Limerick Nuclear Power Plant

The Limerick Generating Station in Pennsylvania is located next to the Schuylkill River in Limerick Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania northwest of Philadelphia. The facility has two General Electricboiling water reactor (BWR) units, cooled by natural draft cooling towers. When conditions are right, these cooling towers emit enough water vapor to be seen for distances of over 50 miles.

The two units are capable of producing almost 1,200 megawatts of power each, which combined would provide electricity to over 2 million households. Exelon Corporation owns and operates this facility.

Contents [hide] 1 History 2 Stanley Watras 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit]History

The site was chosen and plans to build the station were announced in 1969, by the Philadelphia Electric Company (now Exelon). Community protests and other delays pushed the start of construction by the BechtelPower Corporation to June, 1974.

Limerick Unit 1 first attained criticality (began producing nuclear power, at limited capacity) on December 22, 1984 and was certified for commercial operation on February 1, 1986

Limerick Unit 2 attained criticality on August 1, 1989, and commercial operation began January 8, 1990.

(Former) U.S. President George W. Bush visited the Limerick Generating Station in May of 2006 to discussnuclear power and its role in the Advanced Energy Initiative, which he announced at the 2006 State of the Union Address. He toured the facility, including a trip to the control room of the plant. ^[1]

[edit]Stanley Watras

The danger of radon exposure in dwellings was discovered in 1984 through Stanley Watras, an employee at the Limerick plant. Mr. Watras set off the radiation alarms (see Geiger counter) on his way into work for two weeks straight while authorities searched for the source of the contamination. They were shocked to find that the source was astonishingly high levels of radon in his basement and it was not related to the nuclear plant. The risks associated with living in his house were estimated to be equivalent tosmoking 135 packs of cigarettes every day.^[2]

Picture of Limerick Nuclear Power Plant's cooling towers from US Route 422 West