LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station

LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station, located in Brookfield Township, LaSalle County, Illinois, near Marseilles, 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Ottawa, serves Chicago and Northern Illinois with electricity. The plant is owned and operated by Constellation Energy following separation from Exelon Corporation in 2022. Its Units 1 and 2 began commercial operation in October 1982,[1] and October 1984,[1] respectively.

LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station
LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station NRC Image
Official nameLaSalle County Generating Station
CountryUnited States
LocationBrookfield Township, LaSalle County, near Marseilles, Illinois
Coordinates41°14′44″N 88°40′9″W
StatusOperational
Construction beganSeptember 10, 1973
Commission dateUnit 1: October 20, 1982
Unit 2: October 19, 1984[1]
Owner(s)Constellation Energy
Operator(s)Constellation Energy
Nuclear power station
Reactor typeBWR
Reactor supplierGeneral Electric
Cooling sourceLaSalle Lake
Thermal capacity2 × 3546 MWth
Power generation
Units operational1 × 1137 MW
1 × 1140 MW
Make and modelBWR-5 (Mark 2 Containment)
Nameplate capacity2277 MW
Capacity factor94.79% (2017)
79.25% (lifetime)
Annual net output18,908 GWh (2017)
External links
WebsiteLaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station

It has two General Electric boiling water reactors. LaSalle's Unit 1 and Unit 2 together produce 2,320 megawatts, which is enough electricity for the needs of 2.3 million American homes.[1] Instead of cooling towers, the station has a 2,058-acre (833 ha) man-made cooling lake, which is also a popular fishery — LaSalle Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area — managed by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.[1]

The plant and its man-made lake viewed from an aircraft

Electricity generation
Generation (MWh) of LaSalle Generating Station[2]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual (Total)
2001 1,719,906 1,430,802 1,726,371 1,583,577 1,618,813 1,656,447 1,667,448 1,668,346 1,454,565 1,305,808 1,639,620 1,670,311 19,142,014
2002 1,048,320 1,303,448 1,737,647 1,198,966 1,439,437 1,638,862 1,671,292 1,609,356 1,596,064 1,507,327 1,465,012 1,707,453 17,923,184
2003 1,221,039 955,132 1,642,365 1,620,797 1,660,966 1,651,144 1,520,692 1,662,598 1,545,582 1,699,937 1,562,890 1,672,837 18,415,979
2004 1,173,865 1,244,289 1,708,196 1,649,999 1,684,687 1,543,318 1,670,049 1,676,479 1,607,626 1,702,092 1,637,456 1,693,904 18,991,960
2005 1,701,544 924,250 1,243,173 1,644,514 1,682,247 1,606,502 1,646,412 1,656,701 1,587,797 1,666,369 1,651,246 1,702,903 18,713,658
2006 1,705,138 1,287,650 1,200,375 1,648,219 1,657,791 1,619,798 1,660,067 1,659,683 1,620,205 1,702,107 1,648,971 1,697,807 19,107,811
2007 1,689,302 1,385,889 1,212,620 1,651,728 1,684,472 1,583,910 1,657,561 1,652,239 1,613,200 1,689,614 1,585,999 1,573,602 18,980,136
2008 1,481,454 862,805 1,653,909 1,657,292 1,693,554 1,632,500 1,668,512 1,664,467 1,549,476 1,631,809 1,662,722 1,690,064 18,848,564
2009 1,353,192 1,257,652 1,704,567 1,658,327 1,559,546 1,608,575 1,546,233 1,547,030 1,611,616 1,599,877 1,650,144 1,711,989 18,808,748
2010 1,683,065 959,446 1,523,539 1,653,041 1,690,466 1,610,432 1,645,171 1,630,565 1,622,345 1,712,651 1,674,488 1,727,359 19,132,568
2011 1,724,944 829,924 1,516,381 1,682,247 1,699,146 1,654,166 1,675,592 1,669,504 1,657,000 1,729,051 1,687,055 1,731,350 19,256,360
2012 1,734,597 1,147,439 1,510,841 1,683,211 1,712,903 1,647,891 1,676,551 1,689,868 1,645,273 1,736,682 1,686,082 1,723,661 19,594,999
2013 1,674,324 1,025,207 1,621,003 954,261 1,695,877 1,654,763 1,690,566 1,691,404 1,608,025 1,726,399 1,689,718 1,728,614 18,760,161
2014 1,737,287 1,007,668 1,683,666 1,568,452 1,526,053 1,652,096 1,701,950 1,334,903 1,651,161 1,458,474 1,692,554 1,740,435 18,754,699
2015 1,746,319 815,034 1,252,039 1,684,221 1,673,159 1,621,874 1,683,599 1,432,598 1,618,308 1,732,702 1,686,399 1,740,117 18,686,369
2016 1,721,346 1,172,859 1,170,724 1,680,679 1,721,455 1,522,004 1,682,991 1,676,233 1,641,904 1,727,089 1,684,284 1,742,512 19,144,080
2017 1,652,790 745,024 1,477,284 1,681,581 1,726,287 1,443,848 1,686,930 1,692,181 1,643,335 1,728,664 1,689,473 1,741,062 18,908,459
2018 1,744,824 1,273,899 1,226,979 1,680,521 1,708,708 1,640,803 1,682,316 1,680,977 1,554,530 1,730,644 1,687,094 1,734,471 19,345,766
2019 1,684,758 1,191,576 1,446,068 1,683,785 1,729,058 1,651,282 1,671,185 1,687,784 1,644,067 1,728,685 1,689,639 1,627,368 19,435,255
2020 1,691,513 1,064,030 1,739,345 1,683,521 1,719,077 1,645,874 1,661,558 1,681,468 1,649,862 1,732,431 1,685,939 1,741,066 19,695,684
2021 1,710,653 1,300,131 865,774 1,127,508 1,718,562 1,639,674 1,677,899 1,677,296 1,643,350 1,721,082 1,682,391 1,740,425 18,504,745
2022 1,694,657 1,285,946 1,247,406 1,681,422 1,722,403 1,647,885 1,623,009 1,689,630 1,493,362 1,702,973 15,788,693
2023

