Beaver Valley Nuclear Generating Station
Encyclopedia
Beaver Valley Power Station is a nuclear power plant
covering 1000 acre (4 km²) near Shippingport, Pennsylvania
, 34 miles west by north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
.
The Beaver Valley plant is operated by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Corporation
. FirstEnergy is the holding company for Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, Toledo Edison, Metropolitan Edison, Jersey Central Power and Light, and the Pennsylvania Power Company.
This plant has two Westinghouse
pressurized water reactor
s.
While the Shippingport Reactor has been decommissioned, Beaver Valley Units 1 and 2 are still licensed and in operation.
defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16.1 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80.5 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.
The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16.1 km) of Beaver Valley was 114,514, a decrease of 6.6 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80.5 km) was 3,140,766, a decrease of 3.7 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Pittsburgh (27 miles to city center).
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
covering 1000 acre (4 km²) near Shippingport, Pennsylvania
Shippingport, Pennsylvania
Shippingport is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, along the Ohio River. The population was 237 at the 2000 census.-Nuclear power plant:...
, 34 miles west by north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
.
The Beaver Valley plant is operated by FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Corporation
FirstEnergy
FirstEnergy Corp. , is a diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Its subsidiaries and affiliates are involved in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity, as well as energy management and other energy-related services...
. FirstEnergy is the holding company for Ohio Edison, Cleveland Electric Illuminating Company, Toledo Edison, Metropolitan Edison, Jersey Central Power and Light, and the Pennsylvania Power Company.
This plant has two Westinghouse
Westinghouse Electric Company
Westinghouse Electric Company LLC is a nuclear power company, offering a wide range of nuclear products and services to utilities throughout the world, including nuclear fuel, service and maintenance, instrumentation and control and advanced nuclear plant designs...
pressurized water reactor
Pressurized water reactor
Pressurized water reactors constitute a large majority of all western nuclear power plants and are one of three types of light water reactor , the other types being boiling water reactors and supercritical water reactors...
s.
See also
- Shippingport ReactorShippingport ReactorThe Shippingport Atomic Power Station, "the world’s first full-scale atomic electric power plant devoted exclusively to peacetime uses," was located near the present-day Beaver Valley Nuclear Generating Station on the Ohio River in Beaver...
While the Shippingport Reactor has been decommissioned, Beaver Valley Units 1 and 2 are still licensed and in operation.
Surrounding population
The Nuclear Regulatory CommissionNuclear Regulatory Commission
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent agency of the United States government that was established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 from the United States Atomic Energy Commission, and was first opened January 19, 1975...
defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16.1 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80.5 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.
The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16.1 km) of Beaver Valley was 114,514, a decrease of 6.6 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within 50 miles (80.5 km) was 3,140,766, a decrease of 3.7 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Pittsburgh (27 miles to city center).