Cooper Nuclear Station

Cooper Nuclear Station
The reactor complex on June 20, 2011 during the 2011 Missouri River Floods
Country	United States
Location	Nemaha County, near Brownville, Nebraska
Coordinates	40°21′43″N 95°38′29″W
Status	Operational
Construction began	June 1, 1968
Commission date	July 1, 1974
Construction cost	$1.152 billion (2007 USD)[1]
Owner	Nebraska Public Power District
Operator	Nebraska Public Power District
Nuclear power station
Reactor type	BWR
Reactor supplier	General Electric
Cooling source	Missouri River
Thermal capacity	1 × 2419 MWth
Power generation
Units operational	1 × 769 MW
Make and model	BWR-4 (Mark 1)
Nameplate capacity	835 MW
Capacity factor	94% (2021) 75.30% (lifetime)
Annual net output	6880 GWh (2021)
External links
Website	Cooper Nuclear Station
Commons	Related media on Commons

Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS) is a boiling water reactor (BWR) type nuclear power plant located on a 1,251-acre (506 ha) site near Brownville, Nebraska between Missouri River mile markers 532.9 and 532.5, on Nebraska's border with Missouri. It is the largest single-unit electrical generator in Nebraska.

Description

CNS is owned and operated by the Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), a political subdivision of the state of Nebraska.

The facility is named after Humboldt natives Guy Cooper Jr., and Guy Cooper Sr.^[2] The senior Cooper's father, O. A. Cooper, built the first electrical plant in Humboldt in 1890; the two Guy Coopers served a total of 27 years on the board of NPPD and its predecessor agency, Consumers Public Power District.^[3]

CNS was first put into operation in July 1974 and generates approximately 800 megawatts (MWe) of electricity. The plant consists of a General Electric BWR/4 series reactor plant and a Westinghouse turbine generator. The plant has a Mark I containment system.

In 1998, CNS was the first plant in the United States to load nuclear fuel containing uranium that had been provided under the Megatons to Megawatts Program, in which uranium removed from nuclear weapons of the former Soviet Union was turned into low-enriched uranium and then into fuel.^[4]

In September 2008, NPPD applied to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a renewal of the operating license for CNS, extending it for an additional twenty years.^[5] In November 2010 CNS received its license renewal, which was the 60th renewal license to be issued by the NRC.^[6]

In late 2003 NPPD signed a contract with Entergy Nuclear for management support services. An agreement was approved in January 2010 by NPPD to extend Entergy's management support services until January 2029. The original contract between the companies, signed in 2003, was for the remaining years of the plant's original operating license, which ran until January 18, 2014. In March 2022 NPPD announced that the Entergy contract would be terminated.^[7]

Electricity Production

Generation (MWh) of Cooper Nuclear Station^[8]

Year	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Annual (Total)
2001	570,854	511,780	276,090	550,990	566,188	512,170	552,287	542,855	532,491	557,507	33,329	0	5,206,541
2002	495,158	519,785	564,856	548,906	374,079	534,267	547,998	556,080	538,948	566,632	509,234	561,208	6,317,151
2003	570,858	371,269	0	100,096	473,604	0	515,736	549,216	467,125	483,390	478,233	482,806	4,492,333
2004	570,190	518,699	568,879	542,943	541,962	537,929	551,689	554,465	536,463	325,798	399,430	523,326	6,171,773
2005	212,974	168,277	586,909	504,109	581,006	539,729	560,062	560,750	462,607	578,778	565,803	570,917	5,891,921
2006	585,258	458,742	557,176	558,161	503,285	546,692	560,098	559,952	529,890	351,432	112,345	587,445	5,910,476
2007	551,175	528,415	581,860	560,976	497,995	553,996	562,389	556,546	556,189	581,260	556,135	584,312	6,671,248
2008	581,610	536,581	520,326	171,925	218,031	552,091	565,277	504,174	565,840	590,080	569,225	588,920	5,964,080
2009	587,498	504,938	435,330	568,654	583,854	561,883	576,686	572,285	435,733	0	317,583	590,135	5,734,579
2010	564,779	524,026	577,947	561,764	578,078	522,580	574,869	571,820	566,039	589,289	570,669	591,023	6,792,883
2011	588,152	528,133	222,112	0	404,967	564,552	569,259	570,471	564,037	591,506	571,226	593,689	5,768,104
2012	577,696	544,833	579,827	564,716	580,394	538,895	562,325	539,821	551,599	221,146	11,227	544,797	5,817,276
2013	585,509	526,150	586,081	568,988	583,935	534,493	540,960	572,432	553,501	589,858	570,476	591,639	6,804,022
2014	589,912	531,095	533,966	560,710	542,331	453,919	576,061	568,559	455,723	0	512,176	592,883	5,917,335
2015	587,113	533,977	589,883	564,689	532,358	538,878	574,358	574,340	563,194	590,591	567,743	583,647	6,800,771
2016	589,449	541,857	586,184	564,671	581,592	551,925	566,791	558,693	386,444	0	396,322	601,428	5,925,356
2017	600,284	535,812	594,643	572,954	548,837	566,137	575,530	581,200	569,647	598,546	567,434	601,713	6,912,737
2018	600,802	520,240	470,665	575,176	543,813	459,047	574,976	574,741	484,688	0	230,947	597,045	5,632,140
2019	599,741	535,889	594,028	571,805	588,606	562,395	577,309	578,535	568,007	599,121	576,456	599,708	6,951,600
2020	599,017	555,268	589,733	576,023	588,370	562,035	569,903	556,024	415,826	73,061	520,871	582,420	6,188,551
2021	593,104	537,796	593,538	572,048	581,317	557,635	572,827	571,013	564,009	590,923	549,176	597,236	6,880,622
2022	595,610	528,070	587,760	565,386	578,905	551,877	540,847	474,456	405,669	8,556	274,432	506,936	5,618,504
2023	600,694	534,363	593,680	573,446	576,057	561,847	577,255	573,143	567,103	592,743	575,390	600,332	7,426,053
2024	591,939	560,825	593,832	575,350	587,673	564,805	573,171	501,198	462,864				--

