Ginna Nuclear Generating Station
Encyclopedia
The Robert Emmett Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, commonly known as Ginna (pron. gun-NAY), is a nuclear power plant
located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, in the town of Ontario
, Wayne County, New York
, approximately 20 miles (32.2 km) east of Rochester, New York
. It is a single unit Westinghouse
2-Loop pressurized water reactor
, similar to those at Point Beach
, Kewaunee, and Prairie Island
. Ginna is one of the oldest nuclear power reactors still in operation in the United States, having gone into commercial operation in 1970.
The plant was named after Robert Emmett Ginna, a former chief executive of Rochester Gas & Electric, who was one of the nation’s earliest advocates of using nuclear energy to generate electricity.
Ginna is owned and operated by Constellation Energy Group, who purchased it from Rochester Gas and Electric in 2004.
The Ginna plant was the site of a nuclear accident when, on January 25, 1982, a small amount of radioactive steam leaked into the air after a steam-generator tube ruptured. The leak which lasted 93 minutes led to the declaration of a site emergency. The rupture was caused by a small pie-pan-shaped object left in the steam generator during an outage. This was not the first time a tube rupture had occurred at an American reactor but following on so closely behind the Three Mile Island accident
caused considerable attention to be focused on the incident at the Ginna plant. In total, 485.3 curies of noble gas and 1.15 millicuries of iodine-131 were released to the environment http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Fx18DjwySqIJ:www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/chrono4.htm+Ginna+Nuclear+1982+curies+485.3&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a and 1,690 gallons of contaminated water was lost from the reactor.
In 1996 the original Westinghouse supplied steam generators (including the one that was damaged in 1982 and repaired) were replaced by two brand new Babcock and Wilcox
steam generators. This project enabled an uprating of Ginna's output several years later and was a major factor in the approval of the plant's operating license extension for 20 years beyond the original license (originally valid until 2009).
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 Ginna was 66,847, an increase of 12.7 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 1,269,589, an increase of 2.1 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Rochester (17 miles to city center). Canadian population is not included in these figures.
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...
located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, in the town of Ontario
Ontario, New York
Ontario is a town in the northwest corner of Wayne County, New York, United States. The population was 9,778 at the 2000 census, and 10,136 at the 2010 census. The town is named after the Great Lake on its northern border.- History :...
, Wayne County, New York
Wayne County, New York
Wayne County is a county located in the US state of New York. It is part of the Rochester, New York Metropolitan Statistical Area and lies on the south shore of Lake Ontario, forming part of the northern border of the United States with Canada. The name honors General Anthony Wayne, an American...
, approximately 20 miles (32.2 km) east of Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
. It is a single unit 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...
2-Loop 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...
, similar to those at Point Beach
Point Beach
There are several uses for the term Point Beach, both in northern Manitowoc County, Wisconsin:*Point Beach Nuclear Plant, a nuclear power plant*Point Beach State Forest, a state forest...
, Kewaunee, and Prairie Island
Prairie Island
Prairie Island may refer to:*Prairie Island Indian Community in Minnesota*Prairie Island Nuclear Power Plant located nearby*Prairie Island Township, Merrick County, Nebraska...
. Ginna is one of the oldest nuclear power reactors still in operation in the United States, having gone into commercial operation in 1970.
The plant was named after Robert Emmett Ginna, a former chief executive of Rochester Gas & Electric, who was one of the nation’s earliest advocates of using nuclear energy to generate electricity.
Ginna is owned and operated by Constellation Energy Group, who purchased it from Rochester Gas and Electric in 2004.
The Ginna plant was the site of a nuclear accident when, on January 25, 1982, a small amount of radioactive steam leaked into the air after a steam-generator tube ruptured. The leak which lasted 93 minutes led to the declaration of a site emergency. The rupture was caused by a small pie-pan-shaped object left in the steam generator during an outage. This was not the first time a tube rupture had occurred at an American reactor but following on so closely behind the Three Mile Island accident
Three Mile Island accident
The Three Mile Island accident was a core meltdown in Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania near Harrisburg, United States in 1979....
caused considerable attention to be focused on the incident at the Ginna plant. In total, 485.3 curies of noble gas and 1.15 millicuries of iodine-131 were released to the environment http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Fx18DjwySqIJ:www.physics.isu.edu/radinf/chrono4.htm+Ginna+Nuclear+1982+curies+485.3&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a and 1,690 gallons of contaminated water was lost from the reactor.
In 1996 the original Westinghouse supplied steam generators (including the one that was damaged in 1982 and repaired) were replaced by two brand new Babcock and Wilcox
Babcock and Wilcox
The Babcock & Wilcox Company is a U.S.-based company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and facilities management services to nuclear, renewable, fossil power, industrial and government customers worldwide. B&W's boilers supply more than 300,000 megawatts of installed...
steam generators. This project enabled an uprating of Ginna's output several years later and was a major factor in the approval of the plant's operating license extension for 20 years beyond the original license (originally valid until 2009).
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 Ginna was 66,847, an increase of 12.7 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 1,269,589, an increase of 2.1 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Rochester (17 miles to city center). Canadian population is not included in these figures.