Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Generating Station

Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Generating Station
Location of Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Generating Station in Alabama
Country	United States
Location	Dothan, Alabama
Coordinates
Status	Operational
Construction began	1970 –
Commission date	Unit 1: Dec. 1, 1977 Unit 2: July 30, 1981
Construction cost	~$1.57 billion
Owner(s)	Alabama Power
Operator(s)	Southern Nuclear
Nuclear power station
Reactor type	pressurized water reactor
Reactor supplier	Westinghouse
Power generation
Units operational	1 x 851 MW 1 x 860 MW
Capacity factor	87.4%
Annual generation	13,098 GWh
Website http://www.southerncompany.com/about-us/our-business/southern-nuclear/farley.cshtml

The Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Generating Station is located near Dothan, Alabama in the southern United States. The twin-unit nuclear power station sits on a largely wooded and agricultural 1,850-acre (750 ha) site along the Chattahoochee River, approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) South of Columbia, Alabama in Houston County.

History

The plant is named after the late Joseph McConnell Farley, an American attorney born in Birmingham, Alabama who became president of Alabama Power (owner of the facility) from 1969 to 1989 and was later CEO of Southern Nuclear Operating Company; both companies are subsidiaries of Southern Company.

Construction of the plant began in 1970. Fluor Corporation of Irving, Texas was the general contractor. Unit 1 achieved commercial operation in December 1977. Unit 2 began commercial operation in July 1981. The total cost of the plant was about $1.57 billion. On May 12, 2005, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved license renewal applications for both reactors at the site. Unit 1's extended operating license is set to expire on June 25, 2037 and Unit 2's on March 31, 2041.

Technology

This plant has two Westinghouse reactors.

• Unit 1 900 MWe
• Unit 2 920 MWe

Both units are three-loop pressurized water reactors. The facility is cooled using six mechanical draft cooling towers supplied by water from the Chattahoochee River.

Ownership

• Farley, Unit 1
  • Owner = Alabama Power Company (100 percent).
  • Operator (Licensee) = Southern Nuclear Operation Company.
• Farley, Unit 2
  • Owner = Alabama Power Company (100 percent).
  • Operator (Licensee) = Southern Nuclear Operation Company.

Unit 1 900 MWe Unit 2 920 MWe from website of USNRC

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.

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Farley was 11,842, an increase of 8.0 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 421,374, an increase of 6.1 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Dothan (17 miles to city center).

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 Farley was 1 in 35,714, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.