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.^[9] In 2010, the population within 10 miles of Cooper was 4,414; the population within 50 miles was 163,610. Cities within the 50-mile radius include Nebraska City, with a population of 7,289, located 25 miles (40 km) from the plant.^[10][11]

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 CNS was 1 in 142,857, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.^[12][13]

Events

At 0402 CDT on June 19, 2011 a Notification of Unusual Event (the lowest of NRC emergency classifications) was declared due to the elevation of the Missouri River reaching 899.1 feet above mean sea level. This is above the Emergency Action Level HU1.5 elevation of 899 feet. Later, the Missouri River reached 900.6 feet on 6/23/2011 while elevation of 902 feet is the alert level for the plant.^{[14] [15]} The plant left the emergency status at 9:47 a.m., July 12 after the river dropped to 895.8 feet—3 feet below the emergency status level.^[16] The nearby Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station also faced flooding during this period.

On March 15, 2019, another Unusual Event low-level emergency was declared at Cooper due to flooding, with a forecast crest that exceeds the 2011 flooding.^[17]

See also

• Port of Omaha

Notes

1. "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
2. "Cooper Nuclear Station". Archived 2008-11-21 at the Wayback Machine Nebraska Public Power District. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
3. "A Closer Look at Cooper Nuclear Station". Archived 2012-03-23 at the Wayback Machine Nebraska Public Power District brochure; online at Iowa Homeland Security & Emergency Management website. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
4. DeVolpi, Alexander; Minkov, Vladimir E.; et al. (2005). Nuclear Shadowboxing: Legacies and Challenges. Vol. 2. Kalamazoo, Mich.: DeVolpi. p. VII-54. ISBN 0-9777734-1-8.
5. "Cooper Nuclear Station". License Renewal Application. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). October 22, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
6. "Nuclear power plant receives 20-year operating license renewal". Power-Gen Worldwide. PennWell Corporation. November 30, 2010. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved 2010-12-02.
7. "News Release: NPPD mutually agrees to end services contract with Entergy". www.nppd.com. Retrieved 2022-08-06.
8. "Electricity Data Browser". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
9. "NRC: Backgrounder on Emergency Preparedness for Nuclear Power Plants". Archived from the original on 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2013-12-13.
10. "Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors". NBC News. 2011-04-14. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
11. Drozd, David. "Nebraska Incorporated Place Census Populations with Changes and Percent Changes: 1980 to 2010". Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine Center for Public Affairs Research, University of Nebraska—Omaha. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
12. Dedman, Bill (Mar 17, 2011). "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk". NBC News. Retrieved 2011-04-19.
13. Hiland, Patrick (Sep 2, 2010). "Memorandum, Safety/Risk Assessment Results for Generic Issue 199, 'Implications of Updated Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Estimates in Central and Eastern United States on Existing Plants'" (PDF). NRC. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 19 Apr 2011.
14. Kehoe, Benjamin (Jun 20, 2011). "Unusual event declared due to Missouri river flooding". United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, NRC. Retrieved 2011-06-23.
15. "Flood Facts and Information (June 2011)". Nebraska Public Power District, NPPD. June 2011. Archived from the original on 2011-06-21. Retrieved 2011-06-23.
16. "Cooper Nuclear Station no longer at emergency status | Local | journalstar.com".
17. Gardner, Nancy; Chris Peters (March 16, 2019). "Cooper Nuclear Station still operating but preparing for shutdown as Missouri River hits record levels". Omaha World-Herald.

External links

• Nebraska Public Power District
• "Cooper Nuclear Station". Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD). Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
• "Cooper Nuclear Station". Entergy Nuclear. Archived from the original on 2008-12-21. Retrieved 2008-11-25.
• "Nebraska Nuclear Profile". Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). September 29, 2008. Retrieved 2010-12-01.
• "Cooper Boiling Water Reactor". Operating Nuclear Power Reactors. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). February 10, 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-02.