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Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station

Coordinates: 39°28′04″N 75°32′17″W / 39.46778°N 75.53806°W / 39.46778; -75.53806
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Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station
Hope Creek NPP, image courtesy of the NRC
Map
CountryUnited States
LocationLower Alloways Creek, Salem County, New Jersey
Coordinates39°28′04″N 75°32′17″W / 39.46778°N 75.53806°W / 39.46778; -75.53806
StatusOperational
Construction beganMarch 1, 1976 (1976-03-01)
Commission dateDecember 20, 1986
Construction cost$8.510 billion (2007 USD)[1]
OwnerPSEG
OperatorPSEG
Nuclear power station
Reactor typeBWR
Reactor supplierGeneral Electric
Cooling towers1 × Natural Draft
Cooling sourceDelaware River
Thermal capacity1 × 3840 MWth
Power generation
Units operational1 × 1172 MW
Make and modelBWR-4 (Mark 1)
Units cancelled1 × 1067 MW
Nameplate capacity1172 MW
Capacity factor103.81% (2017)
87.1% (lifetime)
Annual net output10,658 GWh (2017)
External links
WebsiteHope Creek Nuclear Generating Station
CommonsRelated media on Commons
[edit on Wikidata]

Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station is a nuclear power plant located in Lower Alloways Creek Township, Salem County, New Jersey, United States. It sits on Artificial Island alongside the Salem Nuclear Power Plant. The station is owned and operated by PSEG Nuclear LLC, a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group.

It has a single unit, a boiling water reactor (BWR) built by General Electric.[2] Originally planned for two units, the second unit was canceled in 1981. Hope Creek has a generating capacity of 1,268 megawatts electric (MWe). The plant began operation on July 25, 1986, with an initial license to run until 2026. In 2009, PSEG applied for a 20-year license extension,[3] which was granted in 2011, allowing operation until 2046.[4]

Together with the Salem units, the Salem-Hope Creek complex produces 3,572 megawatts, making it the largest nuclear power facility in the Eastern United States and the second largest in the country after the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in Arizona. Hope Creek, along with the Salem Nuclear Power Plant, produces approximately 40% of New Jersey’s electricity and 85% of its carbon-free electricity, making it an important part of the state’s energy infrastructure.[5]

Hope Creek is one of three licensed nuclear power reactors in New Jersey. The others are the two units at the adjacent Salem plant.[6] As of January 1, 2005, New Jersey ranked 10th among the 31 states with nuclear capacity for total MWe generated. In 2021, nuclear plants generated 45% of the electricity in the state.[7]

In 2019, New Jersey began providing the state's nuclear plants Zero-Emission Certificates worth $300 million a year to keep them in service. The subsidy was ended in 2024, effective June 1, 2025, as the Inflation Reduction Act provides alternative tax credits to support clean energy.[8]

Plant features

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Hope Creek is a boiling water reactor (BWR) unlike its neighbors at the nearby Salem Nuclear Plant which are pressurized water reactors (PWR).

Hope Creek's reactor is used to produce electricity. The plant's huge natural-draft cooling tower can be seen from many miles away in both Delaware and New Jersey and as far west as Elk Neck Peninsula in Maryland. The cooling tower can be seen from the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the bridges over the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. This cooling tower serves only Hope Creek's single reactor. The neighboring Salem units utilize once-through cooling with no cooling tower.

A unique feature of Hope Creek is its cylindrical reactor building complete with a dome which makes it appear similar to a pressurized water reactor containment building which is not typical of boiling water reactors. This similarity is limited to appearance. Like other BWRs, the actual containment vessel for the reactor is a separate drywell/torus structure enclosed within the reactor building, but structurally separate. The outer reactor building serves as secondary containment and houses many of the reactor's safety systems.

Controversies and safety concerns

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On October 10, 2004, the Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station experienced a steam leak that led to a shutdown. Operators reported issues with fluctuating reactor pressure, changing water levels, and problems with the high-pressure coolant injection system, a key safety component. Following the incident, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) placed the plant under increased oversight.[9][10]

The 2004 shutdown raised renewed concerns about safety practices and management at Hope Creek and the neighboring Salem Nuclear Power Plant. Former employees and watchdog groups criticized plant management for alleged maintenance delays and for discouraging the reporting of safety concerns. Delaware senators, including then-Senator Joe Biden, contacted the NRC to express concern over ongoing issues with management and safety culture, similar to problems reported in earlier decades.[9][10]

In response, the NRC placed Hope Creek and Salem under special oversight, citing maintenance backlogs, equipment problems, and a workplace environment that discouraged reporting safety issues. Investigations identified equipment and performance deficiencies, leading to updates in employee training and operational procedures.[9][10]

Surrounding population

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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.[11]

The 2010 U.S. population within 10 miles (16 km) of Hope Creek was 53,811, an increase of 53.3 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 5,523,010, an increase of 7.5 percent since 2000.[citation needed]

Cities within 50 miles:

