Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant
| Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant | |
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Shearon Harris Unit 1
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 Location of Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant in North Carolina
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| Country | United States of America |
| Location | New Hill, Buckhorn Township, Wake County, North Carolina |
| Coordinates | 35°38.0′N 78°57.3′W / 35.6333°N 78.9550°WCoordinates: 35°38.0′N 78°57.3′W / 35.6333°N 78.9550°W |
| Status | Operational |
| Commission date | May 2, 1987 |
| Construction cost | $3.9 billion |
| Operator(s) | Progress Energy |
| Nuclear power station | |
| Reactor supplier | Westinghouse |
| Power generation | |
| Units operational | 1 x 900 MW |
| Units planned | 2 x 1,100 MW |
| Nameplate capacity | 900 MW |
| Capacity factor | 93.9% |
| Annual output | 7,404 GWh |
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Website www |
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The Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant is a nuclear power plant with a single Westinghouse designed pressurized-water nuclear reactor operated by Duke Energy. It was named in honor of W. Shearon Harris, former president of Carolina Power & Light (predecessor of Progress Energy). Located in New Hill, North Carolina, in the United States, about 20 miles (30 km) southwest of Raleigh, it generates 900 MWe, has a 523-foot (160 m) natural draft cooling tower, and uses Harris Lake for cooling. The reactor achieved criticality in January 1987 and began providing power commercially on May 2 of that year.
The Shearon Harris site was originally designed for four reactors, but budget issues and weak demand resulted in three of the reactors being cancelled. The final cost was nearly $3.9B, which includes the cost of safety upgrades mandated after the Three Mile Island accident.
On November 16, 2006, the operator applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for a renewal and extension of the plant's operating license. The NRC granted the renewal on December 17, 2008, extending the license from forty years to sixty.
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 Shearon Harris was 96,401, an increase of 62.6 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 2,562,573, an increase of 26.0 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Raleigh (21 miles to city center), Durham (24 miles to city center), Fayetteville (39 miles to city center).
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