Chooz Nuclear Power Plant | |
---|---|
Official name | Centrale Nucléaire de Chooz |
Country | France |
Location | Chooz, Ardennes |
Coordinates | 50°5′24″N 4°47′22″E / 50.09000°N 4.78944°ECoordinates: 50°5′24″N 4°47′22″E / 50.09000°N 4.78944°E |
Status | Operational |
Construction began | 1960 |
Commission date | April 15, 1967 |
Decommission date | 1991 (Chooz A) |
Operator(s) | EDF |
Nuclear power station | |
Reactor type | PWR |
Reactor supplier | Framatome |
Cooling source | Meuse River |
Cooling towers | 2 |
Power generation | |
Units operational | 2 x 1560 MW |
Make and model | Alstom |
Units decommissioned | 1 x 320 MW |
Nameplate capacity | 3,120 MW |
Capacity factor | 70.6% |
Annual gross output | 19,306 GW·h |
The Chooz Nuclear Power Station (French: Centrale nucléaire de Chooz) lies in the municipality of Chooz in the Ardennes department, France, on the Meuse in a panhandle protruding into Belgium, between the French city of Charleville-Mézières and the Belgian municipality of Dinant.
The first reactor Chooz A, an early PWR design by Westinghouse, built and exploited by French (EDF) and Belgian (SENA), was shut down in 1991 after an operational life of 22 years.
Two units of the N4 reactor design are currently operation, Chooz B1 and Chooz B2. Designed for a net power output of 1450 MWe, power was uprated to 1500 MWe in 2003.
A fourth nuclear reactor, of the EPR type, is under study by EDF.
The plant employs around 700 full-time workers.
The Chooz reactors were a source of neutrinos for the CHOOZ neutrino oscillation experiment; a new experiment, Double Chooz, is currently operating nearby.