Electricity production

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Generation (MWh) of Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station[13]
Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual (Total)
2001 788,170 718,046 787,980 743,123 538,212 747,120 768,484 779,626 748,126 196,043 616,558 620,533 8,051,021
2002 806,577 717,057 728,675 773,353 630,110 561,751 781,291 749,505 737,734 776,241 771,830 804,666 9,838,790
2003 791,347 718,805 409,815 352,710 389,754 743,334 785,188 781,856 480,493 641,234 761,682 404,364 7,260,582
2004 617,530 715,302 495,484 228,783 785,519 724,022 770,189 740,863 723,027 240,440 -6,973 -6,825 5,027,361
2005 24,699 686,602 672,283 513,827 813,305 487,381 777,015 703,030 629,750 785,704 764,670 814,446 7,672,712
2006 803,113 727,993 809,364 140,144 595,443 770,419 782,941 767,228 762,976 810,519 789,597 815,426 8,375,163
2007 671,526 721,771 813,052 783,583 730,587 737,500 778,000 773,888 729,209 257,055 308,886 799,486 8,104,543
2008 757,807 743,262 800,446 770,955 799,700 832,578 862,659 871,601 860,030 902,398 869,708 921,243 10,091,387
2009 855,022 825,367 911,077 263,684 679,837 862,526 885,863 878,842 853,536 891,235 879,025 914,282 10,300,296
2010 765,423 809,049 911,765 877,368 895,324 822,055 831,709 844,884 838,150 408,089 510,716 924,010 10,238,542
2011 919,626 831,385 808,303 879,215 892,573 858,932 871,746 881,276 855,497 899,898 874,339 902,101 10,374,891
2012 878,316 848,841 791,251 340,533 594,656 853,737 871,018 876,844 829,707 878,175 883,671 904,492 10,251,241
2013 914,205 827,610 907,077 874,360 886,881 668,132 837,103 854,923 823,981 287,290 558,600 630,224 9,070,386
2014 919,839 825,825 914,414 847,519 868,463 863,348 886,510 888,798 670,116 900,108 882,693 906,183 10,274,816
2015 917,393 829,649 913,179 270,902 490,415 856,500 886,966 888,369 783,639 838,786 831,313 902,246 9,409,357
2016 921,225 856,236 902,298 879,864 900,264 792,864 874,325 854,733 845,312 368,909 485,027 922,386 10,603,443
2017 922,838 803,073 919,471 880,453 906,404 858,883 884,885 888,186 862,083 899,012 883,631 918,414 10,527,333
2018 907,483 820,511 891,748 309,780 512,548 838,328 863,982 877,862 837,917 899,675 883,910 902,940 10,346,684
2019 917,439 827,695 799,826 789,936 889,877 845,495 825,291 707,050 665,519 306,391 239,821 912,606 8,726,946
2020 917,551 847,706 900,179 874,618 901,899 853,131 876,312 876,467 861,334 895,442 875,086 912,972 10,492,697
2021 908,276 776,285 748,728 432,368 316,686 729,351 742,366 883,171 854,256 896,553 881,934 910,083 9,080,057
2022 914,263 828,822 904,471 872,788 893,694 682,467 861,953 828,951 661,902 9,968 824,274 915,123 9,198,676
2023 912,648 819,705 907,429 850,217 711,323 856,205 853,821 863,123 838,514 767,233 872,162 686,043 9,938,423
2024 817,057 823,971 778,153 43,437 421,868 815,639 878,287 881,264 836,419 892,279 868,666 909,400 8,966,440
2025 907,696 819,199 --

Seismic risk

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The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Hope Creek was 1 in 357,143, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.[14][15]

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References

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  1. ^ "EIA - State Nuclear Profiles". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 3 October 2017.
  2. ^ The Hope Creek Generating Station Archived 2007-10-25 at the Wayback Machine, PSE&G. Accessed September 15, 2007.
  3. ^ "PSEG seeks licence renewals for two plants". World Nuclear News. 19 August 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  4. ^ Caroom, Eliot (July 20, 2011). "Hope Creek's license extended by NRC - with conditions". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  5. ^ https://www.qac.org/DocumentCenter/View/732/Hope-Creek-Generating-Station-PDF
  6. ^ "NRC - Licensed Facilities by Region or State - New Jersey". US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Retrieved 2011-03-13.
  7. ^ "Electricity Data Browser, Net generation for all sectors, New Jersey, Fuel Type-Check all, Annual, 2001–21". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2022-07-18.
  8. ^ Johnson, Tom (February 15, 2024). "BPU pulls plug on unpopular nuclear subsidy". NJ Spotlight News.
  9. ^ a b c "Hope Creek Plant Staying Closed | Online Ethics". onlineethics.org. Retrieved 2025-04-28.
  10. ^ a b c https://onlineethics.org/print/pdf/node/45151
  11. ^ "NRC: Backgrounder on Emergency Preparedness for Nuclear Power Plants". Archived from the original on 2006-10-02. Retrieved 2013-05-25.
  12. ^ "Nuclear neighbors: Population rises near US reactors". NBC News. 2011-04-14. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  13. ^ "Electricity Data Browser". www.eia.gov. Retrieved 2024-11-04.
  14. ^ "What are the odds? US nuke plants ranked by quake risk". NBC News. 2011-03-16. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  15. ^ "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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