Current Topics

Current or recent nuclear power related topics of interest to the general public include:

The purpose of this page is to provide some background on the issues and provide links to sites discussing the issues in greater detail.

Industry Consolidation

Over the past 5-10 years, the trend has been toward sale, or operating management transfer, of nuclear plants by smaller utilities to  larger utilities. In addition, similar sized utilities have merged. The net effect of these actions has been to increase the engineering and technical support resources available for the management of nuclear plants. Also, the trend has been to standardize procedures and operating practices across the various fleets of nuclear plants.

Design Basis  Reconstruction

Over the years, a number of architect-engineering organizations that designed the early large scale nuclear plants have either gone out of business or merged with others. As a result, the burden has fallen on the individual utilities to locally control the plant design. This has forced a significant workload on the engineering support staffs to keep the plant design and calculations current.

License Renewal

The original licenses for plant operation were issued for 40 years. Many plants will reach the end of the allowed license in the next 5 to 15 years. A number of plants have applied for extensions to allow continued operation. These applications are often filed 5 or more years before the end of the existing license. Such early requests allow time for the NRC to review the applications, related documentation, and ask questions and resolve any issues before the end of the current license term. The NRC has allowed a number of extensions. Concurrent with the approvals, NUREG-1437 Environmental impact statements and safety evaluations are issued. To date, safety evaluations and key NUREG documents issued include:

More recent safety evaluation reports may be found in the NRC Staff NUREG report index.

Recent Terrorism Events

The World Trade Center and Pentagon plane attacks have raised concern as to how nuclear plants are protected from such events. Suicidal attacks using airplanes fully loaded with fuel were not considered in the design basis. However, airliner crashes, nearby explosions, and fires have been considered in the design of most plants. The plant safety analysis and the Appendix R regulations govern these design requirements. 

In the 4 years since the 9/11 event, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has hardened the security of US civilian nuclear plants to greatly reduce the likelihood of them being a terrorist target. Each plant has multiple barriers, as shown below, to prevent intrusion.

Guards are stationed throughout the plants. Roving guards patrol the plants with automatic weapons. The Security page provides more detail.

Many visitor centers located on plant sites have been shutdown. However, interested school and industry groups can still schedule tours. The NRC has deleted a lot of plant-specific information from their website. However, they still have educational materials available in the students and teachers part of their site.

A number of visitors to this website have expressed concern about where the US nuclear plants are located. The NRC map and table below identify the locations of all plants. In addition, the table identifies the plant licensing docket number, plant type (BWR or PWR), plant owner (or operator), and NRC region that monitors the plant.

The page United States Reactor Information provides a more detaiiled imagemap. In addition, more detailed maps (e.g. with aerial views) are available under certain circumstances.

