Arkansas Nuclear One (ANO) is a two-unit pressurized water

nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a electric generator, generato ...

located on

Lake Dardanelle Lake Dardanelle is a major reservoir on the Arkansas River in Arkansas, USA. and is an integral part of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS), which allows barge transportation from the Mississippi River to the Tulsa Port o ...

outside

Russellville, Arkansas Russellville is the county seat and largest city in Pope County, Arkansas, United States, with a 2021 estimated population of 29,338. It is home to Arkansas Tech University. Arkansas Nuclear One, Arkansas' only nuclear power plant is nearby. Rus ...

. Owned by Entergy Arkansas and operated by Entergy Nuclear, it is the only nuclear power facility in Arkansas.

Units

Unit One

Unit One has a generating capacity of 846

megawatts The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...

and came online on May 21, 1974. It is licensed to operate through May 20, 2034. Its nuclear reactor was supplied by

Babcock & Wilcox Babcock & Wilcox is an American renewable, environmental and thermal energy technologies and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets across the globe with its headquarters in Akron, Ohio, USA. Historicall ...

Unit Two

Unit Two has a generating capacity of 930 megawatts and came online on September 1, 1978. It is licensed to operate through July 18, 2038. Its nuclear reactor was supplied by

Combustion Engineering Combustion Engineering (C-E) was a multi-national American-based engineering firm that developed nuclear steam supply power systems in the United States. Originally headquartered in New York City, C-E moved its corporate offices to Stamford, Connec ...

. Unit Two is the only one that uses a

cooling tower A cooling tower is a device that rejects waste heat to the atmosphere through the cooling of a coolant stream, usually a water stream to a lower temperature. Cooling towers may either use the evaporation of water to remove process heat and ...

; Unit One releases heat into Lake Dardanelle.

Surrounding population

The

Nuclear Regulatory Commission The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the NRC began operat ...

defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of , concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne

radioactive contamination Radioactive contamination, also called radiological pollution, is the deposition of, or presence of radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases (including the human body), where their presence is unintended or undesirab ...

, and an ingestion pathway zone of about , concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity. The 2010 U.S. population within of Arkansas Nuclear was 44,139, an increase of 17.2 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within was 308,219, an increase of 13.3 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Russellville (6 miles to city center).

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 Arkansas Nuclear was 1 in 243,902, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.

March 2013 incident

On March 31, 2013, an industrial accident at the facility killed one person and injured eight other workers, including four seriously. The accident took place "in a non-

radiation In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. This includes: * ''electromagnetic radiation'', such as radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visi ...

area, and there was no risk to public health and safety." According to Entergy, the old

stator The stator is the stationary part of a rotary system, found in electric generators, electric motors, sirens, mud motors or biological rotors. Energy flows through a stator to or from the rotating component of the system. In an electric mot ...

of Unit One's

generator Generator may refer to: * Signal generator, electronic devices that generate repeating or non-repeating electronic signals * Electric generator, a device that converts mechanical energy to electrical energy. * Generator (circuit theory), an eleme ...

fell during an operation to replace it. The falling component ruptured a water pipe, causing water infiltration into the plant's switchgear, which knocked out power to all of Unit One and one train of Unit Two's electrical system, which was online at the time. The electrical failure caused an automatic shutdown of Unit Two. The plant's emergency generators started and restored power to the emergency systems of both units. Unit One was in a refueling outage. Emergency diesel generators, water pumps and feed water were functioning following a loss of all off-site power on Unit One, according to the NRC event notification. The plant was placed under an "unusual event classification", which is the lowest of four emergency classification levels for abnormal events designated by the federal

, which regulates American civil nuclear installations. One plant worker died, and ten other injuries required offsite medical treatment. The company released an official statement of condolence. Entergy announced that they would immediately commence repairs to Unit Two and hope to have the unit back online within several weeks. Entergy also acknowledged that Unit One would be offline for an extended time while the company surveyed the damage and established a timeline for repairs. The cost of the repairs was estimated at $95–120M, not counting additional costs to replace lost electricity from the reactors being down for four months. Both units were repaired, and started up on August 7, 2013 capable of returning to full power. During the recovery from the incident a specialist engineering company named Lowther-Rolton assisted with the recovery of the existing Stator and performed a "Technical Audit" (also called a "third-party review") of the engineering for lifting and installation of the new Stator to ensure safety of operations.

December 2013 incident

On December 9, 2013, Unit Two was taken offline due to a transformer fire in the site switchyard. The fire was contained without injuries or threats to safety.

References

External links

Entergy Nuclear - Arkansas Nuclear One

Arkansas Nuclear One, United States of America

NukeWorker

* * * {{Authority control Energy infrastructure completed in 1974 Energy infrastructure completed in 1978 Buildings and structures in Pope County, Arkansas Nuclear power plants in Arkansas Nuclear power stations using pressurized water reactors Entergy Industrial fires and explosions in the United States 2013 disasters in the United States 1974 establishments in Arkansas