Dresden Nuclear Power Plant

Dresden Generating Station
Location of Dresden Generating Station
Country	United States
Location	Goose Lake Township, Grundy County, near Morris, Illinois
Coordinates	41°23′23″N 88°16′5″W / 41.38972°N 88.26806°W / 41.38972; -88.26806Coordinates: 41°23′23″N 88°16′5″W / 41.38972°N 88.26806°W / 41.38972; -88.26806
Status	Operational
Commission date	Unit 1: 1960 Unit 2: June 9, 1970 Unit 3: Nov. 16, 1971
Licence expiration	Unit 2: December 22, 2029 Unit 3: January 12, 2031
Decommission date	Unit 1: 1978
Operator(s)	Exelon Corporation
Architect(s)	Sargent & Lundy
Reactor information
Reactors operational	2 x 867 MW
Reactors decom.	1 x 210 MW
Reactor type(s)	boiling water reactor
Reactor supplier(s)	General Electric
Website www.exeloncorp.com/.../dresden_generating_station
As of 2008-11-19

Dresden Generating Station is the first privately financed nuclear power plant built in the United States. Dresden 1 was activated in 1960 and retired in 1978. Operating since 1970 are Dresden units 2 and 3, two General Electric boiling water reactors. Dresden Station is located on a 953-acre (3.9 km²) site in Grundy County, Illinois, at the head of the Illinois River, near Morris, Illinois. It serves Chicago and the northern quarter of the state of Illinois, capable of producing 867 megawatts of electricity from each of its two reactors, enough to power over one million average American homes.

In 2004, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) renewed the operating licenses for both reactors, extending them from forty years to sixty.^[1]

Surrounding population

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of 10 miles (16 km), concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne radioactive contamination, and an ingestion pathway zone of about 50 miles (80 km), concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity.^[2]

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Dresden was 83,049, an increase of 47.6 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 km) was 7,305,482, an increase of 3.5 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Chicago (43 miles to city center).^[3]

Ownership

Both units are owned and operated by Exelon.

Seismic risk

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Dresden was 1 in 52,632, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.^[4][5]

Notes

1. ^ "Dresden and Quad Cities, Nuclear Power Stations — License Renewal Application". U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). February 13, 2007. http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/dresden-quad.html. Retrieved 2008-11-19. 
2. ^ http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/emerg-plan-prep-nuc-power-bg.html
3. ^ Bill Dedman, Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors, msnbc.com, April 14, 2011 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42555888/ns/us_news-life/ Accessed May 1, 2011.
4. ^ Bill Dedman, "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk," msnbc.com, March 17, 2011 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42103936/ Accessed April 19, 2011.
5. ^ http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/Sections/NEWS/quake%20nrc%20risk%20estimates.pdf

External links

• "Dresden Nuclear Power Plant, Illinois". Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). August 22, 2008. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/at_a_glance/reactors/dresden.html. Retrieved 2008-11-19. 
• "Dresden 2 Boiling Water Reactor". Operating Nuclear Power Reactors. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). February 14, 2008. http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactor/dres2.html. Retrieved 2008-11-19. 
• "Dresden 3 Boiling Water Reactor". Operating Nuclear Power Reactors. NRC. February 14, 2008. http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactor/dres3.html. Retrieved 2008-11-19.