Discover the Largest Nuclear Power Plant in Louisiana (And What Lives Around It)

Nuclear power gets a mixed reception around the world. Scary accidents at Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima remind us of how dangerous this technology is. Germany recently made the decision to take its last nuclear reactors off-line, even though that means increasing its use of fossil fuels at a time when supplies are limited, expensive, and creating measurable warming effects on the atmosphere.

On the other hand, countries like France and the United States plan to expand their use of nuclear power. This is part of a strategy to convert completely to clean energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal. The state of Louisiana has two active reactors. The largest of these is located near New Orleans. Read on to discover the largest nuclear power plant in Louisiana, and what lives around it.

How Does a Nuclear Power Plant Work?

The basic idea for just about any kind of power plant is to generate electricity via a spinning generator. You do this when the blades of a turbine turn a rotor. Once those turbine blades are moving fast, they make a lot of power. There are a couple of ways to do this with water. You can make the water fall, as in a dam, or heat it, so it boils and generates steam. Coal, natural gas, solar power, or geothermal can all heat water, but so can nuclear power.

With nuclear power, you use radioactive uranium in ceramic pellets poured into fuel rods. Hundreds of fuel rods are bundled together in groups in a reactor’s core. As the uranium atoms decay, they release energy and neutrons. Those neutrons shoot off and pierce the nuclei of other uranium atoms in a chain reaction. This creates the heat that boils the water that turns the rotor blades. This, in turn, makes the generator spin and create electricity.

What happens if it gets too hot? Will it blow up like a nuclear bomb? Not exactly. A nuclear bomb has a lot of radioactive material super densely packed together to make the biggest explosion it can. In a nuclear reactor, the material is not packed tightly so a nuclear explosion is not possible. Lead rods that absorb neutrons also separate the fuel rods. These don’t allow them to continue to the atoms in other fuel rods. Employees can raise and lower the lead rods to make the reaction speed up or slow down.

The Largest Nuclear Power Plant in Louisiana

Louisiana has two nuclear power plants. Both of them are located not too far from large cities. River Bend Nuclear Station is in St. Francisville, which is about 32 miles north of Baton Rouge. It has a generating capacity of 974 megawatts. The Waterford 3 Nuclear Generating Station at Killona is 34 miles west of downtown New Orleans. Of the two, Waterford is the largest nuclear power plant in Louisiana with a generating capacity of 1,152 megawatts. Authorities started building this reactor in 1974 and finished it up in 1985, eleven years later. The total cost of the project was an eye-watering $5.476 billion. But considering that it provides about 10% of the total power needs of the whole state, it has been a good long-term investment.

Nuclear power can produce reliable energy 92% of the time. This is an advantage it has over other kinds of clean energy. The weather doesn’t affect it the way it can affect solar or wind power.

Why Do They Build Them Near Cities?

If nuclear power plants are cause for concern, why do they build them so close to cities? Here are some of the factors that go into deciding where to build a nuclear power plant:

• They are built in states where they are wanted. Some states, like Hawaii, have banned them. Others, like Kansas, try to attract them by exempting them from property taxes.
• They are built in areas where the population and electricity demand are expected to grow.
• A lot of energy is wasted when it is transmitted through power lines. For this reason, power plants are built relatively close to where power is needed.
• It takes about 2,000 people to build a nuclear power plant over several decades. And it takes 500 people to operate it after it starts running. So, it needs to be constructed in a place with a large skilled workforce.
• A building site is chosen that is geologically stable, and not likely to be affected by earthquakes, sinkholes, etc.
• It must be close to a water source, like a river or lake.
• Environmental impact studies must be conducted. These ensure the construction and operation of the plant won’t adversely affect fragile ecosystems.

A final observation on this question: they’re built relatively close to cities because they actually are very safe. Safety standards are extremely high, and accidents are extraordinarily rare. The few nuclear reactor accidents have been intensely studied. Designs and procedures have been modified to make sure a tragic accident never happens again.

What Lives Near the Largest Nuclear Power Plant in Louisiana?

The most important living things near the largest nuclear power plant in Louisiana are, of course, people. The population of Killona, where the reactor is located, is about 724. It’s located in St. Charles Parish with a total population of 52,549. And it’s 34 miles from downtown New Orleans, with a total population of 383,997.

Some of the wildlife endemic to Louisiana include:

Mammals: rodents, muskrats, nutria, beavers, squirrels, foxes, bobcats

Birds: great blue herons, great horned owls, brown pelicans

Fish: bass, pike, sauger, walleye, bluegill, catfish, blue sucker, shorthead, redhorse, paddlefish, shovelnose sturgeon, and more.

Reptiles and amphibians: turtles, alligators, black snakes, southern leopard frog, gopher tortoise, Louisiana pine snake

What Environmental Impact Does Nuclear Power Have?

There is one serious environmental impact nuclear power plants have. They generate radioactive waste that needs to be stored securely for thousands of years. Spent fuel rods and irradiated components of the reactor still generate deadly radiation and, if improperly handled and stored, could leak into water supplies or soil. Experts must store them in deep underground chambers in geologically stable rock layers. They must also label them in such a way that people in the distant future will not open them up.

If radiation were to leak from a reactor, as happened at Chernobyl, it can increase the rates of cancer, birth defects, and genetic mutations. Contrary to myth, this doesn’t mean animals will grow to huge size and attack the city. In Chernobyl, you can see the results in tree trunks and branches that have become strangely knotted and twisted and animals born with deformed limbs. Genetic mutations in real life are rarely anything beneficial; they are generally neutral or negative in their effect on the creature unfortunate enough to have them.

A non-radioactive environmental impact of a nuclear reactor is that it heats up water as part of its operations. This non-radioactive, heated water is released back into the environment. The temperature difference can have an effect on the growth of algae and what kinds of plants, animals, and fish will frequent the area.

What Makes Nuclear Power Safe?

In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission strictly monitors nuclear reactors. They ensure rigorous construction standards, which is one reason it takes so many years to build them. They also make sure employees observe all safety standards. Nuclear plants have regular safety inspections. They have multiple failsafe systems to make sure they can shut down safely if something goes wrong.

People who work at the plant have to pass strict certification exams. They have supplemental training and drills regularly to test them and make sure they know how to handle different kinds of emergencies. And this system is working very well across the country, as our reactors have operated smoothly for decades. The goal is for us to live our lives without worrying about radiation today, or global warming tomorrow.

Where is The Waterford Steam Electric Station Located on a Map?

Waterford 3, or the Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 3, is a nuclear power facility situated on a 3,000-acre site in Killona, Louisiana. It is located in St. Charles Parish, approximately 25 miles west of New Orleans. The power plant is equipped with a Combustion Engineering two-loop pressurized water reactor.

Here is The Waterford Steam Electric Station on a map:

The photo featured at the top of this post is © Kevin Ruck/Shutterstock.com