The Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant located on 525 acres (2.1 km²) located 7 miles east of Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee, and 20 miles north of Chattanooga, abutting Chickamauga Lake, on the Tennessee River. The facility is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).

The Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant has two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors. Sequoyah units 1 & 2, as well as their sister plant at Watts Bar, both have ice condenser containment systems. In case of a large loss of coolant accident, steam generated by the leak is directed toward borated ice which helps condense the steam creating a lower pressure, allowing for a smaller containment building.

Sequoyah's two units have a winter net dependable capacity of 2,333 megawatts, making Sequoyah the most productive of TVA's four nuclear plants. Sequoyah is the second-most powerful electric plant in the entire TVA system, second only to the Cumberland coal-fired plant northwest of Nashville. Following the restart of Brown's Ferry Unit 1, that plant again became most productive at 3,440 MW.

The operating license of Sequoyah's Unit 1 expires in 2020. Unit 2's operating license expires in 2021.

TVA constructed dry cask storage facilities at Sequoyah and purchased special storage containers for the purpose of storing spent nuclear fuel. The storage facilities have been approved by the NRC.

TVA's Sequoyah operating license was modified in September 2002 to allow TVA to irradiate tritium-producing burnable absorber rods at Sequoyah for the U.S. Department of Energy. The process of irradiating tritium-producing rods produces tritium, which is used in nuclear weapons. TVA began irradiating tritium-producing rods at its Watts Bar Nuclear Generating Station in 2003. As of February 2007, TVA had no plans to produce tritium at Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant.

Sequoyah Nuclear Plant
Country	United States
Locale	Soddy-Daisy, Tennessee
Status	Operational
Construction began	1969–80
Commission date	Unit 1: July 1, 1981 Unit 2: June 1, 1982
Licence expiration	Unit 1: Sept. 17, 2020 Unit 2: Sept. 15, 2021
Operator(s)	Tennessee Valley Authority
Architect(s)	TVA
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1148 MW 1126 MW
Reactor type(s)	pressurized water reactor
Reactor supplier(s)	Westinghouse
Power generation information
Annual generation	18,651 GW·h

The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is a nuclear power plant located on the Pacific coast of California. The 84-acre (34 ha) site is in the northwestern corner of San Diego County, south of San Clemente, and surrounded by the San Onofre State Park and next to the I-5 Highway.

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Unit 1 is no longer in service and has been dismantled. It is being used as a storage site for spent fuel. It had a spherical containment of concrete and steel with the smallest wall being 6 feet (1.8 m) thick. This reactor was a first generation Westinghouse pressurized water reactor that operated for 25 years, closing permanently in 1992. Units 2 and 3, Combustion Engineering pressurized water reactors, continue to operate and generate 1,172 MWe and 1,178 MWe respectively.

The nuclear power plant is operated by Southern California Edison. Edison International, parent of SCE, holds 78.2% ownership in the plant; San Diego Gas & Electric Company, 20%; and the City of Riverside Utilities Department, 1.8%. The plant employs over 2000 people.

San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
Country	United States
Locale	San Diego County, California
Status	Operational
Commission date	August 8, 1983 (Unit 2) April 1, 1984 (Unit 3)
Licence expiration	Unit 2: February 16, 2022 Unit 3: November 15, 2022
Decommission date	November 30, 1992 (Unit 1)
Operator(s)	Southern California Edison
Reactor information
Reactors operational	1 x 1172 MW 1 x 1178 MW
Reactor type(s)	pressurized water reactor
Reactor supplier(s)	Westinghouse (Unit 1) Combustion Engineering (Units 2 & 3)
Power generation information
Annual generation	17,204 GW·h

Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station is nuclear power plant located in Will County in northeastern Illinois, USA. The nuclear power plant serves Chicago and northern Illinois with electricity. The plant was originally built by Commonwealth Edison company, and subsequently transferred to Com Ed's parent company, Exelon Corporation.

Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station has two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors. Unit #1 came online in July 1987. Unit #2 came online in May 1988. The units are licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate until 2026 and 2027.

The recent power uprates at Braidwood make it the largest nuclear plant in the state, generating a net total of 2,242 megawatts. However the three largest Illinois nuclear power plants are nearly equal in generating capability as LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station is only 2 MW less in capacity than Braidwood and Byron Nuclear Generating Station is only 4 MW less than LaSalle.

