The H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, also known as Robinson Nuclear Plant, 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 ...

located near

Hartsville, South Carolina Hartsville is the largest city in Darlington County, South Carolina, United States. It was chartered on December 11, 1891. The population was 7,764 at the 2010 census. Hartsville was chosen as an All-America City in 1996 and again in 2016. Harts ...

. The plant consists of one Westinghouse 759 MW

pressurized water reactor A pressurized water reactor (PWR) is a type of light-water reactor, 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 ...

. The site once included a coal-fired unit that generated 174 MW (which was retired in October 2012 and demolished 2016) and a combustion turbine unit that generated 15 MW. The Robinson plant is named for H. Burton Robinson, a former executive vice president of

Carolina Power & Light Carolina Power & Light (CP&L), later doing business as Progress Energy Inc., was an electrical generation, transmission, and distribution utility based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The company was founded on July 13, 1908 as the result of the merge ...

. The plant is located adjacent to the Lake Robinson. The Robinson nuclear unit was the first commercial nuclear power plant in the southeastern United States and was then the largest such in the world.

Electricity Production

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, 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 Robinson was 32,675, an increase of 2.6 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within was 893,536, an increase of 10.3 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Columbia (49 miles to city center).

Environmental Impact Statement

NUREG-1437, "Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Plants," Supplement 13, Regarding H.B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit No. 2, was published by the

(NRC) in December 2003. This supplement documents the NRC staff's review of the environmental issues at Robinson, Unit 2 in support of

Company's (CP&L) application for license renewal of that facility. The supplement was prepared in accordance with 10 CFR 51.71. This supplemental environmental impact statement includes the staff's analysis that considers and weighs the environmental effects of the proposed action, the environmental impacts of alternatives to the proposed action, and alternatives available for reducing or avoiding adverse impacts. It also includes the staff's recommendation regarding the proposed actions.

Safety Evaluation Report

The NRC staff reviewed the Robinson license renewal application for compliance with the requirements of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 54, "Requirements for Renewal of Operating Licenses for Nuclear Power Plants," and prepared this report to document its findings. The document was first issued in August 2003, as "Safety Evaluation Report with Open Items Related to the License Renewal of H.B. Robinson, Unit 2". The report is available in ADAMS under accession number ML032370382. In March 2004, the report "Safety Evaluation Report - Related to the License Renewal of the H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit 2," was issued as NUREG-1785. The report is also available in ADAMS under accession number ML040200981.

Ownership

The operator and owner is Duke Energy Progress, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Duke Energy. Formerly the plant was owned and operated by

Progress Energy Inc Progress Energy, headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina, is a subsidiary of Duke Energy and prior to its merger with Duke Energy was a Fortune 500 energy company with more than 21,000 megawatts of generation capacity and $9 billion in annual re ...

and

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 Robinson was 1 in 66,667, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.

References

External links

Robinson operating license
* * {{U.S. Nuclear Plants Energy infrastructure completed in 1971 Nuclear power plants in South Carolina Buildings and structures in Darlington County, South Carolina Towers in South Carolina Nuclear power stations using pressurized water reactors Hartsville, South Carolina