The North Anna Nuclear Generating Station is a
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 ...
on a site in
Louisa County,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, in the
Mid-Atlantic United States. The site is operated by
Dominion Generation company and is jointly owned by the Dominion Virginia Power corporation (88.4%) and by the
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative
Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) is an electric generation and transmission cooperative headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia. ODEC provides wholesale power to its 11 member electric cooperatives in the states of Virginia, Maryland, and D ...
(11.6%).
The plant has two
Westinghouse pressurized water reactor
A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water nuclear reactor. PWRs constitute the large majority of the world's nuclear power plants (with notable exceptions being the UK, Japan and Canada). In a PWR, the primary coolant (water) i ...
s which went on-line in 1978 and 1980, respectively. Together the reactors generate 1.79 gigawatts of power, which is distributed mainly to the greater
Richmond
Richmond most often refers to:
* Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States
* Richmond, London, a part of London
* Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England
* Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada
* Richmond, California, ...
area and to
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several counties and independent cities in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is a widespread region radiating westward and southward from Washington, D.C. Wit ...
. In March 2003, 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 ...
approved 20 year license extensions for both Units 1 & 2.
An artificial lake,
Lake Anna
Lake Anna is one of the largest freshwater inland reservoirs in Virginia, covering an area of , and located south of Washington, D.C., in Louisa and Spotsylvania counties (and partially in Orange County at the northern tip). The lake is easily ...
, was constructed on the
North Anna River
The North Anna River is a principal tributary of the Pamunkey River, about long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 in central Virginia in the United States. ...
to provide a reservoir of water coolant for use with the nuclear plant.
Dominion Energy currently owns nuclear power plants in Virginia (North Anna,
Surry), Connecticut (
Millstone
Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones.
Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...
), South Carolina (
Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Generating Station), and Wisconsin (
Kewaunee). North Anna is similar in design and appearance to
Surry Power Station.
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 ...
(NRC) 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 North Anna was 21,396, an increase of 15.7 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within was 1,912,015, an increase of 22.6 percent since 2000. Cities within include Richmond ( to city center).
Unit 3
Dominion obtained regulatory permission from the NRC to build and operate an additional unit at the site in 2017. The additional unit 3 would be an
ESBWR.
[NRC to Issue New Reactor License to Dominion for North Anna Site , May 31, 2017]
/ref>
/ref> but the project was placed on hold later in 2017 before construction started.[
]
Timeline
Dominion Nuclear North Anna, LLC submitted its application for an Early Site Permit (ESP) for the North Anna site on September 25, 2003. The NRC issued the ESP on November 27, 2007. On the same day, Dominion submitted an application for a Combined Construction and Operating License
The Combined Construction and Operating License (Regulatory Guide 1.206, COL) replaced the previous Draft Regulatory Guide 1145 as the licensing process for new nuclear power plants in the United States. It is a part of a newer "streamlined" proce ...
(COL) for a 1,520 MWe
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 ...
GE–Hitachi
() is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...
Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR), designated as North Anna Unit 3.
In 2009, having failed to agree on terms for an engineering construction and procurement deal with GE-Hitachi to actually build the reactor, Dominion issued a new request for proposals from reactor vendors. In 2010, Dominion announced that it had selected a 1,700 MWe, US-specific version of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
is a Japanese multinational engineering, electrical equipment and electronics corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. MHI is one of the core companies of the Mitsubishi Group and its automobile division is the predecessor of Mitsubishi Mo ...
' (MHI) Advanced Pressurized Water Reactor (APWR
The Mitsubishi advanced pressurized water reactor (APWR) is a generation III nuclear reactor design developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) based on pressurized water reactor technology. It features several design enhancements including a ...
) for the potential Unit 3. The proposed reactor brought public protest. On August 7, 2008 six activists from the Peoples Alliance for Clean Energy were arrested at the North Anna Information Center for trespassing.
On October 29, 2010, Dominion president Tom Farrell told investors that Dominion had decided to slow its development of the proposed third reactor and wait until the combined construction permit-operating license (COL) was approved by the NRC before deciding to complete the project. This approval was expected in early 2013 but issued in May 2017.
In 2013, it was announced that the ESBWR design would be pursued after all. Dominion stated that it would amend its COL application to reflect the ESBWR technology by the end of 2013 and expected to receive the COL "no earlier than late 2015." Dominion noted that it had not yet committed to building a new unit at North Anna.
In October 2015, the Virginia Attorney-General's Office called for the abandonment of the project because of the cost burden on consumers.
On January 19, 2017, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that its staff had completed its Final Safety Evaluation Report for a Combined License for the proposed reactor. The report concluded there are no safety aspects that would preclude issuing the license for the construction and operation of the new reactor. On May 31, 2017, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it had authorized the issuance of a Combined License for North Anna. The license granted permission to build and operate an ESBWR design at the site. The license contained conditions, including specific actions associated with the NRC's post-Fukushima requirements for Mitigation Strategies and Spent Fuel Pool Instrumentation, and a pre-startup schedule for post-Fukushima aspects of the new reactor's emergency preparedness plans and procedures.