Braidwood Generating Station
Country	United States
Locale	Will County, Illinois
Status	Operational
Construction began	1976
Commission date	Unit 1: July 29, 1988 Unit 2: October 17, 1988
Licence expiration	Unit 1: October 17, 2026 Unit 2: December 18, 2027
Construction cost	US$5.2 billion
Owner(s)	Exelon Corporation
Operator(s)	Exelon Corporation
Architect(s)	Sargent & Lundy
Constructor(s)	Commonwealth Edison
Reactor information
Reactors operational	2,330 MW (2 reactors)
Reactor type(s)	Pressurized water reactor
Reactor supplier(s)	Westinghouse
Power generation information
Annual generation	19,658 GW·h

The Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant is located in Philippsburg in Karlsruhe (district). It houses two units, the first a BWR and the second a PWR.

For the first unit, parts made for the cancelled Wyhl plant were used. The second unit was originally planned to be a BWR as well but plans later changed. Final disconnection for both units is scheduled for 2011 for unit 1 and 2017 for unit 2.

Philippsburg Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Construction began	1970
Commission date	May 7, 1979
Operator(s)	EnBW
Reactor information
Reactors operational	2 x 1192 MW
Power generation information
Annual generation	17,845 GW·h
Net generation	385,424 GW·h

Isar river, two base load nuclear power plants have been built, called Isar I and Isar II. They are 40 kilometers away from Landshut, between Essenbach and Niederaichbach.

Passive safety features

Consequentially shielding

The safety feature begins with the so-called “passive safety feature” which includes the radio-active materials in the reactor core (also by accidents) to protect them from the outside environment.

Safety in- and outward

Fuel pellets, Fuel-Rod casings, reactor pressure vessel, biological shield, steel containment structure and the outer ferro concrete mantle are six of the most important passive safety features.

Active safety features

The passive safety installations are supplemented by a lot of automatically working “active safety systems” whose reliableness is based on their plural existence and their autonomously working in separate rooms.

This is as necessary for the internal electric power supply as for the reactor cooling system, which guarantees the reliable thermal dissipation in every operating status, even when an implausible accident ingresses (for example a break of a primary coolant line).

It constantly controls and compares all the important key operating parameters of the plant and activates automatically the necessary protection measures (independent from the plant operating personnel) if a parameter reaches a limit value.

For example the protection system may initiate a rapid shutdown and aftercooling procedure.

On-site storage facilities

By law, all nuclear power plants are forced to store their atomic waste in on-site storage facilities near the power plant.

These temporary storage facilities have to be used until a final processing plant is built in a central location in Germany, to where all nuclear power plants would bring their atomic waste to. The usage of this storage is planned from 2030 onwards, so interim storage facilities are necessary.

The nuclear power plants Isar must also therefore have its own temporary storage facility, which has been under construction since 15 June 2004.

Work on the temporary storage facility at the Isar location was marked by protest actions from environmentalist and resident groups, which voiced concern about possible health effects.

The interim storage facility of Isar nuclear power plant is in use since 2007 and provides capacity for 152 fuel element containers.

Phasing-out of nuclear power

Concerns for the safety of nuclear power production were greatly increased after the Chernobyl accident in 1986, eventually leading to plans for its phase-out in certain countries. According to German Nuclear Phase-out regulations, Isar-I will be shut down in 2011, with operations in Isar-II continuing until 2021.

Isar Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Construction began	1971
Commission date	March 21, 1979
Owner(s)	E.ON
Operator(s)	Isar 1: E.ON Isar 2: 75% E.ON; 25% SWM
Reactor information
Reactors operational	2 reactors
Power generation information
Installed capacity	2387 MW
Annual generation	19051 GW·h
Net generation	406418 GW·h

The Novovoronezh nuclear power station is a nuclear power station close to Novovoronezh in Voronezh Oblast, central Russia. The site was vital to the development of the VVER design; every unit built was essentially a prototype of its design. On this site is built the Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant II.

In 2010 Novovoronezh-5 was shut down for modernization to extend its operating life for an additional 30 years, the first VVER-1000 to undergo such an operating life extension. The works include the modernization of management, protection and emergency systems, and improvement of security and radiation safety systems.

The Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant has five units:

Unit	Reactortype	Net capacity	Gross capacity	Commercial Operation	Shutdown
Novovoronezh-1	VVER-210 (prototype)	197 MW	210 MW	31.12.1964	16.02.1988
Novovoronezh-2	VVER-365 (prototype)	336 MW	365 MW	14.04.1970	29.08.1990
Novovoronezh - 3	VVER-440/179	385 MW	417 MW	29.06.1972	2016 planned
Novovoronezh-4	VVER-440/179	385 MW	417 MW	24.03.1973	2017 planned
Novovoronezh-5	VVER-1000/187 (Prototype)	950 MW	1000 MW	20.02.1981	life-extended in 2010

Novovoronezh Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Russia
Status	Operational
Construction began	1957
Commission date	December 31, 1964
Operator(s)	Energoatom
Reactor information
Reactors operational	2 x 417 MW 1 x 1000 MW
Reactors decom.	1 x 210 MW 1 x 365 MW
Power generation information
Annual generation	12,523 GW·h
Net generation	348,579 GW·h

The Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant is a 2-unit nuclear power plant located in Burke County, near Augusta and Waynesboro, Georgia. It is named after the Birmingham, Alabama-born war hero and, Alabama Power and Southern Company board chairman, Alvin Vogtle.

Each unit has a Westinghouse pressurized water reactor (PWR), with a General Electric turbine and electric generator. Units 1 and 2 were completed in 1987 and 1989, respectively. Each of Vogtle's units is capable of producing approximately 1,200 MW of electricity when online, for a combined capacity of 2,400 MW. Southern Nuclear lists the capacity as 1,215 MW each, for a combined output of 2,430 MW. The twin cooling towers are 548 ft (167 m) tall.

During Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant construction, costs skyrocketed from an estimated $660 million to $8.87 billion. This was typical of the time due to increased regulations after the Three Mile Island accident.

In 2009, the NRC renewed the licenses for both units for an additional 20 years, to the 2040s. Groundwork for two additional reactors is well underway.

Units 3 and 4

On August 15, 2006, Southern Nuclear formally applied for an Early Site Permit (ESP) for two additional units. The ESP will determine whether the site is appropriate for additional reactors, and this process is separate from the Combined Construction and Operating License (COL) Application process. On March 31, 2008, Southern Nuclear announced that it had submitted an application for a COL, a process which will take at least 3 to 4 years. On April 9, 2008, Georgia Power Company reached a contract agreement for two AP1000 reactors designed by Westinghouse (owned by Toshiba) and the Shaw Group (Baton Rouge, LA). The contract represents the first agreement for new nuclear development since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, and received approval from the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) on March 17, 2009. As stated by a Georgia Power spokesperson Carol Boatright: "If the PSC approves, we are going forward with the new units."

On August 26, 2009 the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued an Early Site Permit and a Limited Work Authorization. Construction activities have begun.

Plant Vogtle
Official name	Alvin W. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant
Country	United States
Locale	Burke County, Georgia,
Status	Operational
Commission date	Unit 1: June 1, 1987 Unit 2: May 20, 1989
Licence expiration	Unit 1: January 16, 2047 Unit 2: February 9, 2049
Construction cost	$8.87 billion (Units 1 & 2)
Owner(s)	Georgia Power (45.7%) OPC (30%) MEAG (22.7%) City of Dalton (1.6%)
Operator(s)	Southern Nuclear
Architect(s)	Southern Services and Bechtel
Reactor information
Reactors operational	2 x 1215 MW
Reactors planned	2 x 1117 MW
Reactor type(s)	4-loop PWR (active), AP1000 (planned)
Reactor supplier(s)	Westinghouse
Power station information
Generation units	General Electric (Units 1 & 2)
Power generation information
Annual generation	18,297 GW·h

The South Texas Project Electric Generating Station (STPEGS, South Texas Project or STP), is a nuclear power station southwest of Bay City, Texas, United States. The STP occupies a 12,200 acre (49 km²) site on the Colorado River about 90 miles (145 km) southwest of Houston. It consists of two Westinghouse Pressurized Water Reactors and is cooled by a 7,000-acre (28 km²) reservoir, which eliminates the need for cooling towers.

South Texas Project Electric Generating Station was the first nuclear power plant in Texas, beginning operation in 1988. In 1996, the two South Texas units were two of the top 20 electricity-generating nuclear units worldwide.

STP is unique in its design of the safety systems for the reactors. Each unit has three, rather than the customary two, fully independent emergency core-cooling systems (ECCS) and associated support systems. However the addition of the third safety train was not fully recognized and credited by nuclear safety regulations during the plant licensing process. The third ECCS system provides significant real-risk reduction, and the utility undertook efforts to gain regulatory recognition of these features. These efforts led in part to the plant's engineering staff becoming early industry leaders in analytical risk modeling and real-time risk management during operations and maintenance activities.

Ownership

The South Texas Project Electric Generating Station reactors are operated by the STP Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC). Ownership is divided among NRG Energy at 44 percent, San Antonio municipal utility CPS Energy at 40 percent and Austin Energy at 16 percent.

