Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station
| Braidwood Generating Station | |
|---|---|
 Location of Braidwood Generating Station in Illinois
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| Country | United States |
| Location | Reed Township, Will County, near Braidwood, Illinois |
| Coordinates | 41°14′37″N 88°13′45″W / 41.24361°N 88.22917°WCoordinates: 41°14′37″N 88°13′45″W / 41.24361°N 88.22917°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Construction began | 1976 |
| Commission date | Unit 1: July 29, 1988 Unit 2: October 17, 1988 |
| Construction cost | US$5.2 billion |
| Owner(s) | Exelon Corporation |
| Operator(s) | Exelon Corporation |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor type | Pressurized water reactor |
| Reactor supplier | Westinghouse |
| Cooling source | Braidwood Lake |
| Cooling towers | no |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 2 |
| Nameplate capacity | 2500 MW |
| Capacity factor | 94.1% |
| Annual output | 19,644 GW·h |
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Website Exelon Corp. Braidwood Website |
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Braidwood Generating Station is located in Will County in northeastern Illinois, USA. The nuclear power plant serves Chicago and northern Illinois with electricity. The plant was originally built by Commonwealth Edison company, and subsequently transferred to Com Ed's parent company, Exelon Corporation.
This station has two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors. Unit #1 came online in July 1987. Unit #2 came online in May 1988. The units were licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to operate until 2026 and 2027, then granted extended licenses until 2046 and 2047.
The power uprates at Braidwood granted in 2001 make it the largest nuclear plant in the state, generating a net total of 2,242 megawatts. However the three largest Illinois nuclear power plants are nearly equal in generating capability as LaSalle County Nuclear Generating Station is only 2 MW less in capacity than Braidwood and Byron Nuclear Generating Station is only 4 MW less than LaSalle.
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 Braidwood was 33,910, an increase of 6.5 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 4,976,020, an increase of 5.3 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Joliet (20 miles to city center).
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