The Chooz Nuclear Power

Nuclear power

Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...

 Station lies in the municipality of Chooz

Chooz, Ardennes

Chooz is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France.The Chooz Nuclear Power Plant is located in Chooz.-Population:...

 in the Ardennes

Ardennes (département)

Ardennes is a department in the northeast part of France named after the Ardennes area.- History :The department is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was named after the Ardennes hills, which are located in northeast France, southern...

 department, France, on the Meuse

Meuse River

The Maas or Meuse is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea...

 in a panhandle

Panhandle

A panhandle is an informal geographic term for an elongated arm-like protrusion of a geo-political entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state.-Term:...

 protruding into Belgium, between the French city of Charleville-Mézières

Charleville-Mézières

Charleville-Mézières is a commune in northern France, capital of the Ardennes department in the Champagne-Ardenne region. Charleville-Mézières is located on the banks of the Meuse River.-History:...

 and the Belgian municipality of Dinant

Dinant

Dinant is a Walloon city and municipality located on the River Meuse in the Belgian province of Namur, Belgium. The Dinant municipality includes the old communes of Anseremme, Bouvignes-sur-Meuse, Dréhance, Falmagne, Falmignoul, Foy-Notre-Dame, Furfooz, Lisogne, Sorinnes, and Thynes.-Origins to...

.

The first reactor Chooz A, an early PWR design, was shut down in 1991 after an operational life of 22 years.

Two units of the N4 reactor design are currently operation, Chooz B1 and Chooz B2. Designed for a net power output of 1450 MWe

MWE

MWE may refer to:*Manufacturer's Weight Empty*McDermott Will & Emery*Midwest Express, an airline*Merowe Airport - IATA code*Multiword expressionMWe may refer to:*Megawatt electrical...

, power was uprated to 1500 MWe in 2003.

A fourth nuclear reactor, of the EPR

European Pressurized Reactor

The EPR is a third generation pressurized water reactor design. It has been designed and developed mainly by Framatome , Electricité de France in France, and Siemens AG in Germany...

 type, is under study by EDF

Électricité de France

Électricité de France S.A. is the second largest French utility company. Headquartered in Paris, France, with €65.2 billion in revenues in 2010, EDF operates a diverse portfolio of 120,000+ megawatts of generation capacity in Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.EDF is one of...

.

The plant employs around 700 full time workers.

The Chooz reactors were a source of neutrinos

Neutrino

A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...

 for the CHOOZ neutrino oscillation experiment; a new experiment, Double Chooz

Double Chooz

Double Chooz is a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Chooz, France. Its goal is to measure or set a limit on θ13, a neutrino oscillation parameter responsible for changing electron neutrinos into other neutrinos. The experiment uses reactors of the Chooz Nuclear Power Plant as a...

, is currently operating nearby.

Reactors

Unit	Type	Net power	Total power	Construction start	Construction finish	Commercial operation	Shut down
Chooz - A (Ardennes)	PWR 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...	310 MW	320 MW	01.01.1962	03.04.1967	15.04.1967	30.10.1991
Chooz - B 1	PWR 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...	1500 MW	1560 MW	01.01.1984	30.08.1996	15.05.2000
Chooz - B 2	PWR 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...	1500 MW	1560 MW	31.12.1985	10.04.1997	29.09.2000