Future expansion of South Texas Nuclear Generating Station

On June 19, 2006 NRG Energy filed a Letter Of Intent with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build two 1,358-MWe Advanced Boiling Water Reactors (ABWRs) at the South Texas Project site. South Texas Project Partners CPS Energy and Austin Energy were not involved in the initial Letter of Intent and development plans.

On September 24, 2007, NRG Energy filed a full application with the NRC to build two Toshiba ABWRs at the South Texas Project site. This was the first full application to be submitted to the NRC since the year 1979. This proposed expansion of the South Texas Project will generate an additional 2,700 MW of electrical generating capacity, which will ultimately double the capacity of the current site. The total estimated cost of constructing the two reactors is $10 billion, or $13 billion with financing, according to Steve Bartley, interim general manager at CPS Energy.

In October 2009 main contractor, Toshiba, has informed CPS Energy that cost would be "substantially greater," possibly up to $4 billion more. As a result of the escalating cost estimates for units 3 and 4, in 2010 CPS Energy reached an agreement with NRG Energy to reduce CPS's stake in the new units from 50% to 7.625%. To that point, CPS Energy had invested $370 Million in the expanded plant. CPS Energy's withdrawal from the project put the expansion into jeopardy.

In October 2010, the South Texas Project announced that the Tokyo Electric Power Company, or TEPCO, had entered into an agreement with Nuclear Innovation North America (a joint venture between the reactor manufacturer, Toshiba, and plant partner NRG Energy) which was the largest of the two stakeholders in the proposed reactors, to purchase an initial 9.2375% stake in the expansion for $125 Million, and $30 Million for an option to purchase an additional stake in the new units for $125 Million more (resulting in approximately 18% ownership by TEPCO, or 500MW of generation capacity). The agreement was made conditional upon STP securing construction loan guarantees from the United States Department of Energy.

South Texas Project Electric Generating Station
Country	United States
Locale	Near Bay City, Texas
Status	Operational
Construction began	1975–89
Commission date	Unit 1: August 25, 1988 Unit 2: June 19, 1989
Licence expiration	Unit 1: August 20, 2027 Unit 2: December 15, 2028
Construction cost	$5.5 billion
Owner(s)	NRG Energy 44% City of San Antonio 40% City of Austin 16%
Operator(s)	STP Nuclear Operating Company (STPNOC)
Architect(s)	Start: Brown & Root Finish: Bechtel Corp.
Constructor(s)	Start: Brown & Root Finish: Ebasco Const., Inc.
Power generation information
Annual generation	22,179 GW·h

The Oconee Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located on Lake Keowee in Seneca, South Carolina, and has an energy output capacity of over 2,500 megawatts. It is the second nuclear power plant in the United States to have its operating license extended for an additional twenty years by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) (the application for the Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland preceded it).

Oconee Nuclear Generating Station has three Babcock and Wilcox pressurized water reactors, and is operated by Duke Energy.

Oconee was the first of three nuclear stations built by Duke Energy. According to Duke Energy's web site, the station has generated more than 500 million megawatt-hours of electricity, and is "the first nuclear station in the United States to achieve this milestone."

Oconee Nuclear Generating Station
Country	United States
Locale	Seneca, South Carolina
Status	Operational
Commission date	Unit 1: July 15, 1973 Unit 2: Sept. 9, 1974 Unit 3: Dec. 16, 1974
Licence expiration	Unit 1: Feb. 6, 2033 Unit 2: Oct. 6, 2033 Unit 3: July 19, 2034
Construction cost	~$500 million
Owner(s)	Duke Energy
Operator(s)	Duke Power
Architect(s)	Duke and Bechtel
Power generation information
Annual generation	20,565 GW·h
Net generation	>500,000

The Biblis Nuclear Power Plant is in the South Hessian municipality of Biblis and consists of two units: unit A with a gross output of 1200 megawatts and unit B with a gross output of 1300 megawatts. Both units are pressurized water reactors. The operator of this nuclear power plant is the German RWE ("Rheinisch-Westfälisches Elektrizitätswerk AG"), an electrical utility based in Essen. unit A began operation on July 16, 1974 and entered commercial service on August 25, 1974. unit B reached criticality on March 25, 1976.

On December 17, 1987 an incident (INES 1) occurred: Coworkers overlooked a stop valve that had not been closed. In order to close the armature a valve was opened. Radioactive primary cooling agent discharged for a short time into the annular space. Because the discharge of the reactor cooling water took place outside of the reactor containment, there was no feedback from the sump over the safety feeding pumps and/or cooling pumps. The incident became public one year later, when an article in an American technical periodical (Nucleonic Weeks) was published. There have been other incidents afterwards, none of which has been rated over 1 on INES scale.

