50th Anniversary of Commercial Nuclear Power

[OldTigerCub]

I came across an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette today that I found interesting. The first commercial nuclear reactor in the U.S. was brought to full power on December 2nd, 1957.

The Shippingport site as it was in 1957

Fifty years ago today, the nuclear age dawned in southwestern Pennsylvania.

At 4:30 a.m. Dec. 2, 1957, the first commercial nuclear reactor in the United States, built on a seven-acre site along the Ohio River in Shippingport, Beaver County, gained full power, or, as the scientists like to say, achieved "initial criticality."

Although it did not come online to provide power until later in the month, it was a notable event in a small Western Pennsylvania town, just about 25 miles from my home.

It would take until Dec. 18 to plug the electricity produced by splitting atoms into the region's power grid. But for nearly 25 years thereafter, the plant lit up area homes and furthered atomic research.

Jointly developed by the Department of Energy and Duquesne Light Co., the plant was part of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" program

"It was the world's first large-scale nuclear-powered electric-generating system, and also a scientific and research station," said Scott Waitlevertch, a spokesman for FirstEnergy's Beaver Valley nuclear power station, which operates adjacent to the old Shippingport facility. "There were several core designs over the years that went in, and that allowed them to really look into the technology."

The original reactor is gone now, and the site has been reclaimed, though another nuclear power plant owned by First Energy currently operates on the same riverbank less than a mile from the original plant (I drive by it frequently).
My interest in the story is mainly due to my familiarity with the site, but it reminded me that it has been a lot of years since any new nuclear plants have been built, a fact that may come back to haunt an energy hungry nation as concerns over global warming and depletion of fossil fuels present new challenges to political and business policies.

 

[Travis]

I had heard that there are several new nuclear installations going in now. If so then that is a good development.

 

[Reality Believer]

I had heard that there are several new nuclear installations going in now. If so then that is a good development.

The IAEA has a good site that summarizes all things nuclear. At present there are 32 new plants under construction worldwide, with one in the US.
http://www.iaea.org/programmes/a2/index.html

Another interesting fact is that the US has the most reactors with 104, followed by France with 59.

 

[tomwaits]

Nuclear power is amazing and vastly unappreciated. Didn't the co-founder of Greenpeace, Patrick Moore, essentially get booted from the org after he decided to support nuclear power?

 

[OldTigerCub]

I had heard that there are several new nuclear installations going in now. If so then that is a good development.

I didn't realize that. I always seem to hear people citing "no new reactors since the TMI incident" or something along those lines. That is encouraging news.

Thanks for that link, Reality Believer!

 

[BenBurch]

The Nuclear Age has only just begun.

 

[Jeff Corey]

"Meine Fuehrer, I can valk again!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxrWz9XVvls

 

[mhaze]

South Texas Nuclear has 2 under construction - these are not shown in the table you reference probably due to precision about the "official start of construction" date. There are I think 18 requests for license and operating permits in the US now.

All 4 of California's licenses probably will not be renewed, so they are expected to go dark 2015-2025, unless something changes.

 

[T-Diddy]

Actually, the one under construction in the US (Watts Bar 2) isn't new - construction was halted in the 80s after the 'fallout' from TMI. It's a second generation Westinghouse PWR plant.

mhaze - I don't think South Texas Nuclear has started construction yet. A quick search of their website shows that they only applied on September 24, and nothing newer.

Word in the industry is that the race is on to be the second one to get off the ground and let the first guy take any of the body blows from protesters, legal hurdles, challenges to the new laws streamlining nuclear plant construction, etc. In a lot of ways, the so-called 'second nuclear age' is going to go from a whimper to a storm almost overnight judging by what Wall Street and the utilities are judging.