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.[3]

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of LaSalle was 17,643, an increase of 7.1 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 1,902,775, an increase of 22.6 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Joliet (34 miles to city center).[4]

Site area emergency

On February 20, 2006, a "site area emergency" was declared at the plant at 12:28 AM. This was the first SAE declared at a US nuclear plant since 1991. Workers were shutting down Unit 1 for refueling when the plant's turbine control system malfunctioned, SCRAMing the reactor. The reactor had been operating at 6 percent power output at the time. Plant instruments indicated three of 185 control rods used to shut down the reactor were not fully inserted triggering the emergency declaration. After a reset, the plant's instruments indicated that only one control rod was not fully inserted, not three. The emergency ended at 4:27 AM with no damage or release of radioactivity.

Post trip evaluations have confirmed that all control rods were fully inserted within four minutes of the reactor SCRAM. A review indicates the problem was with the indication sensors, and that all control rods were fully inserted immediately at the time of the reactor scram. Follow-up evaluations also demonstrated that even if the three subject control rods remained fully withdrawn in a cold shutdown condition, the reactor would have remained adequately shutdown.[5]

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 LaSalle was 1 in 357,143, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[6][7]

See also

Notes
  1. "LaSalle Fact Sheet" (PDF). Exelon. 2019. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  2. "Electricity Data Browser". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  3. "Backgrounder on Emergency Preparedness at Nuclear Power Plants". Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 29 August 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  4. Dedman, Bill (14 April 2011). "Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors". NBC News. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  5. "Event Notification Report - Event Number: 42348". Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 23 February 2006. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  6. Dedman, Bill (16 March 2011). "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk". NBC News. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
  7. "Safety/Risk Assessment Panel for Generic Issue 199" (PDF). 2 September 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
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