There are 5 licensed commercial nuclear reactors in North Carolina. Units 1 and 2 at the Brunswick plant are boiling water reactors (BWR). The pair of reactors at the McGuire power plant and the lone reactor at the Shearon-Harris plant are light water pressurized reactors (PWR).

Permanently Shutdown Commercial Reactors: North Carolina has none.

Nuclear Power Generation in North Carolina, 1975 through 2005 Million kilowatthours

Sources: Energy Information Administration, Form EIA-906, Power Plant Report, and predecessor forms.

Nuclear Generation in North Carolina in 2005 was 39,982 billion kwh.

Electricity generation by nuclear power plants is available for each reactor and each State for the following years:

• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002

Contribution of Nuclear Power

In 2008, the State of North Carolina ranked 6th in nuclear capacity and 6th in nuclear generation. Monthly and cumulative nuclear generation and annual nuclear capacity for each State and each reactor is reported in a table elsewhere on this site.

Combined, North and South Carolina have 11 percent of the Nation's nuclear capacity. The States share a name, but each has a unique history, character, geology, geography, and-most relevant to the understanding of this feature, electric power industry.

In 2007, coal accounted for nearly two thirds of the electricity generated by the State. The percentage of electricity generated by coal, gas, nuclear, and hydropower for each state with at least one commercial reactor is reported in the Electricity Market table.

North Carolina Nuclear Highlights

• According to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, McGuire 2 had a gross capacity factor of 96 percent in 2004, ranking it among the top 50 reactors in the World (43^rd highest capacity factor).
• North Carolina State University's Raleigh Research Reactor begins operation in 1953, three years before the Nation's first nuclear power plant goes on line (see mini-feature below on Nuclear Power and Education).
• Progress Energy announced that it plans to seek a Combined Operators License for an AP1000 reactor (possibly two, but only one currently considered) for the Shearon Harris plant in September or October 2007.
• Power plans to seek a Combined Operators License for two AP1000 reactors for a plant in either North or South Carolina. The application is anticipated in late 2007 and the target date for completion of construction is in 2014.

License Renewal

On December 5, 2003, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved a joint application for license for the McGuire Nuclear Plant in North Carolina and the Catawaba Nuclear Plant in South Carolina. Licenses for reactors at both plants were extended by 20 years. On June 26, 2006, the NRC approved the license renewal application for both reactors at the Brunswick Nuclear Plant. The license for unit 1 was extended to September 8, 2036, and the license for unit 2 extends until December 27, 2034. NRC anticipates that a license renewal application will be filed some time in late fall or winter for the Shearon Harris (estimate, within the range of October 2006 through December 2006).

Nuclear Power and Education

North Carolina State University (NCSU) is one of the oldest nuclear engineering programs in the World. Before the first U.S. commercial nuclear powerplant went on line (Shippingport, 1957), or the Obninsk reactor in the former Soviet Union initiated the nuclear industry (June 27, 1954), North Carolina State University had an operational nuclear reactor: the Raleigh Research Reactor. And even before the Raleigh reactor began operation in 1953, NCSU's Physics Department was graduating nuclear engineers. In 1954, NCSU presented the first two PhD's in nuclear engineering.

The Raleigh Research Reactor^[1] retired in 1954, and since 1972, the university has relied on a Pulstar reactor. Only four of the 33 non-power reactors licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are newer. The newest reactor is the TRIGA unit at the Davis campus of the University of California. NRC list reports it was issued an operating license on August 13, 1998: two years after the last U.S. commercial reactor came on line (Watts Bar in 1996).

According to the University's web site, NCSU's Department of Nuclear Engineering currently offers B.S., M.S., MNE, PhD, and post-baccalaureate profession degrees. What is 'nuclear engineering'? "Engineering is applied science concerned with using the earth's resources for supply human needs in the form of structures, machines, transportation.nuclear Engineering is concerned with the engineering aspects of the uses of nuclear processes for supplying human needs."

A list of NCSU nuclear projects in 2004 and 2005 conveys the vast scope encompassed by the nuclear engineering field. One might anticipate finding projects on nuclear waste, nuclear medicine, power plant operations, and computer simulations. But the list also includes projects dealing with two of nuclear power's commercial competitors: coal and petroleum. The coal project uses radiation 'to investigate the on-line monitoring of coal on a conveyor belt.' An Associates program applies nuclear techniques to oil well logging.

The nuclear engineering program at North Carolina State University was randomly selected as representative of the important work taking place at many such universities. The Department of Energy (DOE) supports university programs in more than half of the States in various ways. In addition to providing Nuclear Engineering Education Research (NEER) Grants, DOE provides fresh fuel for (and removes spent fuel from) university reactors. More information on the Department's university programs is available from the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy, Science, and Technology.

Air Quality in North Carolina

Total greenhouse emissions for the electric power industry of each of the 50 States and the District of Columbia, are reported for the most current data year.

Of the 50 States plus the District of Columbia, the electric industry of the State of North Carolina ranked 12th highest in carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions in 2007. The State's electric industry ranked 7th highest in sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions and 27th highest in nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions.

North Carolina Airborne Emissions, Electricity Sector, 1989-2004 (CO2)*

*Carbon Dioxide

North Carolina Airborne Emissions, Electricity Sector, 1989-2004 (SO2)*

*Sulfur Dioxide

North Carolina Airborne Emissions, Electricity Sector, 1989-2004 (NOX)*

*Nitrogen Oxide

More Information on the North Carolina Nuclear Industry

Nuclear Reactors other than Commercial (Research, Testing)^[2]

^[1]Those searching for the Raleigh Research Reactor in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's list of retired licensed reactors will not find it. The reactor closed before the first license was issued by the Atomic Energy Commission (forerunner to NRC).
^[2] Information Digest, 2005-2006 Edition, Appendix E, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, July 2005

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