The Edwin Irby Hatch Nuclear Power Plant is near
Baxley, Georgia, 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 en ...
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 nu ...
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 from 1963 to 1975, and chairman from 1975 to 1978.
In 2002, the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) extended the operating licenses for both reactors for an additional twenty years.
Ownership
The Hatch plant is operated by
Southern Nuclear Operating Company, 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:
*
Georgia Power (50.1%) (also a Southern Company subsidiary)
*
Oglethorpe Power Corporation (30%)
* Municipal Electric Authority of Georgi
(17.7%)
* Dalton Water & Light Sinking Fund Commission (2.2%)
Surrounding population
The
Nuclear Regulatory Commission 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
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{{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