The Edwin Irby Hatch Nuclear Power Plant is near

Baxley, Georgia Baxley is a city in Appling County, Georgia, Appling County, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 4,942. The city is the county seat of Appling County. Histor ...

, in the

southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

, on a 2,244-acre (9 km²) site. It has two

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

boiling water reactor A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of light water nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is a design different from a Soviet graphite-moderated RBMK. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuc ...

s 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 Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was established as the Georgia Railway and Power Company and began operations in 1902 running streetcars in Atlanta as a successor to the Atlanta Consolida ...

from 1963 to 1975, and chairman from 1975 to 1978. In 2002, 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) extended the operating licenses for both reactors for an additional twenty years.

Ownership

The Hatch plant is operated by

Southern Nuclear Operating Company Southern Nuclear, headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., is a nuclear energy facility operators and involved in advanced nuclear technologies research. The company operates a total of six units for Alabama Power and Georgia Power at the Joseph M. F ...

, a subsidiary of

Southern Company Southern Company is an American gas and electric utility holding company based in the southern United States. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with executive offices also located in Birmingham, Alabama. The company is the second largest ...

. Hatch's owners are: *

(50.1%) (also a Southern Company subsidiary) *

Oglethorpe Power Corporation Oglethorpe Power Corporation is a medium-sized electric utility in Georgia, United States. Formed in 1974, Oglethorpe is a not-for-profit cooperative owned by the 38 electric membership corporations that it serves. The utility's headquarters are i ...

(30%) * Municipal Electric Authority of Georgi

(17.7%) * Dalton Water & Light Sinking Fund Commission (2.2%)

Surrounding population

The

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 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 was 424,741, an increase of 12.0 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Vidalia (19 miles to city center).

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.

References

* * * {{U.S. Nuclear Plants Energy infrastructure completed in 1974 Energy infrastructure completed in 1978 Buildings and structures in Appling County, Georgia Southern Company Georgia Power Nuclear power plants in Georgia (U.S. state) 1974 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Oglethorpe Power