.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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