The Galena Nuclear Power Plant was a proposed

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 ...

to be constructed in the

Yukon River The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...

village of

Galena, Alaska Galena () (''Notaalee Denh'' in Koyukon) is a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska. At the 2020 census the population was 472, slightly up from 470 in 2010. Galena was established in 1918, and a military airfield was ...

. If it had been built in the projected timeframe, it would have been the first non-military nuclear power plant built in

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

to be utilized for public utility generation. In April 2008, Marvin Yoder, a consultant on the project, said that

Toshiba , commonly known as Toshiba and stylized as TOSHIBA, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Its diversified products and services include power, industrial and social infrastructure system ...

was planning to make the application to 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 ...

in 2009, and that if approval had been given in 2010 or 2011, the reactor could have been operational by 2012 or 2013. The company was also developing a 50 megawatt (electric) version of the reactor. The plan had been to build a 10-megawatt Toshiba 4S reactor that would have been buried underground, and fuel would have powered the reactor for 30 years. According to Dennis Witmer, an energy consultant with the Center for Energy and Power at the

University of Alaska Fairbanks The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for cla ...

, the project was "effectively stalled." Toshiba never began the expensive process for approval that is required by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Notes

References

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Technical documentsInformation from KIYU radio
{{coord, 64, 44, 26, N, 156, 53, 8, W, display=title, name=Galena, Alaska Buildings and structures in Yukon–Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska Cancelled nuclear power stations in the United States Nuclear power plants in Alaska