Kewaunee Power Station

The Kewaunee Power Station is a decommissioned nuclear power plant, located on a 900 acres (360 ha) plot in the town of Carlton, Wisconsin, 27 miles (43 km) southeast of Green Bay, Wisconsin in Kewaunee County, and south of the city of Kewaunee.

Kewaunee Power Station
Kewaunee Power Station
Kewaunee Power Station
CountryUnited States
LocationTown of Carlton, Kewaunee County, near Kewaunee, Wisconsin
Coordinates44°20′32″N 87°32′10″W
StatusDecommissioned
Construction beganAugust 6, 1968
Commission dateJune 16, 1974
Decommission dateMay 7, 2013
Construction cost$776.15 million (2007 USD)[1]
($992 million in 2021 dollars[2])
Owner(s)Dominion Generation
Operator(s)Dominion Generation
Nuclear power station
Reactor typePWR
Reactor supplierWestinghouse
Cooling sourceLake Michigan
Power generation
Make and modelWH 2-loop (DRYAMB)
Units decommissioned1 × 566 MW (1772 MWth)
Nameplate capacity
  • 560.1 MW
Capacity factor84.0% (lifetime)
Annual net output3,752 GW·h (lifetime average)
External links
WebsiteKewaunee Power Station
CommonsRelated media on Commons

KPS was the third nuclear power plant built in Wisconsin, and the 44th built in the United States. Due to falling electricity prices resulting from the falling price of natural gas, the plant ceased operation May 7, 2013.[3]

In 2022, a sale of the plant was approved by the federal government.[4] This was controversial because the sale affects what will be done with the trust money previously saved for the decommissioning, and who is responsible for any cost overruns.[5] Although all fuel had already been placed in dry storage as of 2017, as of 2022 some radioactive waste still needed to be disposed of and the facility had not been dismantled.[4]

History

The plant's original operator was Wisconsin Public Service and it was owned by Wisconsin Public Service Corporation (59%) and Alliant Energy (41%).[6] From 2000 to July 2005, the plant was operated by Nuclear Management Company, of Hudson, Wisconsin. The plant is now owned by Dominion Resources of Richmond, Virginia. In 2008, Dominion applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an extension of its operating license for an additional 20 years.[6] The license was extended until 2033.

On April 27, 2006, there was a small water leak at the plant, though no radioactive material was released.[7]

On October 22, 2012, Dominion Resources announced they would shut down and decommission the plant in mid-2013. Dominion's chairman and CEO said "the decision was based purely on economics. Dominion was not able to move forward with our plan to grow our nuclear fleet in the Midwest to take advantage of economies of scale". Lower natural gas costs and resultant lower electricity prices created an electricity market in which the plant could not compete. The plant came offline permanently on May 7, 2013.[3][8] Plans for decommissioning are uncertain: as a private owner rather than a public utility, Dominion cannot rely on charges imposed on utility customers by state regulators; however, the firm has a substantial reserve fund earmarked for this purpose and a cause of action against the Department of Energy for failure to remove spent fuel. There is also the chance that the energy market might improve due to economic or political changes.[3]

The SAFSTOR (SAFe STORage) nuclear decommissioning option was selected. During SAFSTOR, the de-fuelled plant is monitored for up to sixty years before complete decontamination and dismantling of the site, to a condition where nuclear licensing is no longer required. During the storage interval, some of the radioactive contaminants of the reactor and power plant will decay, which will reduce the quantity of radioactive material to be removed during the final decontamination phase. A reduced workforce will move fuel assemblies from the reactor into the spent fuel pool.[9]

On July 15, 2017, as part of decommissioning effort, the remaining fuel assemblies were successfully transferred to 24 Magnastor casks. Pool-to-pad work was completed in 23 weeks. The entire used fuel inventory from nearly four decades of electricity generation at Kewaunee is represented by the 24 Magnastor systems and 14 legacy Nuhoms systems.[10]

As of December 2011, the Kewaunee decommissioning trust had approximately $517M in funds.[11]

Dating back to 2001, peregrine falcons nested at the facility, near the top of the containment structure. At least 53 young were produced in that time (2.4 young per year). The nest was taken over by great horned owls in 2022 and has since been deconstructed.[12][13]

