The Edwin Irby Hatch Nuclear Power Plant is near

Baxley, Georgia Baxley is a city in Appling County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 4,942. The city is the county seat of Appling County. History Baxley was first settled as a result of the Macon and Brunswick Ra ...

, in the

southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

, on a 2,244-acre (9 km²) site. It has two

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

boiling water reactor A boiling water reactor (BWR) is a type of nuclear reactor used for the generation of electrical power. It is the second most common type of electricity-generating nuclear reactor after the pressurized water reactor (PWR). BWR are thermal neutro ...

s with a total capacity of 1,848 megawatts. Previously, the reactors had a combined capacity listing of 1,759 MW. Unit 1 went online in 1974 and was followed by Unit 2 in 1978. The plant was named for Edwin I. Hatch, president of

Georgia Power Georgia Power is an electric utility headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was established as the Georgia Railway and Power Company and began operations in 1902 running streetcars in Atlanta as a successor to the Atlanta Consol ...

from 1963 to 1975, and chairman from 1975 to 1978. In 2002, the

Nuclear Regulatory Commission The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with protecting public health and safety related to nuclear energy. Established by the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, the ...

(NRC) extended the operating licenses for both reactors for an additional twenty years.

Ownership

The Hatch plant is operated by Southern Nuclear Operating Company, a subsidiary of

Southern Company Southern Company is an American gas and electric utility holding company based in the Southern United States. It is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, with executive offices located in Birmingham, Alabama. As of 2021 it is the second largest ut ...

. Hatch's owners are: *

(50.1%) (also a Southern Company subsidiary) *

Oglethorpe Power Corporation Oglethorpe Power Corporation is an American medium-sized electric utility in Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, United States. Formed in 1974, Oglethorpe is a not-for-profit Utility cooperative, cooperative owned by the 38 electric membership corpora ...

(30%) * Municipal Electric Authority of Georgi

(17.7%) * Dalton Water & Light Sinking Fund Commission (2.2%)

Electricity production

Surrounding population

The

defines two emergency planning zones around nuclear power plants: a plume exposure pathway zone with a radius of , concerned primarily with exposure to, and inhalation of, airborne

radioactive contamination Radioactive contamination, also called radiological pollution, is the deposition of, or presence of Radioactive decay, radioactive substances on surfaces or within solids, liquids, or gases (including the human body), where their presence is uni ...

, and an ingestion pathway zone of about , concerned primarily with ingestion of food and liquid contaminated by radioactivity. The 2010 U.S. population within of Hatch was 11,061, an increase of 6.7 percent in a decade, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data for msnbc.com. The 2010 U.S. population within was 424,741, an increase of 12.0 percent since 2000. Cities within 50 miles include Vidalia (19 miles to city center).

Onsite storage of spent nuclear fuel

Spent nuclear fuel is stored on-site in concrete casks. The Hatch Plant, a BWR, near Baxley GA is estimated by DOE, as of this year, to have generated 1,446 metric tons of spent fuel.

Seismic risk

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's estimate of the risk each year of an earthquake intense enough to cause core damage to the reactor at Hatch was 1 in 454,545, according to an NRC study published in August 2010.

References

* * * {{U.S. Nuclear Plants Energy infrastructure completed in 1974 Energy infrastructure completed in 1978 Buildings and structures in Appling County, Georgia Southern Company Georgia Power Nuclear power plants in Georgia (U.S. state) 1974 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Oglethorpe Power