Plant Name Docket Number Reactor Type Location Owner/Operator NRC Region
Beaver Valley 1 50-334 PWR 17 MI W of McCandless,  PA FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. 1
Beaver Valley 2 50-412 PWR 17 MI W of McCandless,  PA FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Co. 1
Calvert Cliffs 1 50-317 PWR 40 MI S of Annapolis,  MD Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Inc. 1
Calvert Cliffs 2 50-318 PWR 40 MI S of Annapolis,  MD Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Inc. 1
FitzPatrick 50-333 BWR 8 MI NE of Oswego,  NY New York Power Authority 1
Ginna 50-244 PWR 20 MI NE of Rochester,  NY Rochester Gas & Electric Corp. 1
Hope Creek 1 50-354 BWR 18 MI SE of Wilmington,  NJ PSEG Nuclear, LLC 1
Indian Point 2 50-247 PWR 24 MI N of New York City,  NY Entergy Nuclear Opeations, Inc. 1
Indian Point 3 50-286 PWR 24 MI N of New York City,  NY Entergy Nuclear Opeations, Inc. 1
Limerick 1 50-352 BWR 21 MI NW of Philadelphia,  PA Exelon Generating Co. 1
Limerick 2 50-353 BWR 21 MI NW of Philadelphia,  PA Exelon Generating Co. 1
Millstone 2 50-336 PWR 3.2 MI WSW of New London,  CT Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. 1
Millstone 3 50-423 PWR 3.2 MI WSW of New London,  CT Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. 1
Nine Mile Point 1 50-220 BWR 6 MI NE of Oswego,  NY Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. 1
Nine Mile Point 2 50-410 BWR 6 MI NE of Oswego,  NY Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. 1
Oyster Creek 50-219 BWR 9 MI S of Toms River,  NJ AmerGen Energy Co., LLC 1
Peach Bottom 2 50-277 BWR 17.9 MI S of Lancaster,  PA Exelon Generating Co. 1
Peach Bottom 3 50-278 BWR 17.9 MI S of Lancaster,  PA Exelon Generating Co. 1
Pilgrim 1 50-293 BWR 4 MI SE of Plymouth,  MA Entergy Nuclear Generation Co. 1
Salem 1 50-272 PWR 18 MI S of Wilmington,  DE PSEG Nuclear, LLC 1
Salem 2 50-311 PWR 18 MI S of Wilmington,  DE Public Service Electric & Gas Co. 1
Seabrook 1 50-443 PWR 13 MI S of Portsmouth,  NH North Atlantic Energy Service Corp. 1
Susquehanna 1 50-387 BWR 7 MI NE of Berwick,  PA PPL Susquehanna, LLC 1
Susquehanna 2 50-388 BWR 7 MI NE of Berwick,  PA PPL Susquehanna, LLC 1
Three Mile Island 1 50-289 PWR 10 MI SE of Harrisburg,  PA AmerGen Energy Co., LLC 1
Vermont Yankee 50-271 BWR 5 MI S of Battleboro,  VT Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Corp. 1
Browns Ferry 1 50-259 BWR 10 MI NW of Decatur,  AL Tennessee Valley Authority 2
Browns Ferry 2 50-260 BWR 10 MI NW of Decatur,  AL Tennessee Valley Authority 2
Browns Ferry 3 50-296 BWR 10 MI NW of Decatur,  AL Tennessee Valley Authority 2
Brunswick 1 50-325 BWR 2 MI N of Southport,  NC Carolina Power & Light Co. 2
Brunswick 2 50-324 BWR 2 MI N of Southport,  NC Carolina Power & Light Co. 2
Catawba 1 50-413 PWR 6 MI NW of Rock Hill,  SC Duke Energy Corp. 2
Catawba 2 50-414 PWR 6 MI NW of Rock Hill,  SC Duke Energy Corp. 2
Crystal River 3 50-302 PWR 7 MI NW of Crystal River,  FL Florida Power Corp. 2
Farley 1 50-348 PWR 18 MI SE of Dothan,  AL South Nuclear Operating Co., Inc. 2
Farley 2 50-364 PWR 18 MI SE of Dothan,  AL South Nuclear Operating Co., Inc. 2
Harris 1 50-400 PWR 20 MI SW of Raleigh,  NC Progress Energy 2
Hatch 1 50-321 BWR 11 MI N of Baxley,  GA South Nuclear Operating Co., Inc. 2
Hatch 2 50-366 BWR 11 MI N of Baxley,  GA South Nuclear Operating Co., Inc. 2
McGuire 1 50-369 PWR 17 MI S of Charlotte,  NC Duke Energy Corp. 2
McGuire 2 50-370 PWR 17 MI S of Charlotte,  NC Duke Energy Corp. 2
North Anna 1 50-338 PWR 40 MI NW of Richmond,  VA Virginia Electric & Power Co. 2
North Anna 2 50-339 PWR 40 MI NW of Richmond,  VA Virginia Electric & Power Co. 2
Oconee 1 50-269 PWR 30 MI W of Greenville,  SC Duke Energy Corp. 2
Oconee 2 50-270 PWR 30 MI W of Greenville,  SC Duke Energy Corp. 2
Oconee 3 50-287 PWR 30 MI W of Greenville,  SC Duke Energy Corp. 2
Robinson 2 50-261 PWR 26 MI from Florence,  SC Carolina Power & Light Co. 2
Saint Lucie 1 50-335 PWR 12 MI SE of Ft. Pierce,  FL Florida Power & Light Co. 2
Saint Lucie 2 50-389 PWR 12 MI SE of Ft. Pierce,  FL Florida Power & Light Co. 2
Sequoyah 1 50-327 PWR 9.5 MI NE of Chattanooga,  TN Tennessee Valley Authority 2
Sequoyah 2 50-328 PWR 9.5 MI NE of Chattanooga,  TN Tennessee Valley Authority 2
Summer 50-395 PWR 26 MI NW of Columbia,  SC South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. 2
Surry 1 50-280 PWR 17 MI NW of Newport News,  VA Virginia Electric & Power Co. 2
Surry 2 50-281 PWR 17 MI NW of Newport News,  VA Virginia Electric & Power Co. 2
Turkey Point 3 50-250 PWR 25 MI S of Miami,  FL Florida Power & Light Co. 2