The Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Power Plant is near Baxley, Georgia, on a 2,244-acre (9 km²) site. It has two General Electric boiling water reactors with a total capacity of 1,726 megawatts. Previously, the reactors had a combined capacity listing of 1,848 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.

The Hatch plant is operated by Southern Nuclear Operating Company, a subsidiary of Southern Company. Hatch's owners are:

  • Georgia Power (50.1%) (also a Southern Company subsidiary)
  • Oglethorpe Power Corporation (30%)
  • Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (17.7%)
  • Dalton Water & Light Sinking Fund Commission (2.2%)

Spent nuclear fuel is stored on-site in concrete casks. According to the National Academy of Sciences (National Research Council, Radiation Dose Reconstruction for Epidemiologic Uses, National Academy of Sciences Press. P.105), Chernobyl released about 1.89 million curies of Cs-137.

The Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Power Plant, a BWR, near Baxley GA is estimated by DOE, as of this year, to have generated 1,446 metric tons of spent fuel containing about 179 million curies. About 56 percent of the spent fuel inventory at Hatch is Cs-137. So the Hatch spent fuel contains approximately 100 million curies of Cs-137 -- about 52 times the amount released at Chernobyl.

Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Power Plant
Country United States
Locale Baxley, Georgia
Status Operational
Commission date Unit 1: December 31, 1975
Unit 2: September 5, 1979
Licence expiration Unit 1: August 6, 2034
Unit 2: July 13, 2038
Construction cost $934 million
Operator(s) Southern Nuclear
Architect(s) Bechtel

Reactor information
Reactors operational 1,759
(2 reactors)
Reactor type(s) boiling water reactor
Reactor supplier(s) General Electric

Power generation information
Annual generation 14,248 GW·h

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