On September 6, 2017, Dominion Energy paused development activities related to North Anna Unit 3, a decision that nuclear consultant Jim Little suggests may have been due to market conditions and competition from natural gas. Since the federal construction and operating license is valid for 20 years, Dominion Energy may opt to resume the project if economic prospects for the plant improve within that period.
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 North Anna was 1 in 22,727, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.
According to the USGS, two distinct seismic zones are located in Virginia. The Central Virginia Seismic Zone and the Giles County Seismic Zone. Both of these zones produce recurrent small earthquakes at least every few years. The North Anna Nuclear Generating Station, located 40 miles northwest of Richmond, lies within the Central Virginia Seismic Zone.
Known fault lines
During the construction of original nuclear reactors at North Anna, the utility learned of fault lines within the construction site of the proposed plants from its outside independent engineering firm, Stone & Webster, who the utility had hired to assess the proposed nuclear plant locations. The government fined the utility $32,000.00 for concealing this information.
According to the ''Huffington Post'', this 1977 Justice Department memo "..focused on how the power company and federal regulatory officials went to efforts to not make public the knowledge of geologic faulting at North Anna. " rtually the entire Office of Regulation of the uclear Regulator Commission was.. well aware of the fault and determined not to take any immediate action," according to the memo. A government attorney, Bradford Whitman, did not recommend prosecution at the time, but the power company was eventually fined $32,500 for making false statements during the licensing process, according to the DOJ memo."
Incidents
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission extended the operating licenses of these plants for an additional 20 years in 2003.
2011 Virginia earthquake
At 1:51pm on August 23, 2011, a 5.8 magnitude earthquake occurred, centered south of Mineral, Virginia
Mineral is a town in Louisa County, Virginia, United States. The population was 467 at the 2010 census.
History
Mineral was originally known as Tolersville,
but adopted its current name when it incorporated in 1902 due to the mining industry t ...
, eleven miles from the North Anna Nuclear Station. The Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
reported the quake "was felt as far north as Rhode Island, New York City and Martha's Vineyard, Mass." The reactors automatically shut down and, because of a loss of offsite power, four diesel generators started up to supply electricity to safety systems. The plant reported an "Alert" status, the second lowest level of four NRC emergency classifications, until 11:16am on August 24, 2011. One of the generators suffered a coolant leak and stopped working. A fifth standby generator was activated to replace the broken unit, which was repaired. Offsite power was restored later on August 23. Dominion also reported that the aftershocks did not affect the power plant. Also on August 24, Dominion announced that it had ended the
Notice of Unusual Event
, the least serious of the NRC emergency classifications, at the North Anna Power Station following inspection of equipment susceptible to seismic activity. However the plant was not restarted, pending NRC permission, until November.[
After the Fukushima disaster had occurred six months prior, the Virginia earthquake prompted public fears of a similar nuclear accident at North Anna. According to local Virginia media station, WHSV, "The two North Anna reactors are among 27 in the eastern and central U.S. that may need upgrades because those plants are more likely to get hit with an earthquake larger than the one on which their design was based, according to a preliminary Nuclear Regulatory Commission review." Dominion has publicly stated that on-site, spent-nuclear-fuel long-term storage canisters shifted during the earthquake along with various building cracks, all while maintaining such damage does not represent unsafe operating conditions.
After more than two months of inspections, NRC permitted restart in November 2011.][Dominion News, Dominion Virginia Power Begins Restart of North Anna Power Station]
November 11, 2011. Retrieved 2011-12-20 As of December 20, 2011, both units at North Anna Power Station have restarted and are operating at full power.
17 February 2012
On-site groundwater was found to contain a high level of tritium
Tritium ( or , ) or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with half-life about 12 years. The nucleus of tritium (t, sometimes called a ''triton'') contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus o ...
. The source of the tritium
Tritium ( or , ) or hydrogen-3 (symbol T or H) is a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen with half-life about 12 years. The nucleus of tritium (t, sometimes called a ''triton'') contains one proton and two neutrons, whereas the nucleus o ...
leak was unknown.
14 December 2016
Some diesel generator fuel oil was believed to be released underground, the source of leakage was unknown.[
]
Reactor data
The North Anna Nuclear Generating Station consists of two operational reactors, two originally planned units were cancelled. One additional unit is planned.
References
External links
Dominion's nuclear page
*
{{U.S. Nuclear Plants
Energy infrastructure completed in 1978
Energy infrastructure completed in 1980
Louisa, Virginia
Nuclear power plants in Virginia
Nuclear power stations using Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactors
Nuclear power stations with proposed reactors
Greater Richmond Region
Buildings and structures in Louisa County, Virginia
Nuclear power stations using pressurized water reactors
1978 establishments in Virginia