In the course of a routine swap of unit A's fuel assembly in September 2010 a malfunction of its emergency system was detected. The automated switchover of the power supply from unit B to A proved broken, which meant that the ability to perform countermeasures would have been severely impaired in case of an emergency. Previous demands by Germany's Green party and the IPPNW to construct an external control stand were refused by Hessen's environment minister Lucia Puttrich (CDU) on the ground that both units could provide each other with energy should an incident occur.

Biblis Nuclear Power Plant is the partner power station of the Balakovo Nuclear Power Plant.

Biblis Nuclear Power Plant
Country	Germany
Locale	Biblis
Status	Operational
Construction began	1969
Commission date	August 25, 1974
Operator(s)	RWE
Constructor(s)	Siemens Hochtief
Turbine information
Manufacturer(s)	Siemens
Power generation information
Installed capacity	2,525 MW
Annual generation	15,306 GW·h
Net generation	439,973 GW·h

The Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant located on the coast near Nae-ri, Yangnm-myeon, Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang province, South Korea. It is famous as the only South Korean nuclear power plant operating CANDU-type PHWR (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors). Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power owns the plant.

The Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant site including Yangnam-myeon, Yangbuk-myeon and Gampo-eup was designated an industrial infrastructure development zone in 1976. Construction of Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant 1 started in 1976 and was completed in 1982. In the following year, the power plant began commercial operations. This PHWR reactor has a gross generation capacity of 678,000 kW. Wolseong reactors 2, 3 and 4 were completed in 1997, 1998 and 1999, respectively. Each of these reactors has a capacity of 700,000 kW. Wolseong Nuclear Plant has since operated successfully.

Shin Wolseong No. 1 and No. 2, two new (960 kW) OPR-1000 type pressurized water reactors, are currently in trials at the plant. They are expected to become operational in 2011–12. Wolseong Nuclear Power Plant supplies about 5% of South Korea's electricity.

The Rivne Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant in Kuznetsovsk, Rivne Oblast, Ukraine.

On May 14, 2009, a fire broke out in Unit 1 of Ukraine's Rivne Nuclear Power Plant. Personnel from the Rivne Plant were able to extinguish the blaze themselves. The reactor unit was shutdown for routine maintenance and repairs at the time of the incident.

Rivne Nuclear Power Plant has four reactors:

Station	Type	Net capacity	Initial criticality	Grid date
Unit 1	VVER-440/213	361 MWe	Dec 1980	Sep 1981
Unit 2	VVER-440/213	384 MWe	Dec 1981	Jul 1982
Unit 3	VVER-1000/320	950 MWe	Nov 1986	May 1987
Unit 4	VVER-1000/320	950 MWe	1984	Oct 2004
Unit 5 (suspended plan)	VVER-1000/320	950 MWe	N/A	N/A

The Nogent Nuclear Power Plant is located in the French commune of Nogent-sur-Seine, on the right bank of the Seine, in the west of the Aube department. It is located 60 kilometres (37 mi) to the west of Troyes and 120 kilometres (75 mi) south-east of Paris.

The Nogent Nuclear Power Plant houses two reactors each of 1300 MWe and the site has a total area of 100 hectares. Each reactor has its own cooling tower 165 metres (541 ft) high.

It produces about a third of the yearly electricity consumption of Île-de-France and employs around 700 regular workers.

Events in Nogent Nuclear Power Plant

• A fire drill on October 2, 2001 by the Nuclear Safety Authority of France confirmed that it took about 50 minutes between the time of the drill the time the second team responded.
• On September 30, 2005, water was accidentally sprayed on electrical cabinets; the reactor was automatically stopped. Nobody was injured and there were no radiation releases. It was classified as 1 on the INES scale.

Nogent Nuclear Power Plant
Official name	Centrale Nucléaire de Nogent
Country	France
Locale	Nogent-sur-Seine
Coordinates	48°30′55″N 03°31′04″E / 48.51528°N 3.51778°E / 48.51528; 3.51778 / 48.51528; 3.51778
Status	Operational
Construction began	1981
Commission date	October 21, 1987 (October 21, 1987)
Operator(s)	EDF
Turbine information
Manufacturer(s)	Alstom
Power generation information
Installed capacity	2,726 MW
Annual generation	19,331 GW·h
Net generation	304,690 GW·h