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Nuclear
Power PlantNorth
Anna 1 & 2
and 
.North Anna 1 and 2 are pressurized-water reactors (PWRs) operated by the Virginia Electric & Power Company. North Anna 1 has the capacity to generate 900 megawatts (0.9 billion watts) of electricity (MWe), and North Anna 2 has the capacity to generate 887 megawatts (about 0.9 billion watts) of electricity (MWe). The North Anna Station is located in the northeastern portion of Virginia in Louisa County, on a peninsula on the southern shore of Lake Anna, a newly formed reservoir. The site is approximately 40 miles north-northwest of Richmond, Virginia and 70 miles southwest of Washington, DC.North Anna 1 began commercial operation in 1978, and North Anna 2 in 1980. North Anna 1 is licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate until the year 2018, and North Anna 2 until 2020.
Utility Contact Information
Virginia Power
PO Box 26666
One James River Plaza
Richmond, VA 23261Telephone: 804-771-30000
Fax: 804-771-3420
E-Mail:
Web Site:
[The data in the charts below was gathered from government sources by Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project in: Jim Riccio and Lisa Brooks, Nuclear Lemons: An Assessment of America's Worst Commercial Nuclear Power Plants, Fifth Edition, 1996. For a copy of this useful report, contact Public Citizen. "Rank Among US Nuclear Plants" is based on Critical Mass Energy Project's ranking of "nuclear lemons," in which the lowest ranking (1 of 109) is worst and the highest (109 of 109) is best.] Plant Performance and Economic Data
Capacity Factor represents the percentage of a plant's electrical generating capacity that is actually utilized over a given period of time. The lower the capacity factor, the less electricity the plant generated relative to its total generating capacity. The data below is from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
North Anna 1 Capacity Factor
1993 73.1% 1994 86.2% 1995 99.8% Plant 3-Year Average 86.4% Industry 3-Year Average 75.7% Rank Among US Nuclear Plants 81 of 109
North Anna 2 Capacity Factor
1993 78.3% 1994 96.4% 1995 77.2% Plant 3-Year Average 84.0% Industry 3-Year Average 75.7% Rank Among US Nuclear Plants 68 of 109
Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Costs are routine plant operating expenses, not including nuclear fuel, major repairs, or the capital cost of constructing the plant. They are expressed in mills per kilowatt-hour (mills/kwH)---that is, in units of one-tenth of a cent per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced by the plant over a given period of time. Utilities often aggregate O&M costs for multiple reactors at the same site, because many site O&M costs are shared. The data below is from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
North Anna 1 & 2 O&M Costs
(mills/kwH)1992-94 Average 12.88 1993-95 Average 11.98 3-Year Average 12.43 Industry 3-Year Average 24.82 Rank Among US Nuclear Plants 108 of 109
Plant Safety Data , detailed below, is based on the operating experience of the reactor to date, using normal, low-enriched uranium (LEU) fuel. Using warhead plutonium in mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel raises a number of additional safety risks, which are detailed in a paper by Dr. Edwin Lyman, scientific director of the Nuclear Control Institute, but not reflected in the data below.
Systematic Assessment of Licensee Performance (SALP) is NRC's grading of nuclear plants on four criteria: operations, maintenance, engineering, and plant support. For each criterion, a plant is ranked 1 ("superior"), 2 ("good"), or 3 ("adequate"). Thus, a lower SALP is a better ranking. The data below are from NRC, and represent plant averages in the four categories.
North Anna 1 and 2 SALP Averages
SALP Average 1.07 Industry SALP Average 1.59 Rank Among US Nuclear Plants 101 of 109 The following table presents other important safety data. Safety System Actuations is the number of times in a given period that a plant activated its emergency core cooling or emergency power. Safety System Failures is the number of occurrences in a given period that conditions or events arose which could prevent the successful function of safety systems. "Scrams" is the number of emergency plant shutdowns in a given period. Violations represents the number of violations of NRC regulations in a given period. Worker Exposure represents the collective exposure of a nuclear plant's workforce in a given period, measured in Rems (a unit of radiation). These data from NRC represent annual averages for a three-year period.
North Anna 1 Safety Data, 1993-1995
Safety Issue North Anna 1 Average Industry Average Rank Among US Nuclear Plants Safety System Actuations 0.3 0.6 57 of 109 Safety System Failures 1.0 2.4 79 of 109 "Scrams" 0.3 1.02 81 of 109 NRC Violations 24.3 25.2 58 of 109 Worker Exposure 255.7 rem 197.8 rem 25 of 109
North Anna 2 Safety Data, 1993-1995
Safety Issue North Anna 2 Average Industry Average Rank Among US Nuclear Plants Safety System Actuations 0.0 0.6 84 of 109 Safety System Failures 1.0 2.4 79 of 109 "Scrams" 1.0 1.02 44 of 109 NRC Violations 25.0 25.2 55 of 109 Worker Exposure 255.7 rem 197.8 rem 25 of 109
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