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Palo Verde nuclear power plant

Palo Verde nuclear power plant is a nuclear power station in United States with 3 operating units totalling 4,242 MW gross. The site has 5 units on record in total.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICAMEXICOPalo Verde nuclear power plant: 3 units, 4,242 MWPalo Verde100 km
Operating1circle area ∝ site capacity Coastlines, borders and lakes: Natural Earth (1:10 million, public domain), which is generalised, so a coastal plant can sit a couple of kilometres off its true shoreline. Site positions: Global Nuclear Power Tracker.
Units on record
5
Operating
3
Operating capacity
4,242MW

Units

UnitStatusTypeModelGross MWOnline
Unit 1 Operating PWR CE80 2LP (DRYAMB) 1,414 1986
Unit 2 Operating PWR CE80 2LP (DRYAMB) 1,414 1986
Unit 3 Operating PWR CE80 2LP (DRYAMB) 1,414 1988
Unit 4 Cancelled PWR - 1,270 -
Unit 5 Cancelled PWR - 1,270 -

Unit by unit

Each unit's rating, type and milestone dates as recorded by the Global Nuclear Power Tracker, with any correction we made to it. A dash or "not disclosed" means the source does not give the value.

Palo Verde nuclear power plant 1 Operating

Reactor typePressurised water reactor (PWR)
ModelSystem 80
Size classLarge
Gross capacity1,414MW
Net capacity1,311MW
Thermal output3,990MWt
Enrichment3–5% U-235
NSSS vendornot on record
OwnerArizona Public Service Co100%
OperatorArizona Public Service
Construction start25 May 1976
First criticality25 May 1985
Grid connection10 Jun 1985
Commercial operation28 Jan 1986

Live status, outage record and fuel chain for Palo Verde nuclear power plant 1

Palo Verde nuclear power plant 2 Operating

Reactor typePressurised water reactor (PWR)
ModelSystem 80
Size classLarge
Gross capacity1,414MW
Net capacity1,314MW
Thermal output3,990MWt
Enrichment3–5% U-235
NSSS vendornot on record
OwnerArizona Public Service Co100%
OperatorArizona Public Service
Construction start1 Jun 1976
First criticality18 Apr 1986
Grid connection20 May 1986
Commercial operation19 Sep 1986

Live status, outage record and fuel chain for Palo Verde nuclear power plant 2

Palo Verde nuclear power plant 3 Operating

Reactor typePressurised water reactor (PWR)
ModelSystem 80
Size classLarge
Gross capacity1,414MW
Net capacity1,312MW
Thermal output3,990MWt
Enrichment3–5% U-235
NSSS vendornot on record
OwnerArizona Public Service Co100%
OperatorArizona Public Service
Construction start1 Jun 1976
First criticality25 Oct 1987
Grid connection28 Nov 1987
Commercial operation8 Jan 1988

Live status, outage record and fuel chain for Palo Verde nuclear power plant 3

Palo Verde nuclear power plant 4 Cancelled

Reactor typePressurised water reactor (PWR)
Modelnot disclosed
Size classLarge
Gross capacity1,270MW
Net capacitynot disclosed
Thermal outputnot disclosed
Enrichment3–5% U-235
NSSS vendornot on record
Cancelled1979
OwnerArizona Public Service Co100%
Milestonesno dates on record

Palo Verde nuclear power plant 5 Cancelled

Reactor typePressurised water reactor (PWR)
Modelnot disclosed
Size classLarge
Gross capacity1,270MW
Net capacitynot disclosed
Thermal outputnot disclosed
Enrichment3–5% U-235
NSSS vendornot on record
Cancelled1979
OwnerArizona Public Service Co100%
Milestonesno dates on record

Palo Verde nuclear power plant in context

By gross operating capacity Palo Verde nuclear power plant is the 2nd largest of 54 operating nuclear sites in the United States, holding 4% of the country's operating capacity, and ranks 19th of 172 worldwide.

Its operating units started up between 1986 and 1988; the median unit is 40.0 years old, younger than the median of 45.0 in the United States.

The 3 units with both construction and grid dates on record took 9.0 to 11.5 years (median 10.0) from construction start to grid connection; the median across all reactors connected in the 1980s is 7.3 years.

No other nuclear site with an exact position in this dataset lies within 300 km.

3 operating units are rated differently now from their design net capacities: Unit 1 +7.4%, Unit 2 +0.8% and Unit 3 +0.6%.

Build time by unit

UnitConstruction startGrid connectionYearsFleet median, same decade
Unit 1197619859.07.3 (1980s)
Unit 21976198610.07.3 (1980s)
Unit 31976198711.57.3 (1980s)

How these are worked out: ranks use gross operating capacity; ages count from the start-up year on record, as on the age page; build times run from construction start to grid connection, as on the build-times page; ratings are the tracker's net and design net capacity, as on the uprates page. Distances are straight-line between exact positions, so a site with only an approximate position gets none. A unit missing a date or a rating is left out of the figure that needs it.

Site detail
LocationArizona, United States
Coordinates33.3881, -112.8617
Elevationabout 290 mabove sea level
SettingAbout 220 km from the sea
RegionNorthern America
Units by status
Operating: 3
Cancelled: 2

Elevation is read at the listed coordinates from a 30 m terrain model (SRTM 30 m). Two independent models differ by a median of 6 m across our plants and by up to about 40 m on steep or coastal ground, and a point on a shoreline can read as sea level. Distance to the water is measured to a generalised 1:10 million coastline, so a few kilometres or less is not resolved. This is context, not a design-basis or flood-risk figure.

Owners & operators
Owners
Arizona Public Service Co
Operators
Arizona Public Service

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Sources

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