Catawba Nuclear Station

The Catawba Nuclear Station is a nuclear power plant located on a 391 acre (1.6 km²) peninsula reaching into Lake Wylie, near York, South Carolina. Catawba utilizes a pair of Westinghouse pressurized water reactors.

South Carolina is the third largest generator of nuclear electricity in the United States.Fact|date=January 2008 The Catawba plant is the largest in the State (although, with three reactors, the Oconee plant has the most nuclear capacity in the southeastern United States).

As a part of the Megatons to Megawatts Program Catawba is one of the plants planned to start receiving MOX fuel with the Plutonium supplied from old weapons programs. Because concerns of Nuclear proliferation are greater with fuel containing Plutonium, special precautions and added security can be expected around the new fuel.

Unrelated to this, the plant has a plan in place to build a concrete moat around the site. The moat is for security purposes in much the same way that moats of the Middle Ages were.

Ownership

*Unit 1:
** Operator : Duke Power
** Owners: North Carolina Electric Member Corporation (56.25), Duke Energy Corporation (25.00), Saluda River Electric Cooperative (18.75)
* Unit 2:
** Operator: Duke Power
** Owners: North Carolina Municipal Power Agency (75), Piedmont Municipal Power Agency (25)

ee also

*Duke Energy

External links

* [http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/at_a_glance/reactors/catawba.html DoE Page]