Electrical Generation (Historical)
Generation (MW-h) Kewaunee Power Station[14]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual (Total)
2001 374,958 338,738 360,422 374,078 366,191 338,420 368,694 365,908 271,320 0 0 303,281 3,462,010
2002 394,109 356,706 390,893 379,730 246,100 380,201 389,404 388,724 378,133 393,001 380,890 390,843 4,468,734
2003 395,017 340,614 393,504 39,977 233,410 383,826 395,677 398,345 388,429 402,479 390,525 397,324 4,159,127
2004 195,008 363,960 386,957 411,416 425,146 410,108 420,571 420,641 410,377 102,736 0 326,962 3,873,882
2005 423,459 260,001 0 0 0 0 379,656 418,940 409,354 420,601 318,793 416,484 3,047,288
2006 425,724 383,206 425,196 325,889 98,495 404,221 422,279 416,143 11,353 30,239 325,775 404,579 3,673,099
2007 359,049 364,390 288,658 411,105 421,239 391,752 421,962 419,489 411,002 300,318 411,499 425,343 4,625,806
2008 423,644 397,908 379,119 0 283,772 410,671 424,505 398,938 408,761 422,952 412,246 424,779 4,387,295
2009 421,371 382,128 421,620 355,910 421,430 406,604 418,141 417,259 328,290 105,496 411,078 425,991 4,515,318
2010 424,163 385,510 425,766 410,893 424,750 409,739 418,575 419,392 410,992 424,298 410,657 425,519 4,990,254
2011 425,146 337,897 43,300 414,002 427,498 414,764 426,933 423,274 411,659 429,032 415,130 426,120 4,594,755
2012 429,967 402,100 428,348 63,877 278,368 412,850 417,344 419,026 409,961 415,347 412,608 426,096 4,515,892
2013 425,619 384,441 425,220 411,068 87,131 * - - - - - - 1,733,479

* Power station went offline (start of decommissioning phase)

Description

This plant has one Westinghouse pressurized water reactor. The plant has two 345 kV lines interconnecting it to the grid with one going to We Energies North Appleton Substation located 15 miles (24 km) north of Appleton, Wisconsin and the other one interconnecting with the Point Beach Nuclear Generating Station located just a short distance away. Two 138 kV lines exit the plant which go to the Green Bay area 30 miles (48 km) away.

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.[15]

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Kewaunee was 10,292, a decrease of 0.9 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 776,954, an increase of 10.1 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Green Bay (26 miles to city center).[16]

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 Kewaunee was 1 in 83,333, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[17] [18]

  • Kewaunee Power Station, Kewaunee, Wisconsin
    Kewaunee Power Station, Kewaunee, Wisconsin
  • Kewaunee Power Station, 2007
    Kewaunee Power Station, 2007
  • Kewaunee Power Station, 2009
    Kewaunee Power Station, 2009

Notes
  1. "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  2. Johnston, Louis; Williamson, Samuel H. (2023). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved January 1, 2023. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the Measuring Worth series.
  3. Matthew L. Wald (May 7, 2013). "As Price of Nuclear Energy Drops, a Wisconsin Plant Is Shut". The New York Times. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  4. Sale of former Kewaunee nuclear plant approved by Brian Kerhin, Fox 11 News, March 31, 2022
  5. Brief for Docket No 9812-EI-100, March 18, 2022, pages 1–2
  6. "568 MW nuclear power plant up for sale". PowerGen Worldwide. PennWell Corporation. 2011-04-29. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
  7. http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060427/GPG0101/604270583/1207/GPGnews
  8. "Dominion To Close, Decommission Kewaunee Power Station". Dominion. 22 October 2012. Archived from the original on 14 May 2013. Retrieved 28 February 2013.
  9. "Kewaunee Nuclear Plant Powers Down for the Last Time". Nuclear Street News. May 8, 2013. Retrieved May 8, 2013.
  10. "Kewaunee dry fuel storage campaign sets records - World Nuclear News". www.world-nuclear-news.org. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  11. "Directory /wp-content/uploads/2012/11". kcedc.org. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  12. Septon, Greg (October 25, 2022). "WISCONSIN FALCONWATCH 2022 Nesting Season Report" (PDF). p. 43. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
  13. "DOMINION ENERGY KEWAUNEE, INC. KEWAUNEE POWER STATION POST-SHUTDOWN DECOMMISSIONING ACTIVITIES REPORT" (PDF). February 26, 2013. p. 26. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  14. "Electricity Data Browser". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  15. "NRC: Backgrounder on Emergency Preparedness for Nuclear Power Plants". Archived from the original on 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2012-03-14.
  16. Bill Dedman, Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors, NBC News, April 14, 2011 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42555888 Accessed May 1, 2011.
  17. Bill Dedman, "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk," NBC News, March 17, 2011 http://www.nbcnews.com/id/42103936 Accessed April 19, 2011.
  18. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2011-04-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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